Is this going to work

[Gman]

I have recently been Emailing a lady from riddel labs who used to farm sps corals. She said they used phillips 4000=4200K 175watt metal halide bulbs in shallow tanks(12-14 deep) and were very successful. I have a deeper tank so my plan is this. I have 4 10watt 50/50 compact floresants. I plan on purchasing 2 175watt mh bulbs and 2 10000 or 20000k 42inch standard florecents. I would love some feed back on this to keep me from doing something stupid. The big advantage is $30 bulbs at the hardware store instead of $250 at the lfs.

 

[ostrow]

How deep is deep? I'm not sure what you want to do will work, esp for SPS.

You can get 10K MH bulbs for under $60 from petsupplyliquidators.com

 

[ostrow]

How deep is deep? I'm not sure what you want to do will work, esp for SPS.

You can get 10K MH bulbs for under $60 from petsupplyliquidator.com

 

[Equalizer]

Ya,

We need to know what size tant you have. 175 watt will work if your tank is only 18 inches deep.

Cant give much advice on the MH bulbs from hardware store other than they omitt a very yellow light and not the clear crisp light you see in reef tanks.

 

[ste2k3]

I know a guy who farms corals and has a 8000ltr tank. he has a 12" deep tank with 150 and 250 watt metal halides. he also has some T5 actinics. see link.

http/www.ultimatereef.net/forums/index.p...=ST&f=8&t=15122

and

http/www.ultimatereef.net/forums/index.p...90&hl=frag+tank

If you want to propagate stony corals, i would strongly recamend that you get a large calcium reactor because of the sheer demand for calcium for calcification. i frag corals without a CR and the growth is very slow, getting a reactor shortly.

 

[Gman]

The tank is 77 gal and is 22inch deep. I know the light off the bulbs would be yellow but I thought the 20 000k might sharpen it up. As for the $60 bulbs at petsupply.com they are in the U.S. I live in Canada by the time you pay the exghange rate and the shipping you get a hard shot in the pocket book. Thanks for posting the link I will check it out right away.

 

[ste2k3]

20000k will look very bkue and would look quite nice but you would not get the fast growth rate. you would get a much faster growth rate with 6500k but it would look very yellow. 10000k is a good compramise.

 

[Great Lakes]

Lighting can be a harsh teacher. The cheaper bulbs at home depot etc.. may not be UV shielded as are the MH you would get from other pet suppliers.

With MH I would go with the 10k also.

 

[Gman]

Thanks guys. I've been doing some more research and the 10 000k seems like the way to go. As for the UV sheild you can usally check the manufactures web site for info on the bulbs. The lady from Riddel labs said they used a sceen of something to keep water off the bulbs and help fillter the UV. I have next to nothing in my tank so I think I will give this a try. Worst comes to worst I will have to switch bulbs. I know the cheap way is not usually the right way, but at this point I can try it; build the reef up nice and slow and see what happens. Thanks for the info.