165 gallon system - back from the dead (just in time for Halloween!)

[fkshiu]

My previous lighting setup was 3x175W MH and 2x96W PC actinics. This was fine for the most part, but I felt that the acros and clams weren't being all they could be. So it was time for some overkill.

Enter 2x250W HQI Lumenmax pendants with XM SE 10K bulbs. Kinda fell into a couple of used deals that just happens to equate to more PAR than many 400W systems:



Supplementary lighting would be almost as silly. I build a hood that would fit just under the pendants and squished in two 6' URI super-actinic VHOs and two 5' G-man actinic+ T5HOs cooled by two Icecap fans:



I went a bit overboard in wiring as well using outdoor PVC enclosures (which cost waaaay too much in hindsight):



Here's the whole mess shoehorned under the MH pendants with zero height clearance to spare (just ask Anthony knows all about my low basement ceilings )



The result more than offsets the yellowness of the 10K XMs:


With the MHs off, the tank is crazy insane blue such that this is the least blue saturated pic I could get out of my crappy old A40 (yes, I need a new digicam and better photography skills):