Metal halides

[Darylb]

Hey guys I just got offered a 400watt metal halide set up for free for my 55 bow front I'm just wondering how I can set it up like the height from the water and if I should run fans to cool it down this is the set up

 

[mr_X]

Is that 2 x 400 watts? That's going to heat up the tank and the room. That's also a lot of light. Are you doing an sps tank?

 

[Holygral]

it all depends on what your running now and height that it is, also keep in mind that free light will cost you $150 a year in new bulbs and higher energy cost thru out the year. Try and find out how old the bulbs are as they may need changed out be4 it goes into service

 

[Darylb]

Yea I think it's 2 400watt lights or it may be 2 200watt lights I'm going to replace the bulbs anyway so I can change the watts if need be what would you recommend I want to grow SPS eventually but right now I have only softies and LPS

 

[mr_X]

They don't make 200 watt halides, so they are either 150, 250, or 400 a piece. You can change the color with different lamps, but you cannot change the wattage by changing the lamps.
I would recommend Phoenix 14k, XM 20k, or Radium 20k. That will give you a nice, bluish look.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Excess heating of the water will be your biggest challenge without a chiller, especially in the summer time.

 

[Darylb]

If I run a few fans on the tank to cool blow some of the heat around it would help at all the tanks I'm my bed room for now but may be getting shut down for a bit due to me having a babe and no room in the house

 

[Gregcoyote]

Babes first, fish tanks second?
That way dramatically increases evaporation, but can help.

 

[Darylb]

Hahaha sorry was meant to be baby and I always use to put my tank first we are looking into moving out so this tanks going to get a re birth I'm tanking In some drawings to work to see if I can make up a stand for it so I can fit a sump under the tank and give my self a lot more room just hope they won't charge me to much

 

[Airgoose2222]

I have two 400 watt metal halides on my 300 gallon tank. Ran them 8 hrs per day. They raised the tank temperature 4-6 degrees even being over a foot above the tank with a fan running and open top. I would be wary about putting them over a 55 gallon tank.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I had three of them on my 300 gallon and had to eventually buy a chiller. $$$

 

[Darylb]

Hmm maybe ill give it a go right now I have minimal light over my tank I have a 2 bulb t5ho that's only 2 ft my corals are all high up in the tank

 

[Darylb]

I am going to give this tank a major overhaul I'm building a new stand for it which will be able to house a sump and all other equipment should be able to run a refugium on it to I could add a chiller and put it in there too it will have a light fixture made up connecting to the main frame

 

[Gregcoyote]

LEDs are cheaper than a chiller.

 

[Darylb]

Yea ill see what I can do I wouldn't mind trying out the halides tho

 

[Gregcoyote]

They grow coral great. I used them for many years. Bulbs are fairly cheap. But they need at least yearly replacement usually. They just have a few down sides and on a smaller tank, they might be a real issue keeping the tank cool enough.

 

[Darylb]

I plan to really kit this tank out it's the biggest I can have for now and the lights will be useful for other tanks too