175W enough for SPS?

BlueAbyss · #1 02-07-2009, 07:46 PM

Alright I'm stuck. Again

Is a 175W MH gonna be enough to have SPS?

The tank is only a 20 tall, and I'd rather not have a more powerful light than I need, since I do plan on running them for 8 hours a day. But if I get the 30 tall which has the same dimensions but longer, I might want something more powerful... any thoughts would be helpful.

BlueAbyss · #2 02-07-2009, 08:44 PM

Hmm I should have put this into a different spot, it should probably have gone into the equipment forum.

Snappy · #3 02-07-2009, 09:43 PM

Yes you can grow most sps under 175 watt MH but many of them will need to be placed fairly high up to get good colour.

Veng68 · #4 02-07-2009, 10:47 PM

Iwasaki 14K (sometimes called 15K) 175 watt MH with an electronic ballast has been tested to have the most PAR of the 175 watt bulbs.

Cheers,
Vic

Aquattro · #5 02-08-2009, 01:31 AM

I used 175w for the first year of SPS keeping. They'll live, and grow a bit, but not the same as you'd get with bigger bulbs. Especially if you go deeper, you'll want at least 250w.

Veng68 · #6 02-08-2009, 01:56 AM

The 175 watt Iwasaki with an electronic ballast is supposed to have as much PAR as any 250 watt bulb according to Sanjay Joshi.

It's a pricey bulb though.

Cheers,
Vic

fishytime · #7 02-08-2009, 05:16 AM

If you do the 20" deep tank, you could go with HOT5s, 6+ bulbs would do nicely. Just thought Id give you a bit more to think about.

BlueAbyss · #8 02-08-2009, 08:21 AM

Well, the plan is to have 2 T5HO bulbs running 12 hours a day above the tank anyhow. This was more because of colour considerations more than anything, I want to use a 10K bulb because I like the really bright white sunlight effect. I was planning on using a XM 10K bulb with a PFO electronic ballast run 8 hours a day, and and 2 actinic or 50/50, maybe a Fiji Purple T5HO on for 12...

Does this change the equation at all?

OH, and the tank is like 15 inches deep, part of the tank will have a 3" sandbed (the seagrass part)....

GreenSpottedPuffer · #9 02-08-2009, 03:15 PM

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1571128

lobsterboy · #10 02-08-2009, 03:22 PM

I used to be using 150wt MH, at a depth of 21in, and have switched to t5's. with the t5's at the same depth, i have experienced much more growth, and color in my SPS.