LED plus halide - what wattage?

[scar79]

I've got an Illuminata 57 (36x18x21) with two AI SOL blues over it. I'm not completely satisfied with the color in all of SPS. Greens and blues are nice, but the reds and pinks are bleh. I'm thinking of slapping a Lumen Max pendant right between the SOLs to get the corals some delicious full spectrum metal halide light. I obviously won't have complete coverage, but I'll put the ones needing the most oomph below it. Now the only question I have is do I go for a 150 or a 250? The SOLs have the PAR to grow SPS, so do I really want/need the extra 100 watts of light and heat? I don't run a chiller, I just evaporate 3-5 gallons a week. Thanks!

 

[sirreal63]

I would do a 150 with the Reeflex Cube M81 ballast and a Phoenix or Radium bulb. It will do the job nicely.

 

[power boat jim]

The MH with SOLs are probably way more then you need. Thats like having two complete lighting systems. You can use a strip of leds with some red in them put up between the SOLS or run a T5 set up with a bulb or 2 of fiji purple or pink (I like the purple better). If you decide to go with sirreals suggestion dont run the SOLS at a high percentage with the halide on.