Thoughts on MH lighting for 24x18x18

[cambo123]

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!

So I have had my reef going for about a year now and I am going nuts with lighting. I started with one of these reefbreeder LED units but had pretty **** poor success with SPS....not to mention that I could not stop touching the stupid thing with all of its settings. Convinced that LED's by themselves would not cut it for me I started looking at a T5 setup. I ended up going with the ATI sun power dimming unit...4 bulb 24 watt. Almost immediately I wished I had done 6 but oh well. I had decent success with this fixture, my growth went from terrible to average and color went from terrible to average. I hated the look of T5 though. The total loss of shimmer broke my heart and the "pop" you are supposed to get with the ATI BLUE PLUS just wasn't there. I don't know what it is about T5's but I just don't like the look. The ATI blue plus looks like windex and the white bulbs look bland. I just miss the shimmer! I later added two reefbrite strips dimmed through my reef keeper. Now I just can't decide how I like it. The color pop is there, and dawn dusk is LEGIT, but the color is like super defined..but bland with no shimmer. Not to mention, I now have like 15 variables to play with. I can't decide what bulbs combo I like, what percentage to run the LED's, and what height to to keep the light at.

At this point I am thinking about a switch to MH...why? Well again, and again, and again, and again, and again I seem to come across threads with just CRAZY awesome growth, with deep colors, amazing polyp extension and so on. Those threads exist for T5, but there aren't nearly as many (not bashing on T5's here), and they are literally non existent for LED. It seems that the farther you get away from MH, the more crucial it is to get everything else perfect (which I bend over backwards to achieve!!!)

I want to make the switch to MH!!! The question is, what size is appropriate for SPS with my tank? Will 150w be enough? Is a 250w too much. Any suggestions on ballast, pendent, bulb. I have a rimless tank so an aesthetically pleasing pendent is preferred. I here that there are some MH bulbs that you literally don't need actinic supplementation! I will be researching throughout the day but am looking for suggestions. Thanks guys.

 

[mchammer]

I have a 48x24x24 tank and I use 2 250 watt MH (20K Radion) and 2 54 watt true actinic bulbs to light. The color is a slight blue when all lights are on and lots of shimmer. I think you would be fine with a 150 watt and you can get away without actinic if you use a 20K bulb.

Hope this helps

 

[moondoggy4]

Radium does make a DE 150 watt bulb. Phoenix 14K is a real popular choice for the DE crowd, that is what I have purchased for my tanks. Reefbrite makes a MH/Led light.

 

[cambo123]

Yeah was looking at the reefbrite unit, a little on the pricy side. I am down to either a SE 250w Radium 20k setup or a DE 150w phx 14k setup, both on electronic ballast. I like the pics of the 250w with the radium. I also have couple buds encouraging me to go down the 250w route. That being said I don't want to overdo it.

 

[Scorpius]

I have found that the more you mess with LED settings the more upset my corals get. Slow changes over weeks work best.

 

[cambo123]

I totally agree, but my personality doesn't allow me to stay away for more than a couple weeks. I need a set and forget system. One that I can come back to weeks later and say, hey I wonder how it will look with this intensity or bulb combo lol

 

[cambo123]

Well, I am leaning toward the hamilton caymon sun/electronic ballast combo with the 250w 20k radium (plus 15% off at marine depot so just over 300 out the door). It seems a lot are using 250w radiums on 40 breeders and 34g salonas. So, given that my tank is 34g I think this is the way to go. Plus, since you get less par with 20k bulbs its better to go with the more powerful bulb. Will sleep on it but feel that is the right setup for a sand alone MH. Any thoughts?

 

[cambo123]

Wanted to post a quick update here. Really loving the halide!!! It has been a little over 10 days now. I can't say for sure if color has improved (looking at before and after picks sure seem to indicate a deepening of color) but the shimmer and just crisp white it gives off is AMAZING. I also trimmed down my reefbrite strips to 12 inches and mounted them on the pendant. It looks really good for supplementation. Only runny the halide 6 hours and reefbrites for 10. Just love the combo. Light is hanging about 10in off the water. The tank temp stays fairly stable for now (a fan might be necessary in the summer). That being said, what is it with the stories of these things and heat. You would think after reading other threads that a 250w halide is a flame thrower!!! They get hot but significantly less than I thought. For the first time...ever...I really feel like everything is on board with the lighting.

 

[moondoggy4]

I am glad you like your setup, and thanks for giving a update.