what WATT? MH help

[saltysteven]

Lumenarc III light reflectors look great! I have 2 175 mh on a flat reflector right now and i was thinking upgrading to a L3 large with either a 250 or 400 watt. I have a 36x36x21 CUBE and i was going to run 4 atinic vho's around the L3.
what do you guys think?
What watt should i go with, 250 or 400?
and i guess ill use 1400k bulbs- not sure about that yet.

 

[Anonymous]

It depends on what you have in the tank. with a 250 watt and the vho's (I am assuming they are 36") you get 570 watts. That will work on softies but I would go with the 400 for sps corals.

 

[jandree22]

250W x 2 should be plenty

 

[saltysteven]

coraladdict- really? you think that i should get the 400 even at 21 inches high?

Jandree22- i think 2 250s would be way to much, i couldnt even fit those reflectors in a 3x3

 

[jandree22]

Oh, maybe I misunderstood. I saw you mentioned about 2 175 MH so I assumed you would be going with 2 250/400's.

If you're just going to have one over the tank, then I'd concur with coraladdict and go with 1 400W. That's also factoring in that you may want to suspend the light a little higher than normal to help distribute they light over the 3' x 3'. (Normal recommendation is for one MH per 2')

 

[brandonberry]

Most SPS will grow fine under 250w bulbs, especially if you go with something that has a high PAR like the XM 10k bulbs. I have noticed that certain acros do not color up quite as well under 250w bulbs as 400w bulbs though. I've tryed over 20 different types of Montipora and couldn't ask for them to look any better than they do under the 250w bulbs.

 

[saltysteven]

i'm still confused about this 250 vs 400. im not sure what light would be the best here. or should i just skip the MH and go with a series of T5s or VHOs?
what to do

 

[mr_X]

you should consider heat as well. a single 400 watt halide will put off a bit of heat. the T5's won't come close.
if you don't mind putting up with a some heat, i had 2x400 watt over my 125, which was the same height as your tank. i'm glad i chose the 400 watters. i was able to keep sps and clams on the sand bed. before i realized the power over the tank, i cooked a couple stonies, but after i got used to it, the heavy duty lighting was nice to have.
if you get the 400, you can always raise it up if you feel it's overkill, but you can only lower the 250 so much before you electrocute everything :wink: