What is better about metal halide lighting?

[lucydlpn1]

Hi group,
I just bought a new lighting system. It is 250 watt metal halide with 2x96 watt power compacts. It is for my 72 gallon tank. My question is how will my new lighting system affect my current tank inhabitants. I have 2 brain corals, several mushroom rocks, 2 unnamed soft corals,2 birdsnest coral frags, a sponge, a few anemones, damsel, red snapper, tangsx2,tomato clown and percula clown. My LFS says i need to upgrade to metal halide and I once again hit ebay and took their advice but I don't really know why. Can anyone explain the differences to me
Thanks :roll:

 

[spaulr]

What you **need** for lighting is totally dependent on your inhabitants. Halides are great for stoney corals, for high light creatures, or for pentrating down in a deep tank. How deep is your tank? If its 24" or under the 250 is going to be VERY bright. That being said, lots of aquarists have been successfull keeping the same corals under T5s and PC lighting.

I would make sure acclimate all of your corals to the new halide lighting. Use egg crate to diffuse the light, and slowly increase the amount of time the halide is on for. Say 3 hours for a week, then increase to 4 hours next week, etc.

One more thing, when an LFS says you need to upgrade be wary. Some are more interested in padding their pocket book than helping you out.

Do a search for halide lighting on this board. TONS of stuff will come up.

HTH

 

[lucydlpn1]

My tank is only 22 inches deep. Do you think the 250 watts will be a problem?

 

[mr_X]

i use 400 watt halides on my 24" deep tank with no problem. i have assorted soft and hard corals. you'll be fine.

 

[shavo]

what was the original lighting and how long was the light cycle?

if this light is more much more powerful than the one you had you might want to cut the light cycle down a bit to acclimate. make sure you don't torch anything
you should be fine. also what is the metal halide? 10k? 14k? 20k?

did I spell everything OK X?

 

[lucydlpn1]

The original lighting is 260 watt pc. I thought I would start with 3 hours and work my way up. The MH is 14k. I was thinking 8a pc lighting 11a mh with pc 2pm off goes MH and pc only then 7pm off goes pc and then moonlight. I will slowly work up to 6 hrs of MH with the pc lighting. What do you think?

 

[shavo]

here is how I have mine set up on the timers the total is time 10 hours. 1 hour power compacts, 8 hours of metal halide and power compacts and 1 hour of power compacts then moon lights the rest of the way. it's just how I do it, i never asked anybody's advice on it.

 

[Anonymous]

The original lighting is 260 watt pc. I thought I would start with 3 hours and work my way up. The MH is 14k. I was thinking 8a pc lighting 11a mh with pc 2pm off goes MH and pc only then 7pm off goes pc and then moonlight. I will slowly work up to 6 hrs of MH with the pc lighting. What do you think?

That sounds like a good idea to me. Your critters will need time to get use to the extra intensity. Keep an eye on things at first to make sure the corals are adjusting. I would also start with the MH not being on at the same time. This way you will be able to have time to see how they will effect the temp of your tank. I run my actinics for 12 hours and the MH 6.5 hours each with about 4 hours of overlap. My system is 2ea 250 watt MH (10KK) and 2ea 4 ft VHO actinic. Tank is 26in deep. I run my actinics from 11a to 11p, MH1 from 1:30 p to 8p MH2 from 3:30p to 10p.

 

[lucydlpn1]

Well it has arrived and my tank looks so dark now. I think I may need to change to 10k bulb. Any input??

 

[blackcloudmedia]

THis happened to me. I got a metal halide and the tank is bright under the halide, but the rest of the tank is dark. It seems like it was brighter under my power compacts!!!

 

[ChrisRD]

What are the dimensions of the tank? If it's longer than 3' you'll likely need another halide to get even illumination. A common rule of thumb is to use one halide per 2' of tank length, but a lot depends on what reflector(s) you're using and how high the lamps will be mounted.

 

[lucydlpn1]

The tank is 48 inches so I guess I will be buying another light. This has to be the most expensive hobby but I love the look of a reef