School me on lights please!

[incept]

So, I am setting up a 90 gallon tank right now as my first. I have a 30 gallon sump and it came with a large hang from the roof hood with two 250 watt metal halide bulbs in it. They are blue in color. The understand sump just has a regular old florescent lamp in it. I keep reading about the different lighting options like T5, LED and metal halide. Aside from the heat and energy consumed by the MH what are the advantages/drawbacks to the different setups? How about colors? I read lots about people using different colors at different times of day... I only have the blue bulbs in mine. I would like to have fish, liver rock and some corals as I get going. I would really like to make the colors really vibrant and stand out. I have painted the back tank panel black already. Some help here please?? Thanks!

 

[Tab28]

I have never seen a blue MH. There are blue spectrum ones that are 20k. They may be referred as blue but when lit have a higher blue cast than say a 10k. The 20k is very popular since it highlights the corals colors. It is totally fine for a reef tank. If you prefer a whiter bulb you just have to replace the bulb. Many reef tanks are between a 14k to a 20k. 10k is better for coral growth but not as pleasing to look at for most people.


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[TRex91]

I would add some blue led strips like reef brites or something along those lines... It'll give itsome more pop to the coralswith certain colors and will help as a dusk dawn effect,, for example you can have the blue leds kick on and hour or so say 10:00am and then halides kick on at 11:00am with the leds and halides on both,, then at night have halides shut off around 8:00pm with only blues leds on and then blues shut off at 9:00pm,, this is just example... It will let you have lights on moor door more time for viewing the tank and have the dusk dawn effect.. Hope this helped

 

[incept]

Just went and checked the bulb to see what it says. The only markings are as follows,

PEC LAMP
MH-250W-TD
BLUE
MADE IN JAPAN

Not even sure how many k's they are... They start up white and turn very blue as they warm up.. I have a smaller flouresent bar with white lights, would that suffice to add for the "dawn & dusk" effect?

 

[incept]

A quick Google search resulted in my finding that they are

Phoenix Electric Company bulbs in blue with a 14k rating..... Seems to be fairly popular...

 

[Tab28]

A quick Google search resulted in my finding that they are

Phoenix Electric Company bulbs in blue with a 14k rating..... Seems to be fairly popular...

They are very popular. They are a 14k but many say they look more like a 20k with better par. I use a combo of 4 lights, My (2) T5 come on at 7am with my blue led which are 45 bulbs up to 3watts a piece. They are on a dimmer so they change in wattages as the day goes on. At 11am my (2) 250 20k mh come on and the T5 go off. At 6pm the mh and led go off. The lunars which are basically a low wattage blue led come on . It may be sound overwhelming and will be if this is your first setup. Do some research and add on what you like later do the road.


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[TRex91]

A long as there are 2 power cords which I'm positive they do,, with timers it will work for the dawn dusk effect,, i just mention leds because out will give more of a color pop..

 

[aslmx]

Radium 20k is the best 250 watt bulb. Imo

 

[REEF RADIANCE]

Hi incept,

I might suggest you go to our site at Reef Radiance - Home and take a look at the led count and layout and spectrum of our LEDs. These are designed specifically to achieve two goals: 1- to maximize the health and growth and look of your coral and 2 - to look good to the human eye. These two are very different concepts and it took us 5 years to achieve the balance we have in our lights. And when you have looked at the specifics - then read the forums for what people say about them. And if you find after doing your research - that you want one different that the layouts on our site - we can build you a custom light. Rick

 

[CKI]

Hi incept,

I might suggest you go to our site at Reef Radiance - Home and take a look at the led count and layout and spectrum of our LEDs. These are designed specifically to achieve two goals: 1- to maximize the health and growth and look of your coral and 2 - to look good to the human eye. These two are very different concepts and it took us 5 years to achieve the balance we have in our lights. And when you have looked at the specifics - then read the forums for what people say about them. And if you find after doing your research - that you want one different that the layouts on our site - we can build you a custom light. Rick

Best lights and service in the industry IMO!