Best lights after MH?

[IcantTHINKofONE]

What are the best lights after MH? I'm not going to keep anything too difficult. Mushrooms, ricordia, leather, maybe an anemone. I was thinking of the smartlights by custom sea life (2-96 watt fixture). the tank is about 25 inches from top to sandbed.

 

[Len]

For most softies and corallmorphians (shrooms, ricordea), 2 96W PC's (aka Smartlights) will work fine. Regardless of lighting, te only anemones I recommend for beginners is Atlantic Condylatics.

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

Thanx Leonard. I'll definately take both your bits of advice as you consistently seem to know what you're talking about.

 

[Len]

I just remembered you're referring to a 230 gallon monster (correct me if I'm wrong). 2 96W lights won't cut it, unless you only plan on keeping photosynthetic species in a limited area right under the lights. You'll need more like 4 of the Smartlights. A similiarly priced route is three DIY 175W metal halides. You'll get better lighting for about the same amount of money.

 

[IcantTHINKofONE]

Leonard, got any links to DIY 175 watt MH that you are referring to? And yes it is a 230.

 

[Len]

There's several places you can get them at. Here's Marine Depot's DIY offerings:
http://www.marinedepot.com/a_lt_mh_acce ... sp?CartId=

Just add bulb.

 

[pcmankey]

Check out http://oceanencounter.com for great MH prices--you can get an Ice Cap 175W electronic ballast with a 10K AB bulb for $159. The PFO ballasts are only half what the electronic ones are (I believe $119 for dual 175W PFO). Anyway, give them a look.