Halide Q & A

Hello,
I purchased a 37g column system over a year ago that has a 175w light on it with 2 55w PC actinics. I know it's time to change the bulbs, but I don't know anything about MH. The bulb that's in there is stamped MH 175W/U/14k. Other than that, I have no idea what brand it is or anything like that. Personally, I think the color of the tank is too blue. I tried to swap out one of the actinics with a 50/50 bulb, but that looked too yellow and I lost a lot of the red color in there. So I was wondering if changing the bulb to a 20k and then trying one or both 50/50 would make a difference? Or just give me your advice as to what to put in there. I have access to Ushio, Blueline, XM, AB, SPS and Iwasaki bulbs. Please help! Thanks.

Should also say that I went to Sanjay's site, but as I don't know anything about MH, couldn't make sense of it really. I know my bulb is single ended, but no clue what DE, SE, etc is. Shielded, unshielded, how to tell?
 
i have a 4' long 20"deep 18" wide aquarium, have been running a 400 watt single ended MH with xm 10000k bulb about 16" off the water the reflector is just your run of the mill reflector. have been able to keep xenia, hammer coral, shrooms, zoos, etc., but having a hard time with sps have lost a lot of frags. too much light, not enough, or something else? water params test ideal. Have 2 koralia 4s on opposite sides as well as a maxi1200 with rotator and my return, i think i have flow covered as far as i can tell. your help is very much appreciated.
 
I have heard that the depth of water will cause a bulb to loose its strength. Will a 150 watt 10000ºK HQI double ended metal halide bulb be efficient enough to keep a mixed reef in a tank that is 24" deep?
 
10K bulbs are great for growth, but are terrible for color. The best color temps for a good mix of growth and color are the 14K and 15K, if you are going for colors that really pop and enhance the fluorescence you would want to use 20K bulbs. Same for actinics, if you want color that pops then you would want a mix of 420nm and 460nm actinics, the 50/50 and daylight bulbs add more white light in the 10K - 12K range. It all really depends on personal preference and what corals you are keeping. Another thing to consider is that the type and brand of ballast also makes a huge difference in the actual color temp produced. There are a tn of threads on here to learn about Halide lighting, do a search for Sanjay and Lighting.
 
If you're not sure about the color you want and have a little extra cash try this. There are some very inexpensive bulbs available on ebay, about $20.00 shipped. You can experiement with them for color ideas and then go from there. There are threads about pros and cons of these bulbs, but just to try them for color and then go to more expensive bulbs.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13509098#post13509098 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by moremsgplease
I have heard that the depth of water will cause a bulb to loose its strength. Will a 150 watt 10000ºK HQI double ended metal halide bulb be efficient enough to keep a mixed reef in a tank that is 24" deep?

Not really enough light. For a 24" deep tank you should have ideally 250W or 400W. Anything over 27" should have 400W. With a 150 you could probably keep some LPS and softies, but SPS would really struggle and probably not have much color to them except for brown and green
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13408895#post13408895 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jblincoe
i have a 4' long 20"deep 18" wide aquarium, have been running a 400 watt single ended MH with xm 10000k bulb about 16" off the water the reflector is just your run of the mill reflector. have been able to keep xenia, hammer coral, shrooms, zoos, etc., but having a hard time with sps have lost a lot of frags. too much light, not enough, or something else? water params test ideal. Have 2 koralia 4s on opposite sides as well as a maxi1200 with rotator and my return, i think i have flow covered as far as i can tell. your help is very much appreciated.

One thing to consider about XM 10K's is that they have been shown to produce the Strongest PAR value of any bulb out there. In simple terms, with a 18" deep tank you might need to raise the light or place corals lower in the tank and gradually over the course of several weeks raise them up as they are probably getting light shock and bleaching on you.
 
I dont know, I have been kind of strayed away from MHs. In the long run they are expensive but the best. I prefer T5s to halides but thats just me.
 
I prefer MH over T-5,so far I see MH is the closest thing to natural sunlight that coral on the wild are growing under.
 
t5 or mh

t5 or mh

have used all forms of lighting over 22 yrs and mh has given me the best results by far you can get the most standard ballast and sockets that are now fairly inexpensive to maintain of course after the initial bank robbery first setup.
 
These is some sort of lighting they use in the warehouse and on the street that look very similar to MH for aquarium,I wonder if they use similar magnetic ballast?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13604242#post13604242 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cybrsufr
One thing to consider about XM 10K's is that they have been shown to produce the Strongest PAR value of any bulb out there. In simple terms, with a 18" deep tank you might need to raise the light or place corals lower in the tank and gradually over the course of several weeks raise them up as they are probably getting light shock and bleaching on you.

is there a standard of measurement that helps determine how high to raise my light then, as stated it is already about 16inches off the water. don't mind going higher. Have been thinking about switching to a 20k bulb anyway, just to see if for some reason this is why, most of the sps that i have bought have come from bluer tanks, i have tried the acclimation from lower in the tank. so about all my other corals, if i switch do i then have to acclimate them to the new color spectrum----how?
 
trial en error.
You're going to be watching your corals closely to see what the appropriate height your lighting should be....

depends a lot on each coral and your water clarity, type of substrate, black painted back panel, etc...

every tank will have different factors playing into the correct configuration so you might as well take a weekend and don't stop fiddling until everything looks happy.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13771888#post13771888 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WhatIgot
black painted back panel, etc...

I've heard that if a beam of light is pointed out through the tank side, it will be contained by the glass. Is it reflected back in? or is it wasted? What effect does the black panel have?
 
well i am unsure, but black usually absorbs light. so i would guess with lots of black background you would loose some of the light that is bouncing around in your tank. my back is blue though.
 
i have got to upgrade my lights. my question is this... why would i choose 400w MH over 250w? i've selected my pendants (2), ballasts and bulbs but haven't decided on the wattage. ideally, i want lights that will support anything i decide to put in the tank. i have my eye on a couple of clams and i really like the LPS corals. so... 250 or 400? what's the general consensus????
 
i think the deciding factor is probably the depth of your tank. anything over 30" deep you will probably want to go to 400 watts, and if you have a 48" long tank like i do you will probably want two, i only have one, and am starting to think about getting another.
 
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