new 120g, low clearance MH

[kwirky]

hey, this is my first time posting on here. I'm getting back into aquariums, and decided to go for the gusto and start up a marine reef aquarium. Figured if I could have water qualities good enough for tangayikan freshwaters to spawn on their own, I could graduate to marine.

Anyhoo, I'm having difficulty deciding on lighting. I'm in Canada, and I have a budget of $300-600 total for my lighting (bulbs included).

Here are the various limitations/requirements for my setup:
- tank is 48x24x24 inches
- there's only 20" of clearance from the tank to the ceiling. (located right under a drywall concealed cold air duct in the basement). I think this is a tough thing I'll be dealing with. (can't raise/lower lights really)
- during the summer, the basement is at about 68-72F. (winter, it's a cold cold 65F buurrrr!)
- i absolutely LOVE the way metal halides look (the rippling), I would prefer a setup with MH lighting.
- my hood will be DIY probably to save $$.

I've scouted around already, and I can pick up standard TAR, 250W Advance ballasts for only $65 canadian a piece, from a lighting wholesaler. (and 175W for $55 each)

Thing is, there's a large wattage jump from 2x175 to 2x250. would 2x250 generate too much heat? would it be too much light for beginner's corals?

if i went with dual 250W iwasaki's, would I have to suplement with actinic lighting? if so, is NO enough, or is VHO required?

and if i go 2x250W iwasaki supplemented by VHO actinic, would I be too high in my wattage, and fry coral? then would 2x175 in another brand of bulb be enough with a good reflector? (tank's 24" deep)

and with MH lighting, what are some good ways of keeping fish in the tank? I've heard eggcrate melts under it...

sorry for all the questions, and thanks to anyone who can help.

 

[fungia]

250 watt is perfect and it won't be too much heat or light ime. iwasaki is yellow so you want some vho actinics. i would go with xm or reeflux 10k bulbs.

will your hood be a pendant or canopy? if it sits on the tank, then you can enclose it with wood on three sides and use eggcrate on the backside to keep fish in.

 

[Len]

:welcome:

If you haven't seen Iwasakis in person, I recommend you search one out before committing to them. They give a lot of PAR, but most people dislike the way they look. I agree with the XM 10K or Reeflux 10K recommendation. These bulbs are more bluish white and pleasing to the eye while not sacrificing too much intensity. Personally, I still prefer to run these 10K with actinics.

 

[kwirky]

I've gone around to the LFS's, and had a look at some running MH's. I like 10000k or higher colour temp. 20000K is a little too blue. I did some looking, and found out Hamilton Tech. will ship to Canada, and they can ship US postal (no duty). Makes it MUCH cheaper than anything I can get in Canada.

I've considered to light the tank with Hamilton Reefstar 250W 10k HQI x 2. (500w total).

I'm thinking of running the HQI on their own. should I jump for the 14000k then?

I like these pendants because they're only 3.5 inches from top to bottom. still gives me room to raise and lower them when needed (20" clearance). I don't think I could build a quality DIY pendant myself that short.

even though it was 85F outside, and 68F in my basement today, I still would like an open space/no canopy in case the MH's run hot. So I'll be going pendant. I like being able to walk up and look down into the tank on the liverock n such.

 

[Len]

Without actinics and using double ended "HQI," my pick with be the Phoenix 14KK. It's a very very nice color IMO, and the PAR is very impressive for a bluish white bulb.

 

[das75]

Was just a little higher than your budget but running 2-250W 14K DE Hamilton bulbs in PFO pendants, mounted in a DIY enclosed hood over a 145g in Edmonton. Ballast is a dual PFO. Like the colour but running 2-40W 50/50 NO fluorescents more just to allow me a dawn/dusk effect and lengthen the time my tank is lite for viewing.

With the 5" clearance from the water and height of pendant (~4") was able to keep my hood height to about 12".

MH supplied by
http://www.oceanaquatics.com/

Even with the house lately getting into the 80's I can keep the tank at 79° just with fans (basement sump).

 

[kwirky]

ok I've figured it out... done lots of reading and found that Iwasaki bulbs get great response from corals...

So I'm going with the following:
PFO 36" reflector (supports 2xMH and 2x36" flourescent and 95% reflectivity) ($54)
PFO 2-55W VHO ballast. ($76.97)
two PFO 250W Iwasaki ballasts ($101 ea)
two mogul plugs ($5 ea)
two T5 endcaps ($12 ea)
one PFO 10000K 36" T5 bulb ($27)

total with GST and shipping ($CAN) = $441

So the total will come to $450 with shipping and taxes. perfect! just within my student credit card limit (I've got $50 on there from a book I just bought).

I'll be able to cure my liverock without loosing too much of the coraline algae I think with the T5 bulb.

And it'll be timed perfectly that when the cycling's about halfway done, I'll have the $$ to buy two Iwasaki bulbs and a T5 actinic!

woot! go student budget!

I'm getting the whole kit and kaboodle from J&L aquatics http://www.jlaquatics.com