Why am I considering Metal halides???? Is something wrong with me?

zheka757 · May 5, 2022

Can some one please tell me I'm making mistake or something. It's just that i have being watching to many MH videos of how great it is for acro tanks. and i eventually want to fill my 400gallon 30'' deep tank with acro's. Right now now i have 7 led fixtures over my tank and 4 dual t5 fixtures. growth is so-so with acro's. Also i have not seeing a metal halides tank in over 10 years. and im not to hiped up on how some corals looked under MH.

Hypan · May 5, 2022

I’m with you. If I was going to do another acro dominated tank I’d go halides for sure. Loved my old 20k 400w radium’s and my 250s with reefbrites.

Chrisv. · May 5, 2022

Hypan said:
I’m with you. If I was going to do another acro dominated tank I’d go halides for sure. Loved my old 20k 400w radium’s and my 250s with reefbrites.

I also loved running 400w radiums. The electric bill was annoying and I hated running a super loud chiller all the time. But man, I think it's hard to beat a 20k radium in a lumenarc reflector.

X-37B · May 5, 2022

Well here is a few pics of my 120 under 2 250 14k halides and 2 orphek bars.
I have been a halide user for 30 years and just took the 120 down and replaced it with an 80g.
I just took them down on my 45 frag system and run 3 16hds and am happy.
They grow coral faster than leds, imo.

zheka757 · May 5, 2022

I entered the hobby 6 years ago with leds as "best thing" i love the pop color on some corals, but i cant get true pink out of anything, on the other hand I dont like the look of dull green on most pictures of metal halide tank, but i love the pinks under MH. Is it just me or some colors are dull under MH? I wish i can see more tanks of MH in person to make a call on it.

rtparty · May 5, 2022

Absolutely love my halides and have no plans of going back to all LED. Use halides for growth and true colors of everything and then use LEDs for that blue pop. Win win in my book

zheka757 · May 5, 2022

what kind of set up would you do on 96x30x30 tank? 4 400w?

rtparty · May 5, 2022

zheka757 said:
what kind of set up would you do on 96x30x30 tank? 4 400w?

If you plan acros down low, yes

X-37B · May 5, 2022

That sounds about right.
I ran 2 in lumen bright reflectors on my 120. I had no problem growing stags on the bottom.
Here is a growth pic from starting on the bottom.

Ultraman · May 5, 2022

250’s are fine

bobnicaragua · May 6, 2022

I think 250 halides alone are not going to cut it for all acros on a 30” deep tank.

blaxsun · May 6, 2022

I think if you're looking to be sold on MHs that you've come to the right forum!

zheka757 · May 6, 2022

so just did a quick shopping around online for MH, o boy, very limited on options now days,

reefingaz · May 6, 2022

zheka757 said:
so just did a quick shopping around online for MH, o boy, very limited on options now days,

Hey I have 3- Reefbrite 250w MH with 2 month old 20k radium bulbs and matching 250w ballast. All in excellent shape and amazing lights. Pm if interested smoking deal on this pack. Will sell 1-2 or all 3 you pick.

zheka757 · May 7, 2022

reefingaz said:
Hey I have 3- Reefbrite 250w MH with 2 month old 20k radium bulbs and matching 250w ballast. All in excellent shape and amazing lights. Pm if interested smoking deal on this pack. Will sell 1-2 or all 3 you pick.

Thank you, im still in considering stage of getting them. Can I ask why you don't use or want them any more? Led look better over MH?

reefingaz · May 7, 2022

zheka757 said:
Thank you, im still in considering stage of getting them. Can I ask why you don't use or want them any more? Led look better over MH?

No they look amazing. I was only in need of one MH and found a deal too good to pass up from a guy not far from me. He sold me 4 reefbrites 250w and I only needed 1 for my frag tank. Will sell each of the other three 250w halides for $150 with matching ballast. Smoking deal online they sell for almost $600 each.

Gp! · May 7, 2022

It seems like every so often I read about someone stocking up on their favorite bulb because they are being discontinued. I would worry about availability in the future.

If you can overcome that then I don't really see why you should avoid them if you want them. They certainly work

ikaros70 · May 8, 2022

I just switched over to led, have run MH since my first tank. That would have been around the mid-late 90’s. No old man jokes, lol!
I am almost ready to rip the led fixtures down and put the MH back up.
I tried led fixture on my frag tank (40 breeder).
Got brown algae on the sand bed and glass.
Removed led fixture from 40 breeder and put T5 fixture back up. Within about a week brown algae was gone.
I now have led fixtures on my 210 and getting black algae, I’m about to rip the leds down and put MH fixture back on the 210.
So far, my experience with led hasn’t been great, lol! They seem to be great at growing algae in my tanks, lol!