90 gallon owners, best mh setup? need advice

[gaubow]

just want to try and get some advice from people with the same type of tank as me. It is a standard 90... 48x24x18. I think.

Anyway, I am re-setting up this tank in the fall and I want to go with metal halides with the power compact combo in the hood. I don't trust myself to handle buying the parts separate and then putting them in the existing hood. So I am looking for advice from those with experience on owning these hoods that you can just buy all put together already. I am not opposed to buying the 250w mh's, with the 110 compacts, but I don't know if it will be too much heat... and if it will, I'll go with the 175's.

As you can see, I am not sure and don't want to limit myself to what i want to put in the tank down the road.

Thanks.

tim

[Montanareefer]

I had 2-250 MH's and 2- 96ww PC's over an 80 gallon tank with no problem.

[riderruss]

Check this link http://www.hellolights.com/cllire.html The are a fair price,and with a 90 gal it wold allow you to keep just about anything you like.

[gaubow]

Rider,
are you refering to the clam lights? I can't seem to get a price from that link. Is that what you use?

[kozmo02]

i went with the 48 inch aquaspacelight over my 90 gallon AGA RR. It came with 2x250 watt 10,000k DE halides, and 2x24 watt Acticin PC's, and in addition to this I added 2x110 watt VHO's to the tank with a hellolights.com VHO kit.

It works great.

[BoomerD]

I think it will really depend on what exactly you're trying to keep in the tank. Clams? SPS? For a 24" tank, the 250's should be plenty, but some clammers might push for 400's to really get the light down deep. You might check out one of the sponsors, AquariumLight.com who also sells on E-Bay under the name "Cool Touch Lighting". I have one of his 2x250 ballast set-ups, and it's very nicely put together, and priced right. He also sells retrofit kits with PC's & VHO's, but I'd advise going with the spider reflectors, rather than just the flat sheet he usually includes with the kits.

[Tarasco]

I agree with just about everything said. 2 x 250 halides should do the trick, with some actinic supplementation if you like. Let us know what you decide.

Many of the sponsors here have great deals for RS members, make sure you check them out in the sponsor forum.

Oh, and welcome to RS riderruss!

[Cosmo^Kramer]

1 halide for every 2 ft at least 250's on a 24" deep tank

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by kozmo02

i went with the 48 inch aquaspacelight over my 90 gallon AGA RR. It came with 2x250 watt 10,000k DE halides, and 2x24 watt Acticin PC's, and in addition to this I added 2x110 watt VHO's to the tank with a hellolights.com VHO kit.

It works great.

How did you mount the VHO's in relation to the aquaspacelight?

I've got a 72 inch aquaspace light, with similar bulbs, over my reef, and I'd like to do a similar project with VHOs. The aquaspace light runs hot, and that might be a problem using wood for mounting items.

[captivereefs]

Hamilton makes a great MH hood. It comes with either 96 watt PC or 110 watt VHO actinics.

[Spooda420]

Originally Posted by gaubow

tim

Tim, I have a 120g basicly the same tank as you but the size is 60*18*27 just a little deeper, I got 2 - 400w DE from darin I must say Im glad I went withteh 400s 250s are nice but I am seeing good growth on all my SPS/Clams... just a little more up front you can get the 400, then you can put SPS anywhere in the tank and expect good growth/color.

try CR, Darin is a great guy and altho I had a problem with the product, he has been there for me. I ordered my skimmer/2 iwaki pumps/ 2 - 400w DEs/ etc.... my next order will come from him ( I dont know what it is yet....)

HTH

c