Am I using the correct wattage

[msfishgirl]

I have a tank that is 1 year old that came setup with (2) 175W Metal Halide and 4 T12 VHO.

The tank is 48" wide, and 28" deep - 140 gallons.

In reading, it appears that perhaps 175W isn't quite strong enough? Should I be using (2) 250W instead?

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[salsipuedes]

I have a tank that is 1 year old that came setup with (2) 175W Metal Halide and 4 T12 VHO.

The tank is 48" wide, and 28" deep - 140 gallons.

In reading, it appears that perhaps 175W isn't quite strong enough? Should I be using (2) 250W instead?

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Switch the bulbs out to Iwasaki 14k 175watt metal halides. These bulbs are very very bright, and put out the par equal to many 250watt metal halides. I Had two of these over a 125 gallon tank, and could keep clams on the sand no problem, montipora, and even a few acros right under them, in the upper 1/2 of the tank. The edges of the tank did have some shading since each bulb lit a 36 inch length of tank so i switched to 3 of them and could keep anything I wanted, along with 4- 36 inch t5 actinics overdriven on a icecap 660 ballast. take a look:

and here is my current tank, a 92 corner with 1x175 watt mh Iwasaki 14k. The 14k is more of a true 10k look, not very blue at all. check out sanjays par measurements on it though: http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting4/tmp/1b18e1d725363e3e819568f8a0f7fac3.png

and the pic of it as promised on a magnetic ballast:

I personally love the look of it - the pic is pretty accurate of the reds / oranges of the tank and produces a very nice white color, which looks even better when augmented by some blue / royal blue lighting. Hope I could be of some help to you, if you have any other questions just let me know. And sorry for the crappy cellphone pics, just got a new digital camera and have yet to take better pics.

 

[zigzag1]

With a tank that deep (more than 24") I would use a 250 Watt, as I prefer bulbs that are more blue in color. I used 10k bulbs for many years, and since making the change to higher K bulbs, I much prefer the blue look and still get great growth. I use 250 Watt MH over my 22" tank. JMTC & GL!

 

[James77]

It depends on what you are keeping, the 175s will work fine if you keep higher light coral at the top. The ^ suggestion of the iwasaki 14k is a good one, very nice bright bulb. More PAR than any 250 that I have compared it to. Bright white with some blue.

 

[msfishgirl]

Thank you
salsipuedes - your tank is so pretty!! Thank you for sharing your photos

 

[msfishgirl]

salsipuedes -
Got these bulbs in yesterday - am so pleased

My tank is so much brighter and I love the look of the "white" - it balances perfectly

Thank you again

 

[nanojg]

The iwasaki 15k 175 will outperform most 250 watt bulbs, switch to that one and be make sure and acclimate because it packs a punch, it also looks nice too (a true 15k bulb)


oops you already know this!

 

[salsipuedes]

salsipuedes -
Got these bulbs in yesterday - am so pleased

My tank is so much brighter and I love the look of the "white" - it balances perfectly

Thank you again

AWESOME!!! Glad I could help :thumbsup:


Can you give us all an update on any increase / decrease in coral growth. Let us know how your tank reacts to the lights compared to the old bulbs. I'm sure many would appreciate it. Once again, glad u like them.

Be prepared for a slight colorshift after they burn in. In my case they became a bit more white, not so crisp white / blue. Anyways, glad u are happy with them so far!!