Mr. Brooks
MASVC Member
I'm curious to know which type of lighting you prefer as your main light source to color up and grow acropora.
Take heat and cost out of the equation.
Take heat and cost out of the equation.
Metal Halide for pure performance.
I have large tanks and even with heat and cost in the equation, MH are by-far cheaper to run and buy when I could be looking at 10-12 Radion G4 Pros to replace 4 250W MH.
My new frag tank will be VHO - they are twice the output of T5 at twice the electricity, so half of the bulbs are necessary. VHO also come in 6 foot lengths. The bulbs last twice as long T5. I will be changing half the bulbs half as often. They perform the same as T5s, IMO just with different life cycle and far fewer bulb choices (this can be huge for some folks).
I'm curious to know which type of lighting you prefer as your main light source to color up and grow acropora.
Take heat and cost out of the equation.
Even with heat and cost out of the equation it is still preference. I am not married to any one option so it is what makes the most reasonable selection for the tank I am running.
You don't notice better color out of one over the other?
That's what I was asking, if you like one over the other, subjectively.
Nobody except for people with huge tanks should be using 400W MH. 250W are probably overkill for most. 175W and 150W HWI can easily handle what a pair of Kessils or maybe 1.5 Radions can handle over most reefs except for the most light-demanding acropora tanks.
Jda - do you think it's way overkill to use 400 watt radium over a 30 in x 30in x18 in only acropora tank over a 250 watt radium run on m80 ballast .
The reflector plays a huge role and in my case it's a Hamilton comuzel 20 in x20 in reflector .
Mind you - am planning for a 400 watt only for sone specific acros I want to keep like OG purple monster and spaths and not craze of the day like Walt Disney tenuis .
Regards,
Abhishek
It you need to cover that much area, they might be a good idea. I would consider that a large tank for a single bulb.