Halide Ballasts

[njreef247]

I have coralife ballasts they are 150's should i replace them without there being a need to.Also, is there anyone out there that would say its better to go and get new reflectors and bulbs to greatly incrase the PAR values. Over getting a new light unit. I have a 120 48x24x24 and im trying to do a budget being that i have the misses to try to explain the costs to :givebeer:...so in everyones mind stay with the 150's and get new reflectors and better bulbs or just go with 2-250 watters and call it a day. The guy that is selling the unit is hooking it up as far as price goes im just lost and wanting ask questions first. Im getting decent growth now i have a huge colony of TRI-Color acro but i bought it like that its growing but my other frags are slowly taking off,is this an affect of unsing lower watt lighting ? or using sub par equipment? I kno that i can almost get the same par values if i used the best of the best for a reflector and bulb .And is there a optimum level of PAR that must be achived before the corals grow like weeds?

 

[E.intheC]

what types of corals are you looking at? with SPS/LPS even, you're going to greatly benefit from a 250 watt fixture

 

[njreef247]

acros mainly and zoos at the bottom if i get these new lights i just want to make sure that the heat will not be an issue. I was thinking since they are in pendants and i have a canopy that i could just cut open the wood to let the lights shine into the tank, maybe that will keep the heat down due to the fact that the lights will be on the outside and not housed within the canopy. IDK just throwing out ideas, i also have a 4 bulb T5 retro fit inside the canopy which is why i would put the lights pretty much on the top with holes cut out. Those contain ATI bulbs now i do have a another 2 T5 retro fit unit that i could throw into the tank so it would give me 6 bulb T5 54 watt and 2-150 DE XM 12k what do yah think options options lol