MH vs PC???

[skis3]

I'm deciding on a new setup and can't decide whether to do a 30 gal hex with MH or a Aquapod 12 with PC. I am going to have all types of corals. I guess my question is, why should I go MH? Thanks.

 

[ipiniowa]

What do you mean by all types of corals? different corals needs different lighting. LPS, SPS, or Softies? I have a 90 with a mixture of LPS and softies, and I run 175w MH. I just turn the fuzzy sticks into non fuzzy sticks.

 

[skis3]

Excellent point. In the past I have done SPS and softies with PC lighting. I've heard so much about MH lighting, but I am trying to understand if I would benefit by upgrading to them.

 

[leeweber85]

PCs are crap

 

[overanalyzer]

all lights are great if you know what you need them for.... so are you going to do SPS or not?? Have you looked atT5 lights?? I think you need to plan out your inhabitants first then plan oout your lights second..... not the other way around ....

also a 12 gallon is tough and PC is fine for most anything in a 12 gallon ..... been there done that - got tired ofhte heat build up issues with mine.... right now running a 26 gallon flat back hex with 96 watts of PC ... have two anemones and several softies and one lps.....

Lee- MH are crap too - if used inappropriately....

 

[Nykademus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8640327#post8640327 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by leeweber85
PCs are crap

Why?


I hear lots of opinions about what lights are good to use and what arent.. what I fail to see are the reasons for such opinions.

I would agree that MH are the closest to natural sunlight that can be provided in an artificial setting, at the moment. But what are the differences between PC,VHO,T5, and MH?

 

[jbrunken]

My experience is somewhat limited, but I can tell you that right now I run PC's on my tank (6 x 96 orbit fixture) and frankly I hate them... I don't like the color, they don't seem very bright, they are fairly expensive and not readily available locally (at least not the 32" variety. To top it all off they dont' seem all that reliable, I've already replaced a couple of failed bulbs and ballasts...

I plan to switch to Metal Halide sometime in the next 6 months (I think they look more natural with the shimmer). My only concern at this point is that the MH lighting might be so hot that it turns my office into a sauna.

-JB

 

[leeweber85]

I love the shimmer lines of metal halide and my luck with PCs hasn't been very good. I had 3 -13w on my 5.5 gallon and had to replace the bulbs about every 5 months because they burned out. The 96w ones on my metal halide fixture are about a year old (I know needs to be replaced) and they barely put out any light and flicker. The look of pc actinics don't compare to normal output or VHO actinics. I don't mean to say they won't work because I still use 32w ones on my 5.5g and 65watt ones to grow chaeto... but if you are buying a new light fixutre why would you buy old technology?...kinda like buying a bigscreen TV that's only black and white.

 

[overanalyzer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8641920#post8641920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by leeweber85
but if you are buying a new light fixutre why would you buy old technology?...kinda like buying a bigscreen TV that's only black and white.

Then you should be talking LED lights and not MH .....

 

[DSMpunk]

Ive had both PC's and metal halides. I can say without a doubt metal halides are better than PC's. They arent even in the same league.

IMO the best look out there right now is metal halides with VHO or T5 actinics. I also have much better color in my SPS and growth in everything else (except my mushrooms)

 

[rc1214b]

You should decide what types of coral you are interested in keeping and the size tank you want first. I don't think pc's were introduced to compete with mh in high light tanks, they were more of a vho alternative.

 

[rc1214b]

last post sent before I was done...

I would say if you are going to use the 12 gallon, stick with pc's. They will grow softies just fine and will cause minimal heat compaired to a halide, if you go with the 30 you could set up a 175mh and also have excellent growth.

I think pc's are a little fragile and are overpriced compaired to vho's or t5's but they have the ability to fit in small setups. I think 175's are awesome for softies if you have the room and the ability to keep temps stable.

As far as led's I would wait a little longer before I go with them, when more manufacturers venture into that area I feel the type of led and design will be changed as tank use feedback comes in.

 

[glaspie69]

I would have to agree with Lee PC's are crap, always have been and probably always will be.......There far to expensive to replace bulbs, they run far to hot, and there output is crap. Now I wouldn't compare MH to PC's, thats just not fair.....but in comparing them with VHO's and T5's I would go with either over a PC in a heart beat. Those who have had all of these lights knows exactly what I'm talking about. I have personally had them all, and of course this is just my opinion......go with a halide setup you'll most likely never regret it.......and FYI I have seen the LED Solaris at IMAC they just came out with......you couldn't pay me to own one of those, other than the fact that you can adjust the color I didn't see to many advantages, it looked just like a VHO setup just $3000 more......JMO Jason

 

[rc1214b]

I'm just curious that if Skis3 decides to go with the aquapod setup for softies what fixture some of you would go with since pc's are crap, have low output, and don't seem to have an actinic03.

 

[glaspie69]

Well I have an aquapod 24 gallon tank with the 70 watt MH and it's crap, The makers didn't think the setup through real well. It doesn't spread the light very well, and theres not much light comming out of the 6 crapping LED lights that come with it. If it were me setting up another small tank I would order a DIY setup, but I also know what I'm looking for in a setup, it's hard if you don't know what you're looking for.

 

[Bullet]

On my first tank I had 4X65 wt PC's. I think it was a pretty nice tank. Lighting is only one factor of this whole hobby. Yes you need the right light for a lot of things and PC's do work for most. The price on the bulbs have come down a lot lately and yes you do have to change them out every 8-10 mo's for max efficiency and they run on a cheap workhorse ballast but I do not think they are crap by a long ways.

I have no experience with T5's so I cannot comment on them. I obviously run MH's due to the SPS in my tank. I would think you would run into a heat issue on a small tank with a MH but again...I have no personal experience.

If you have done SPS with PC lighting in the past you must be doing something right. So I would say to figure out what corals you want to keep and go from there. If you want a lot of SPS I would lean toward MH's and if you only want to keep a few easy SPS and the rest LPS/softies you can probably get by without dealing with the heat.

 

[rc1214b]

I think Bob nailed it on the head with that response.

As far as t5's I'm using 4 overdriven 54 watt bulbs and let me say t5's can really put out some light. I also have a 400 12k reeflux and when they cross paths for a couple hours a day I can't even see the shimmer anymore. So if you have a low nutrient BB keep an eye on bleaching!!

 

[rc1214b]

After all this talk about bulbs I remember when the club first started one of the meetings was to use a lux meter to measure different bulbs output. I know there is lots of mh info from Sanjay but maybe the club could do it again as a meeting. If anyone has a quantom/lux meter we could measure pc's,vho's etc and if by chance it's a underwater meter we could do different depths and add phyto to see how clarity effects light penetration.

 

[skis3]

Experimentation. Now we are talkin'. Thanks for all the great feedback. I need to really determine if I want SPS or not. MH are getting much more reasonable now, so it can even be a consideration.

 

[skis3]

I usually figure on 4-5 watts/gal for my reefs in the past. Does this still hold true for MH lighting?