PC's

[martym]

Anyone use PC'c as their main light? Can't afford MH but need to upgrade.
I have a 55 gallon tank. Thank you for your response

[dekay]

yes

[AJ_77]

Yup - over a 50 gallon, 36x16". You sure you can't afford MH, with Kris blowing out ballasts and Venki flogging cheap bulbs? :smile:

What is your tank's footprint?

[martym]

The foot print is 48X12X20 apporx. for 300.00 i can get 260watts of PC. I don't think I can match that with MH. With MH do I not need to add PC, VHO or NO to get actinic lighting? Can I just go with MH and no actinic? I would probably need at lease 2 x 175watt MH. This is a real confusing thing to get through. Does everyone use MH because they are fairly new or are they that much better? Is it a craze like trickle filters and DSB ( most people seem to be getting rid of both) ? That is not intended to insult anyone. I just want to buy the best lighting for $300.00, because thats all I have. I'm running 160 watts of NO now and things aren't growing too well. Except for algae :smile:

[robbyville]

Hi Marty,

Definitely not a "phase" in regards to MH lighting. They are easily one of the best investments for the present and future.

to answer your question:

I ran PC's for my first year in the hobby. I felt that they were well worth the money for both their simplicity and ease of use. Of course they are limiting in terms of livestock able to be kept in the tank (But you already knew that!).

I especially liked that PC's enabled me to keep some variety of easy to keep corals while perpetuating my understanding, research, and knowledge of the hobby. At the same time it allowed me the time to realise that I eventually wanted to upgrade to MH (and save the cash to do it). This cost me a little more in the long run but not much since I kept my pc's as supplemental lighting and to simulate dusk/dawn effect prior to the MH's off and on cycle. Many people say to simply bite the bullet and go for the MH's I agree in some ways (cost), and disagree in others (as above).

You can run MH's without supplemental actinic lighting easily, but it's a personal taste of what kind of coloration in your lighting that you are looking for. There are many people who run Venture and Ushio 10k bulbs with no PC's or VHO's so you could easily buy into a MH system without supplemental work. Apparently Venki's bulbs also have great coloration.

Lastly, if you do decide to go with MH I strongly suggest that you go to 250w bulbs and ballasts. the additional costs are minimal, and it ads very much to diversity of corals to be kept. Not to mention the upgrade factor, if you ever go to a larger tank (and who doesn't want to do that)!

HTH

Rob

[martym]

Thanks for the info Rob. I think I will post a add for MH and see what happens. I'm not an electrican so I need a complete set up. We'll see what happens.

[robbyville]

No problem,

If it helps, I purchased a Retro kit that allowed me to install on my own but with no wiring necessary, into a canopy that I built, well a friend built while I cleaned his shop :biggrin:

If the ad doesn't work for you let me know and I can put you in touch with the ebay seller I dealt with. I believe that I paid about $285USD for a dual 250w PFO Ballast and 2x250w 10k Venture bulbs.

I know that others may have good suggestions for reasonably priced pieces as well, but this worked very well for me!

Rob

[Bob I]

Since I am almost always take the opposite stand, I will say that IMHO is indeed MH is a North American fad. I will also say that I use only PC's over my 50 gallon tank. I will, however, temper my opinion by saying it depends entirely what you intend to keep in the tank. If you want to keep Acropora, and have colorful tips on them you will need the higher intensity of MH lighting. If you keep only softies, and LPS like I do then PC's will be just fine.
I realise there will be lots of disagreement, but that is my opinion.
:eek: :biggrin:

[robbyville]

No disagreement here, it definitely depends on what you want to keep. That's why I started with PC's, so that I could spend time in the hobby to be sure of what I wanted.

I'm curious though Bob as to why you think them more of a North American fad? Other than the many beautiful spotlights sometimes seen on some of the Japanese tanks, I am unaware of another high intensity source better than MH. Even the Japanese spots are less intense. I have of course heard and seen some beautiful tanks with many VHO's or PC's and no MH's but still, not many!

Rob

[StirCrazy]

MH is more of a German standard than a North American standard. Over there thy are using the smaller MH for softie tanks and larger ones for sps.

Steve