3 Metal halides on 8 foot tank?

[Fish-guy]

I found a good deal on 3 150 watt metal halide pendants. I'm just growing some soft corals. The tank is 8 feet long. Is 3 enough or would I need 4?

 

[Gti_Leo]

sure if you just want softies then that will work, but personally i think you're limiting yourself to only those,when in the future you might want to house more then just leathers and low lights

 

[Fish-guy]

Actually I have 2 coralife lunar t5 fixtures right now. 4 bulbs 48 inch ea. Just thought metal halides where stronger. Or at least brighter.

 

[Fish-guy]

Anybody else got an opinion?

 

[boardsurfer]

I think 3 is enough with for a 6ft tank, but not enough for an 8ft tank. But honestly, I think you can strategically place your corals around the 3 halides.

Are the halides going to be complimented with other lights like T5's, or is that all the light you plan to have? Because for me, I like to have light along the entire length of the tank.

 

[Gti_Leo]

the T5s with a quality lamp will probably penetrate better then the 150s will

 

[mr_X]

i would stick with the 4 bulb t5's. you definitely need 4 halides for an 8 foot tank, and like leo said, the 4 lamp fixture most likely puts out more light.

 

[melosu58]

Moved to General Hardware and equipment discussion.

 

[Fish-guy]

How about 250 watt halides? Just don't feel that the t5 are bright enough. The corals on the bottom of the tank aren't doing super well.

 

[mr_X]

what corals do you have at the bottom of the tank? what kind of flow do you have there?
how deep is the tank top to bottom?

 

[Fish-guy]

Some Kenya, polyps and mushrooms. The tank is 25 inch deep. Was thinking too, maybe I can remove the 2 blue t5 in ea fixture and replace it with Hagen powerglo bulbs. That way I have 8 bright bulbs. The actinics are kinda bland

 

[Gti_Leo]

150watts won't penetrate near as deep as the t5s do. does your unit have individual reflectors?

 

[Gti_Leo]

thats why not many people use actinic anymore, the PAR numbers on them are not very high.

i woudl suggest tryign to find ATI bulbs i would go with 1 day light 1 purple and 2 blue plus. with each bulb you're looking at 320+ PAR per lamp rather then 200 that actinics put out

 

[mr_X]

a 25" deep tank needs more than 150 watt halides, and 4 lamp t5's imo. i would use at least 6 t5 lamps per 3 feet, but preferably 8.
and yes, 250 watt halides would be a good idea here, but 4 of them.

 

[Fish-guy]

I found a good deal on 2 48 inch metal halide fixtures for my 8 foot tank. 250 watt double ended 15000k bulbs. I know lots of people said I am ok with my t5s but nothing beats the look of halides. And i want some hard Corals. Plus my 25 inch tank is pretty deep and I think the t5 bulbs just aren't strong enough to reach the bottom with the same strength. They should be available for me in about a week. Il post some pics to compare with the current setup

 

[mr_X]

i have kept sps under t5s in a few different tanks, no problem. you are incorrect that t5s will not reach the bottom.

 

[Gti_Leo]

T5s will reach deeper then a 250 watt MH

 

[Fish-guy]

T5s will reach deeper then a 250 watt MH

Say what?

 

[Gti_Leo]

lol they can light up a tank deeper then a 250 watt metal halide a 54 watter hits depths that a 400 watt goes to

 

[Fish-guy]

Then why go with halides?