Lights-250w or 400w?

[frozenfish]

Need some help, I'm trying to decide should I go with 250watt mh or 400watt mh. I would like to have a variety of corals not all sps would like some softies as well. I have a 135 gallon that is 6 feet and 20 inches from the sand bed to surface. I figure I would use 3 light and a couple of actinic vho aswell. The tank is fish with about 200lbs of live rack and 30 gallon sump. Any advice will help. Thanks

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

You could grow all the SPS you want with the 250 watters-but way up there you still might choose the 400's for some warmth!

 

[cuda]

I have been running 3 250w metal halides on my 135 for two years now over sps ,lps and leathers with good results. The bulbs were 12k but recently switched to 10k ventures which look like a lot better bulb.

 

[EmilyB]

hehe.. yes Gary, probably the Yukon is a good place to run some 400w...just a bit north of here

Heat will be an issue with 400watters over a tank, may also fry a few of the softies...

I'd do 250w and research your bulbs well.

 

[cuda]

you might checkout www.coralreefecosystems.com they have a good selection of bulbs and a comparison chart showing tanks lit with different bulbs.

 

[Iron]

depends on what you keep. But if your not going dedicated sps you may want 2-250w and 1 400w in the middle. If you choose you use only 2 halides you may want 2 -400w. but if you use 3 the 400w in the middle would help give a place for light demanding sps/acro. If power and heat are a concer 3 250w will still grow sps. i have sps growing on the botton of my 120 =purple monti. i use 6.5k 250w and 4 actinic vho. My next tank I'm planing i will use a 400w in the middle fro faster growing /better coloration of sps. But heat was an issue in my 120g. You will have nice sps with 250w you just need to place them better 400w seemss not as much of a concern

 

[mariner]

If electricity usage is of no concern, I would go with the 400's. The price difference is pennies. Heat will be not much of a difference. Both will throw off a lot of heat but if your in a cool spot(like a basement) it won't make a difference. The nice thing with PFO is you can always swap out the bare ballasts in the ballast box and replace with another wattage ballast. If you buy the 400's and decide later that you want the 250's, you caould always buy the 250 bare ballast and throw it in.

 

[Iron]

heat can be a big concern with 400w i couldn't use 400w without a chiller. i didn't want to buy or run a chiller so I went down to 250w. I have a 20g refugium in my garage to help keep cool but it still ran hot. 400w maybe better lighting but heat can be an issue for some setups= a big diff IME