150w MH and 40b

[stanlalee]

If you're worried about 150w penetration, don't. I had a 175w bulb in a spider reflector lighting a 18" deep tank (33g cube) and had NO trouble growing acros mid-level..

In my experience DE 150w are not comparable to SE 175w (175wx2 AB 13k with batwings on a 19" tank vs 150wx2 10k reeflux in sunpod on a 16" tank. simular color between the two bulbs. EVERYTHING on the 150w tank was better: cleaner, more mature, ALL equipment better, maintenence/water change frequency/size, even more ideally sized being 2 halides over just 3ft. had several of the same ORA corals. 150w just didn't come close to growth. Between the required sheilding, -25w and small reflectors (only two large 150w DE reflectors I know of are cayman sun and lumenmax 3's) I'll take 175w everytime. For example sanyjay plots for 150w vs 175w XM 10k both on icecap (no reflector testing) the 175w puts out 30% more PAR. Without the sheiding they are simular (175w still negligibly better) but the shielding kills intensity. the larger SE reflectors are better for spread as well. and 150w HQI ballast arent as grossly over powered as 250w HQI. even with HQI ballast the 175w XM 10k is significantly more intense than the sheilded 150w XM 10k

BTW I'm not implying 150w cant be enough (10k reeflux bleached two of my milli's going from 20k to 10k) they just are a real notch down from everything 175w and greater to me.

 

[sirreal63]

I have a 58 gallon Oceanic, lit by a single LumenArc Mini that I retro'd a 150 watt socket in. 10K XM bulb it was more than enough light. I have two of these fixtures, tried running both but the light spill was too much. Take a look at Sanjays charts, the XM 10k on the right ballast can produce more par than many 250 watt fixtures. I have used 150's for many years and they can work just fine. Tank was actually a lot bluer than the pics show, I never could get the white balance set right on my old camera. The light was about 10" off the water. I could have come down much more and not shadowed the corners too much, the right setup helps. Tank is 36x18x21 I believe.