1000 Watt Mh-$100---?

[fishheads]

so i know your supposed to have a minimum of 5 or 6 watts per gallon...kinda rule of thumb,for power compact lighting..how do you figure that with MH....isnt it rated as more watts per gallon........3x175=525mh 2x165=330vho total=855 divide 110=7.77 watts per gal.........how many more watts would i add to the metal halide.......

[Witfull]

,,,throw that rule away!! its not watts,,,its intensity another issue with high power lighting is they need to be farther form the water surface, if its a pendant you will light up the room and blind yourself. if in a canopy,,,,severe heat issues.

but if youre dead set on getting them,,,the money you will save, spend on a chiller and monthy elec bill.

[burning2nd]

intensity, penatraion, Lumes.

you could use the 1000 watts for good....

a single 100watt with a few small t5's will give you the abilty to do what ever you want... but your room is gonna be hot... the 1000watt MH bulb runs loud, its gonna put off a lot of heat, and as said above could raise your water temp to the point where you could need a chiller...

but if the deal is right i would bight.... you could always use the lights to grow something else.. (outta the tank) LOL

but really 1000watts will look funky a super bright spot in the middle. and darker sides......

2 250's and 3 or 4 150 (175's) will spread out better......

[fishheads]

i have on there now 3x 175 mh across with 2x165watt vho actinic 72 in. long that i run with the MH's.its very noisy...plus 2 big fans for cooling.....is this sufficient for acro's.....and sps

[burning2nd]

how deep???

if thats the case, your only gonna make it worse by geting 1000watts

[fishheads]

26in......i was going to take the others off

[cheeks69]

With your current lighting setup you can easily keep SPS just place it towards the upper sections of the tank. Also keep in mind that one bulb even 1000w bulb will only cover a certain area, using typical spider reflectors one MH bulb will cover 24"x24" section. For you to cover the entire tank with that one bulb you'd need to suspend it several feet above the tank.

[SueT]

I have kept sps corals and in particular acropora and montipora{plating type} for 9 years now and have never used anything more than a 250w halide. I have a 120g and have 2 250w 10k reeflux and have all the growth and color you'd ever want in a sps tank. 1000w halides are not needed to keep these corals. The most important thing after lighting is keeping the water stable for calcium, alk and mag. After that they grow like weeds.

[fishheads]

thnx guys im also looking for a good, cheap calcium reactor....preferably used to cut down on cost

[cracker]

I also ran across a similar deal on a 1K mh light & a rail type mover. It is an air cooled box type reflector and with a fan to vent. Thought it might work with the mover on a big tank. Are standard 1K mh bulbs the right color? If not where does one get say, a 10k, 1000watt bulb?

[SueT]

What I have found for those running a large sps tank and wanting to use a 1000w halide, including my friend, they use a 20k. This friend of mine also has his on a rail mover. The frags I got from him right before Christmas, have undergone some major color shifting. His had some incredible colors, but thats the problem I see with those using this much light. Those of us that don't and then try to acclimate frags to much lesser lighting end up with a lot of color loss.

[cracker]

Good point SueT Thanks

[boozeman]

this person lists 6 X 1000w MHs...
http://www.exoticcoral.com/new_tank.htm
hate to see that electric bill

[burning2nd]

"5 foot and 10 inches tall"

AKA

Deep.

1000watt'rs arnt the only think that dudes runing.... you know he has to have a chiller...

im willing to bet that the head CEO charman/owner guy of his elctric Co, knows him by first and last name personaly

[SueT]

Omg...$$$$$$$$$