2.5" ORA Maxima under 111w PC in a 12 tall?

[Peabody]

I couldn't have said it better myself. (I agree with everything above) The spectrum is not most important. PAR is what matters for corals/clams MH bulbs have significantly more PAR than PC and penetrate much better.

piercho: You are correct about certain clams and certain flourescent bulbs. With enough VHO I wouldn't think twice about putting a derasa or squamosa under it

 

[Pyrrhus]

thank you for the reply guys i appreciate the explanation and it makes perfect sense to me. i really have no excuse to not have MH as i can get them wholesale, its just that i was given for free a 2x96w pc and wanted to use it for my tank.

 

[flaunt]

Just out of curiosity, does that 2x96W PC fit over a 10g tank? What sort of fixture is it?

 

[B16A2NR]

The powerquad 96w fits over a 10g, the 2x96w is like 30-46" long. The powerquad comes as a retrofit or already built into a hood.

 

[flaunt]

Oh ok. I was curious because it seems like it should be possible to retrofit 2-96W powerquads into a hood that would fit over a 10g, but I haven't seen any pre-built fixtures like that for sale. I was considering buying a coralife 1x96W aqualight, but I'm not sure it's justifiable for me. I already have a 2x36W unit that I got from ahsupply.com. It has a parabolic reflector which is supposed to greatly increase the intensity of the light, and as far as I can tell, the coralife aqualight does not have a parabolic reflector. So is my thinking right that 72W of PC with a parabolic reflector will be atleast as intense as 96W of PC with a standard reflector?

 

[Pyrrhus]

if i really tried im sure i could find a way to use both the 96w powerquad bulbs that i have im currently only using one. i think to fit two of them you would have to use an inverted v shape with the supplied reflectors of the retro kit

 

[Pyrrhus]

this would almost give the whole fixture a parabolic shape and possibly even rival a 250w MH with flat reflector