Please Help MH question

[bgiles11]

Which seems to be a better Idea 2x 175 watt 10k MH with 3 110 VHO's.

2 250 watt MH's 20,000k without vho's

2 400 watt MH's no VHO's.

This is for a 90g, with a mixture of soft, and lps. But also with sps in mind once light is upgraded. Please help

 

[panther28]

I would go with 2 x 250 watts MH 14,000 should do.
The setup I got is 2 x 250 watts 14,000 k + 2 x 54 watts t5 lighting.
I just love the lighting..

 

[mg426]

I use Hamilton SE 14k 250s and Like them very much. These can be run without actinics and the look is still very nice.

 

[bgiles11]

bump

 

[1F2FRFBF]

All your wattage seems adequate, so I guess it comes down to what kind of look you want the tank to have. For example, I'm going to be installing a single 250W MH with 2x24W T5 actinics on my 54G corner, and will probably go with 10,000K for the MH bulb - reason being that I like the idea that I can run just the actinics morning and evening, and either the MH alone or all of them during the day.

 

[pezcubano]

How high off the water is everyone going with their MH's. I have 2 175 14K bulbs. How high would you recommend?

 

[mg426]

6 to 8 inches.

 

[1F2FRFBF]

Pezcubano - I'm going to put my MH about 8 inches above the water. The T5's will go about 4 inches above.