Going to MH need Ideas..

[cj10488]

Ok I am Planning on going MH now and needed some ideas... First off my tank is a 55gal tnak and I was thinking about going with 2x250watt that way they can be used on a larger tank whne I purchase one.. Second I am going to Retrofit into My already Existing Hood which has 6x55watt pc bulbs in it.. I plan on taking the 4 10kbulbs out and replacing them with the halides and leaving the 2 actinic bulbs in there.. good idea? I was thinking about going with 2 250watt 10k XM bulbs from hellolights along with the 250W Universal Magnetic M58 / H37 Ballast -Metal Halide... the total to retro this with the bulbs and everything would be $268.90 + 16.00 for shipping.. Does this sound like a good deal and a good way to go about this??? Am I going to need to place a piece of glass under the bulbs to protect from UV?? Also I would be changing out the lights at night when the tank lights go out for the evening... What would be the best way to acclimate the inhabitants to this new lighting??? And last but not least Is 2x250 watt MH bulbs with 2x55watt 03 PCs too much for the 55gal??

TIA,
James

 

[astride13]

Sounds like a perfect lighting setup to me. I would check out http://www.reefgeek.com/. They were about 10% cheaper when I order some lighting.

 

[cj10488]

Well I have decided to buy a 2x250 watt retro Kit From Ebay..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...8675&ed=1067412294&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOT:US:3

I will now just have to decide which bulbs I want to Use.. Has anyone used the new 250watt XM 10k bulbs??? Please let me know of Ideas..

TIA,
James

 

[ReefLady]

What would be the best way to acclimate the inhabitants to this new lighting???

When we transferred the livestock from our 75g (4 x 110w VHO) tank to the 180g (3 x 250w MH + 640w VHO), what we did was this.

Week #1 - VHO (in your case, PC) lighting on same photoperiod as always. MH lighting on for 3 hours.

Week#2 - VHO on same photoperiod, MH on for 5 hours.

Week #3 - VHO on same photoperiod, MH for 7 hours

Week #4 - ditto, MH up to 9 hours (10am to 7pm) - which is where it remains.

And last but not least Is 2x250 watt MH bulbs with 2x55watt 03 PCs too much for the 55gal??

The answer to that depends a lot on what you have in the tank. You'll want to insure plenty of caves/overhangs for the fish to hide from the light. Also, most LPS will need to be placed on the substrate, and possibly in a position where they can receive indirect light. sps/clams will love you.

No personal experience with the XM bulbs, sorry.