Need MH help!

[silly34]

Ok I am wanting to go ahead and put some metal halide bulbs over my tank pendant style. I have a 125g setup and think 2 fixtures should do it. But my question is on how much wattage. HelloLights has to fixtures 175 and 250. Being pendants how high from the water should the lights be? I think the tank is 22-24" tall w/ roughly 2-3" sandbed. I figured the 175w would be enough but then I kinda worry about how even the light is going to look in the tank and whether or not I will need to raise the lights to get better coverage (thus needing more watts!).



But anyhow whaddya think?

 

[MontanaRocknReefer]

For that depth of tank I would go with the 250ww MH. Are you going to keep sps corals? Johnny

 

[silly34]

I want to be able to keep anything..mu-haha. I have 2 96w 50/50 Aqualights currently. I figured when I get these MH's that I would rebuild the canopy and in doing so incorporate these lights and the moon lights into it. Kinda like an open top but have shelves inside the canopy. I figured on the 250 but they are expensive.

B.

 

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Nothing cheap in this hobby unless your a DIY'er! Johnny

P.S. But the advice is cheap!

 

[DougBak]

You might want to check out the article in Advanced Aquarist concerning this:
Spectral Analysis of 250 Watt Double-Ended
10,000 K Metal Halide Lamps and Ballasts
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2004/feature1.htm

 

[hillbilly]

Double ended 250 watt MH is the way to go. They are much more efficent that the screw in types. Be sure to use the glass over them, because they are so intense they can burn corals with uv. You can use 10ks, I have used them, but colors of corals are much better with 20k, and no other lights are necessary.

 

[jsbradbury]

If you go for the single ended, I would get 3 bulbs to cover the tank. One every two feet. And then I would make sure their about 10-12" off the water. My old man just bought a 3x 175w setup for his 125g next time I go over there I'll let you know how it looks.