Best MH

[reefermadness]

I am in the process of stepping up my lighting. I am doing 4' with a tek mate t-5, and the last 2' with MH. Any suggestions on the best MH to use? Should I go double end (HQI) or stay SE (bulb)? Let me know your experiences and favorites for growth and color. Also bulb suggestions and reflectors would be nice to hear about as well. Thanks in advance.

 

[surfn]

SE all the way. there are only 2 reflectors i would use, either a lumenarc 3 or PFO parallel. the PFO parallel has cut outs for T5's which is great.

as far as ballast/bulb combo's. i'm running a PFO HQI ballast running a radium bulb. i will be running this bulb FOREVER! i love it.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hey Surf why SE's?

 

[surfn]

Hey Surf why SE's?

i like SE's for several reasons.

-they spread light out better instead of straight down
-better selection of ballast/bulb combinations
-ALOT more variety of bulbs available
-ALOT cheaper
-different types of reflectors and many more types available to choose from
-dont run nearly as hot as DE bulbs do.


you rarely ever see anyone with a large tank run DE bulbs (180g and over). and you rarely ever see anyone run 400W DE bulbs. you see plenty of people run 400w SE's though. DE bulbs pack a punch of intensity straight down which alot of people dont like.

only benefit i can see to running a DE bulb is if someone likes to have that pendant look with a complete open top. granted you can do that with SE's too, but i dont think i've seen many set ups like that, that are easy to set up with SE's.

basically, go with a DE pendant if you are a "plug and play" type of person, and go with SE if you are more DIY and want to tweak your lighting to your preferences.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Great info! I have had both, but not the DE long enough to decide about it. When I do my big tank again, I'll have SE bulbs as well for many of the reasons you listed.

 

[reefermadness]

Awesome, this is the reason I asked the queston. I have HQI's right now and they are, like you said, limited to the amount of light they spread. It seems all the acro's grow great with good color right under the bulb, and everything else kinda of looks blah.... I am swithing to a canopy, thats the reason for the light change. You two say SE?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

For a 4 ft tank I would do (2) SE with a lumenarc reflector.

 

[IBMGeek]

Why the t5s, you can get the MH and supplement with VHO, Ive seen some really nice tanks with this setup. If you have the T5s then just use them, i have 4 tek t5s as well.

 

[JGoslee]

i like SE's for several reasons.

-they spread light out better instead of straight down
-better selection of ballast/bulb combinations
-ALOT more variety of bulbs available
-ALOT cheaper
-different types of reflectors and many more types available to choose from
-dont run nearly as hot as DE bulbs do.


you rarely ever see anyone with a large tank run DE bulbs (180g and over). and you rarely ever see anyone run 400W DE bulbs. you see plenty of people run 400w SE's though. DE bulbs pack a punch of intensity straight down which alot of people dont like.

only benefit i can see to running a DE bulb is if someone likes to have that pendant look with a complete open top. granted you can do that with SE's too, but i dont think i've seen many set ups like that, that are easy to set up with SE's.

basically, go with a DE pendant if you are a "plug and play" type of person, and go with SE if you are more DIY and want to tweak your lighting to your preferences.

Good info Al. I agree with this completely. Right now I'm using de 250's on my 58gal which is perfect for my size tank(36"). If I was to get a 4' tank or larger I would be using se 400watt radiums.

 

[reefermadness]

I have the TEK which is a 4' laying around. I plan on using it because it is an upgrade from my coral life pro that covers half of the tank. The last 2', I am using a MH because I want to keep more acros, and some nicer colors. My tank has a center brace ( it is a 24x18x72) and does not allow me to use the three MH as I would like. Hope this clears things up?

 

[BigBadZoaDaddy]

What would be the outcome if you used say two 400 watt DE over a 4x4' tank but had them on light movers that moved back and fourth 3' ever 13 min? ANyone familiar with that? and see why it would or would not work?

 

[surfn]

What would be the outcome if you used say two 400 watt DE over a 4x4' tank but had them on light movers that moved back and fourth 3' ever 13 min? ANyone familiar with that? and see why it would or would not work?

well, the set up cost is gonna be KILLER.

also, there is a very limited supply of 400w DE bulbs. so you dont have much to choose from if you cant find a bulb you like.

 

[reefermadness]

Maybe the DE will give me a better coverage on a 24x24x18? I wil go 250w though. The 400w is overkill and just more money in electricity.

 

[Dace]

you rarely ever see anyone with a large tank run DE bulbs (180g and over).

I happen to have a 180 with 250w DE with stealth luminarc reflectors and it looks awesome. i do have to admit that if you go DE you would have to buy luminarcs to get the best light spread availible with the DE bulbs. There are not spots in my tank that look dim. if installed properly you will have a nice even spread of light through out the tank.

 

[BigBadZoaDaddy]

What would be the outcome if you used say two 400 watt DE over a 4x4' tank but had them on light movers that moved back and fourth 3' ever 13 min? ANyone familiar with that? and see why it would or would not work?

Well the plan will be to sell 2 400 SE 1 15 K 1 10K on a PFO ballast and 2 150 watt HQIs w/ 14 phenoiks bulb?

I found a good price on de 400 coralvue w/ a sunreplacator pendent cover a
2x2' 8" off surface?
With a coralvue 20K?

What do ya think?

 

[da6d2003]

I'm glad someone else asked this question too. I'm really tired of all the dead spots.

I'm just rying to decide on whether to go with 250w or 400w SE. And then which ballast.

My tank is 56" long but only 16" front to back.

 

[reefermadness]

I am hearing a lot about radium bulbs. Are these DE or SE bulbs?

 

[surfn]

I am hearing a lot about radium bulbs. Are these DE or SE bulbs?

SE bulbs in 250w and 400w. they can only be run on HQI ballasts, electronic ballasts (icecap), and magnetic pulse start ballasts. and the spectrum of the bulb will vary quite a bit depending on the type of ballast they are run on. but the most popular is the HQI ballast. the downside to this, is the bulb is overdriven, and the life shortened. so thats a $90 bulb every 4-6months.

i've also heard they come in 150w DE, but i imagine the spectrum is QUITE different than the SE bulbs.

a good read

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=828056

 

[da6d2003]

I don't mean to hijack this thread. I'm just adding my thoughts here. I've been in a similar search myself.

After much reading and soul searching I "think" I've made up my mind. I want to reuse as much equipment as I can.

Because of the tank size I think that the lumenmax3 is the best reflector for me. I'm able to use the same HQI DE bulbs that the tank is used to and keep the ballasts I've got. Hopefully these reflectors will give me the improved coverage that I'm looking for. The size of these reflectors will allow me to ditch the PC actinic and upgrade to (2) 4' vho actinic.

I'm a bit confused about the vho ballasts though. If I'm going to run 8' total of fluorescents should I use the icecap 430 or 660? Is there a better ballast to use?

 

[Lifestudent]

I don't mean to hijack this thread. I'm just adding my thoughts here....I'm a bit confused about the vho ballasts though. If I'm going to run 8' total of fluorescents should I use the icecap 430 or 660? Is there a better ballast to use?

The 430 can run up to 12' of vho while the 660 can run up to 16'.

I have the 430 now running two 110 watt VHOs (a total of 8' ) without any problem.