Metal Halides... 175/250s or 400??

[BCOrchidGuy]

Okay I was so happy with my power compacts but then I decided to move the aquarium and build it into a wall. I took all the coral and live rock out of my 72 gallon and put them into a 45 gallon, some of the live rock went into my fish only tank. The 45 is a 3 foot version, it is sitting directly under a 400 watt MH and the corals etc are all looking awesome, everything even the mushrooms is looking great.
Now before I get the whole works set up again I'm trying to decide if I should go with 3 175 watt MHs I was thinking 2 10,000k bulbs and a 5500k in the center... or should I just stick with 2 175s of 10,000k, 2 250s at 14,000 or should I just go for a 400watt. Priced out the 400 is the cheapest way to go if I get a radium. The two 250s are the next cheapest and of course the 3 175s are the most expensive. The tank is 48x18x19 tall. With the tank being only 19 tall and given that I will have a 2 inch sand bed in there, I think the 175s and the 250s will give me lots of light, the 400 though could be just the ticket as long as I keep it at a decent height above the water.
Whats your opinion, real experience.....

[stephane]

My own opinion is if you want to keep stoney coral go with 2 400 radium
on HQI ballast they are top nucht in my book. Lightning is a very fuzy
subjet and 10 people will tell you different

[StirCrazy]

Personaly I think 400 watt bulbs would be a little overkill on a 18" tall tank.. my recomendation would be 250 watt.

you are going to need 2 bulbs on that tank no mater what (good rule of theumb is one MH for every 2 feet in lenght) you can squeze 3 feet if you can run the bulb a little higher, but you are getting dimmer at the edges at this distance.

the reason I recomend 250 watt over 175 watt, is for bulb options. (if you already have the 175 watt stuff then go with that, but if you have to buy new stuff then go 250 watt)

I have a 175 watt on my 24" deep tank and I am getting awsome growth out of SPS, but I am upgrading to 250 watt stuff so I can get the better type of ballast and also run different bulbs.. if you go to 400 watts I personaly feel the move is for looks not better preformance.. Ie.. you want to run the radiums (which is another cheep option, if you like the "Blue look" and you have the room to mount them a little higher)

Lighting is a big personal thing.. I personaly belive that a lot of us are putting more light than we have to into our tank and then atributing coral growth to the larger lights whare realy we could get the same growth and color from lower watage lights.. I look at digitata in my tank, and stuff on the oposite end of my tank at a depth of 24" below the PC's is growing just as fast and showing just as much color as stuff on the other end 6" under the MH. I know that stuff will grow under a 60 watt bulb but my point is the stuff getting 10X the amount of light isn't growing any beter/faster.

ok going to stop befor I start rambling on here.. it is a huge topic with many different directions you can go in

Steve

[BCOrchidGuy]

I guess I should have been clearer. I am going to run cheap tar ballasts, I can't justify the cost of electronic ballasts at this point.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by BCOrchidGuy

I guess I should have been clearer. I am going to run cheap tar ballasts, I can't justify the cost of electronic ballasts at this point.

the ballast for the 400 watt radiums that Stephane is talking about are "Cheep tar ballasts" but if you don;t have anything bought at this point.. I would chose between 250 and 400 watt.. the ballast that run the radiums nice are under 100.00 they will also burn a 10000K 400 watt ushio real nice also.

the tar ballast that I am using for my 250 watt AB bulbs are a little more comming in at about 150.00 each.


Steve

[BC_Grl]

I'd say that I would prefer the 400w Radiums using the Sun Argo ballast (for a "whiter" look). I have the Bluewave and frankly, they must call it BLUE for a reason lol. I would've preferred the "whiter" look to our tank.
If you are looking for our house and the halides are on, you will see blue glow from the windows. Thank god it's not a red light! 8)

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by BC_Grl

Thank god it's not a red light! 8)

:shock: you say that like there is something wrong with red lights

Steve

[BC_Grl]

well, good thing there's nothing wrong with living in the blue light district

[BCOrchidGuy]

Yeah but if it was red think of all the extra money you could have to spend on the tank.

Thanks for the replies everyone I really appreciate you taking the time to reply.

One more question though, when you say Sun Argo ballast, is that a name brand? I guess the Radiums have a real blue look to them, if I used the Radiums do I need actinic as well or is it blue enough to minimize the need for the actinic.

[stephane]

No you dont realy need it but good to have a some light for dusk and dawn one daylight and one actinic on a cheap NO fixture from hardware store 20$ will do the trick

I use my 3 VHO actinic combine withthe radium but it make only a small visible difference mostly only on the green coral