Lighting questions

[wimbrogen]

first off I am starting a 35 gallon reef tank and i currently have soft corals with a 150 watt Compact Fluorescent light. I am looking to upgrade to HQI Metal Halide. I am wondering if the HQI Metal Halide grow lights for plants are the same? or if they would work the same?


this is the light I'm talking about

http://www.grow-light.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?item=639

 

[ChrisRD]

Yes, the horiticultural halide units are basically the same thing as the aquarium products but most likely you'll want to get a lamp intended for aquarium use as the "daylight" lamps used in horticultural fixtures will generally be too yellow. They'll grow corals, but your tank won't look too good... :wink:

By the time you factor in the cost of a more appropriate lamp to replace the one included with that fixture, you might as well just get a setup intended for aquariums. Also, the unit you've linked is 400 watts - way overkill for what you want to do. A 150 watt double ended (also referred to as DE or HQI) or a 175 watt Mogul (single ended) would be plenty for a small softie tank.

Something like this would make more sense:
http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/Metal_ ... s_(MH_Only)/Mini_Pendant_System_-_175W_14000K_Ushio_by_Sunlight_Supply

You can also look into electronic ballasts if you don't want to deal with a large remote magnetic ballast (some basic wiring with these)...
http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/Metal_ ... s_(MH_Only)/

If you're handy, look into DIYing a setup. A good source for cheap components:
http://www.hellolights.com/

These are just examples - there are many good lighting options in the hobby these days...

HTH

 

[ChrisRD]

BTW, :welcome:

 

[wimbrogen]

the reason i an looking at Metal Halide is because I'm looking to get in to hard and advanced corals how many watts should I go for

 

[ChrisRD]

What you decide to get can really vary depending on tank dimensions, what particular species you're going to keep (not all stony corals are super light demanding) and what particular lamp+reflector+ballast combo you end up running (ie. one of the better output 175 lamps with a good reflector will get more light to your corals than a crappy 250 lamp with a poor reflector)...

If you want to keep your options open and/or plan to upgrade to a larger tank in the future, a decent 250 watt setup would be a safe bet. Lots of lamp choices and enough punch to keep anything. Might be a bit more than you need in a shallow tank with some species, but you can always mount the lamp a bit higher or go with a little bit lesser output lamp if need be...

HTH