200 gallon reef tank metal halide help!

Vishaalkumar · #1 02-27-2012, 02:16 AM

hey guys i have a 200 gallon tank 72"wide and about 36-38" tall i have two 36" coralife lunars HO right now and clearly isn't enough light. I was wondering what kind of color temperature would be best suited as i want to be growing sps and lps as of what kinds of corals i haven't decided but the ones i have looked at seems to have a high demand of light. im going to desing a canopy with probably 3 MH if you guys can tell me what wattage and color temperatures to go with it would really help thanks

Aquattro · #2 02-27-2012, 02:44 AM

That's a deeper tank, I'd go with 3 x 400w. color temp is simply your personal preference. 10k are whiter and brighter than 20k, but white to the point of almost yellow, depending on bulb. Radiums are really nice blue, but less intense and need replacing every 9 months (ideally).
A nice compromise might be a 14k bulb.
Keep in mind reflectors can make or break your bulb choice.

Skimmerking · #3 02-27-2012, 02:49 AM

or go with 3 250's and used Iwasaki bulbs and use VHO Actinic's

Aquattro · #4 02-27-2012, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asmodeus

or go with 3 250's and used Iwasaki bulbs and use VHO Actinic's

While those bulbs would give you more growth than any other bulb, IMO it's the crappiest look I've seen on a reef, and doesn't bring out the colors typically sought by people for display tanks. And once you factor in the amount of actinics to get it less fugly, you might as well go with the 400s at the color you like.
Iwasaki is a great frag grow out bulb, but not a nice looking color.

Lance · #5 02-27-2012, 03:40 AM

I agree with Brad. 3x 400W in a 14 or 15 K would be my choice.

staceyd72 · #6 02-27-2012, 05:09 AM

For a 36-38" tall tank you most likely will want 400W, maybe supplement with T5 or VHO, as mentioned colour temp is a personal choice. I find growth and colour is good with a 14K bulb.
I have a 250G with 2 400W(used to be 3) at 28" tall in Lumenarc (large) reflectors and supplement with four 165w 454VHOs, works for me.

I use 'sakis(6500K) on the frag tank, ugly to look at but grows coral like weeds

Back in the day we used to use the 'sakis on the DT, with the proper Eye ballast they actually look very nice.

Vishaalkumar · #7 03-03-2012, 08:47 PM

i got a 6ft canopy with 3 175watts 14000k bulbs for a good price i was thinking to upgrade the 3 bulbs to 250watt HQI and keep my 2 36" Coralife with 2 atinics and 2 6500k i really like these power compacts they really make my tank bright. do you think that the 6500k's would be too much for the metal halides?

Lampshade · #8 03-03-2012, 10:11 PM

I've found the most growth from XM 10K bulbs, but far better color with other 12-14K bulbs.

You will have to get new ballasts for the 250W bulbs, and make sure that the larger bulbs fit in your fixture.

6500K is REALLY low for a salt tank, they don't have much in the blue spectrum that coral likes, and lots in the yellow/green that algae likes. So you will be helping your algae more than coral, and algae really doesn't need help

Use your PC lights as all actinic for color, they have such low light output that putting "grow" lights on there won't be helping nearly as much as the halides.

Veng68 · #9 03-03-2012, 10:30 PM

what corals will you be keeping? if lps & softies......... you can get away with 175's but if you want SPS then 250-400's would be suggested.

Cheers,
Vic

Vishaalkumar · #10 03-03-2012, 11:41 PM

thank a lot guys for the help! i have decided to build a new canopy im going to make a interesting one i will post the build promising you guys it will be a looker

i will use my 175 metal halides because the bulbs are fairly new near October will switch to the HQI 250 14000k im going to start my build tomorrow as i'm going to the Canucks game