I love MH lighting.

[caferacermike]

I have recently fallen in love with my lights.

I had a MH fixture with 2 175 DE setups that did not live to my fullest expectations. So I changed things.

You may have seen my thread about swapping my 6"x6" 175de setups for 12"x6" 250w 14K Pheonix running off of icecap ballasts.

Well I had the shields shatter when I finished it, too sweet, and I finally got my new custom tempered pieces yesterday. I had gotten a bit of sps from a few ultra nice members CLINT-FISHYPETS and STEVE-SCUBASTEVO (yeah you guys are awesome and have been draining my wallet). The pieces stayed alive. I'll just put it at that. Not much color, ok no color they began to brown. No polyp action at all for a month. I hated seeingthis happen because these guys were so nice, and because that SOB Clint said he had faith in me. How could I let him down? So I reached DEEP in the wallet and changed things around. So back to the broken shields, all I could do for a week was use the 6x6s I had around. Yeah was I bummed, my bulbs were completely covered and I was only using the reflections. But I noticed somehting. Things became active and began to stir. Last night I got my new shields and now my entire tank is so bright it hurts my eyes. No more black stripe in the middle.

Today all of my sps have gotten their color back. Everything has polypped like nothing I've ever seen in any shop or home tank. It is simply amazing. I just got this GIANT efflo and was very worried about it, it polypped out with thousands of white fingers today! I picked up a handful (about 15) rics from a reefer and they all doubled in size today. Not doubled from my size but from the original owners size. I sent him pics and he could not believe it. My frogspawn has 1/2" thick tentacles but is only one head. My hammer sprouted about a dozen baby heads. Woofrigginhooo.

Yes I am stoked about what has happened. Thanks for reading the best day of my reefing career.

Now onto the best part.

I found an offer for a brand new custom handbuilt fixture today.

3x 400w DE 10K bulbs,

4x 65w full act PCs,

ballasts

and 8 moonlights

in a beautiful fixture with fans.

I WANT IT!!! Am I being greedy though? Seriously I need a more experienced voice of reason. I'm thinking, gimme gimme gimme. I want I want I want and can afford the damned thing.

Also a more reasonable

3x250w DE 10K

4x 65w act PCs

ballasts

and 8 moonlights

in a beautiful fixture with fans.

Is this a more sane setup? I still have the I wants I wants for this fixture as well.

So is 1,500w overkill for my modest 75g? What about the 1,000w fixture?

I would entertain offers for my current setup in PM's. Look in DIY to see what I did.

And to think I hated MH setups when I first got mine.

[hobogato]

nice to get things the way you want them eh? sometimes overdoing it isnt good tho - i think if you go with the 400 watters, you will run into some heat issues unless you are running a chiller. you will also need to acclimate your tank (corals) to brighter lights by running them for less time per day and slowly increasing back to where you are now over a couple of weeks or more.

[hammondegge]

mike, that's great. i love it when everything is happy. the lights obviously contributed, but there is a lot more that you are doing right to get the tank to thrive. i would stick to the lights that you have and enjoy them. everything changes with light intensities and your tank needs to adjust. algaes are going to grow faster and consume more nutrients and the cleanup crew will grow from eating the algae and the coral will grow faster and consume more calcium etc......etc. best to let it balance out and wait for the really big tank. that said, i just doubled the light on my 55, running one 400w mh and 190w of actinics, and it looks great! dontknow.gif laughing5.gif

[caferacermike]

I do have a 1/2hp chiller to help with heat but so far my temp is stable at 79F without ever using it. My cleanup crew is huge, about 75 small hermits, 600 3/4" ilnasarius snails, and 6 huge cucumbers. I did notice a small amount of brown diatom like algae. I never had any before. I couldn't grow algae to save my life in my tank.

So if everything balances out would the 1,200w of MH over a 75g just be way to much?

Ace you seem to be one of the most trusted for SPS. What would you pick

2x 250w DE 14K pheonix 2x 96W actinics, 700w total

3x 250w DE 10K 4x 65w PC (2 actinic and 2 12K), 1,000w total

3x 400w DE 4x 65w PC actinics, 1,500w total?

Of course I want everyone to help me pick the best set up for my 75g. This is the week if I order the lights as work has been good. I'm afraid i'll pander away my money by begging Ace to let me frag from his tank next and won't have the money for hte lighting at another time.

Friends at work tell me that coral is stronger than crack. They told me that when they heard about my midnite run to drain my ATM to by my efflo earlier this week. I'm begining to believe them, but what the hell do they really know? They said the same thing when I slept all night in the airport waiting for my blue eyed panaque plecostomus that was supposed to arrive at 11:45pm but didn't show until 3:00am.

[hammondegge]

you are a sick man.....dont you know that the first step in healing is to admit you have a problem....you must return to denial quickly.

[hammondegge]

If there really must be a next step you should consider SE and VHO actinics.

uhhhhh, seriously happy3.gif

[caferacermike]

Rob I didn't admit anything, I was only repeating what said to me. They've never tried the coral so what do they know?

Sooooo..... You say SE? I was thinking that as well however they don't really make slick SE fixtures like I want or that I care for. I want everything in one neat and tidy package. That's why I was thinking of uprading my fixture to this one as they look the same. Easy to suspend fromt eh ceiling as mine is, this also works great as my canopy is a fake. Only three sides with a brace in the back. taht allows the heat to just rise up and away. Maintenance it just slides off and I have access to the entire tank.

Anyone think 1,000w is to much? I already have an offer on my set up that would make this a reality for me.

[hobogato]

well, i think lighting is some science and some personal preference

on my tank, which is 24 inches deep, i run 3 @ 250 watt SE 14k and 2 @ 250 watt DE reeflux 12k, and 8 @ 65 watt PC true actinic. i like the color and look of the tank with this combo, and i am getting decent growth - i do run a kalk and calc. reactor too which helps.

most of the people i have talked to or read say that 25 inches deep and under is ok for 250 watt lights, but a deeper tank than that would be better with 400 watters.

clint (fishypets) also knows tons more about lights than me, so you may try to get him in on this discussion as well.

side note - if you want to take a trip to my house after visiting your atm, you are welcome to icon_tongue.gif if interested, i can pm you a list of some of the corals i have that are fraggable right now, but all of the frags will be pretty small until my corals grow out a bit more.

[ejaustin]

you are a sick man.....dont you know that the first step in healing is to admit you have a problem....you must return to denial quickly.

That's the *funniest* think I've read in I don't know *how* long. hello2.gif

ej

[hobogato]

I have recently fallen in love with my lights.

oh btw, you can love your lights, just don't LOVE your lights, it could get painful, and im sure it would scare your fish tongue6.gif toothy12.gif

[dieselndixie]

not to jack your thread....but is it true that if I moved from PC lights to MH lights on a 55g the power bill would skyrocket?

once I upgrade skimmer....the lights are next, so I am already studying t5/vho/mh

need info

[GKarshens]

I have 2x250w MH and 1x400w MH with 2 pumps, and 2 Seios plus various equip. and the total hit on my elec. bill is about $30.

[caferacermike]

I agree with Gkarshens. When I swtiched from flouros, 240w, to 500w MH and PC my bill did not really change. Basically think about this, I was thinking of 1,000w for 8 hours a day @ $0.15 per kilo hour. So basically I would be paying $0.15 per hour to run my lights and that big of light would add $36 a month to my bill. So right now I pay about $18 a month for my reef lighting.

[hammondegge]

plus the added heat that you have to remove from the house and/or tank. still it doesnt amount to much.

[fishypets]

Hey Mike how are the frags you got from me doing?

[caferacermike]

Clint they are doing great now with the new lighting. I was so surprised at what a difference it made. They have all begun to molt over the rocks. The caps are doing the best of course. I must admit that to my surprise the milli went necrotic the day after I turned on the new lights. It was doing the best of all the frags before the light change. It went from full and fuzzy to white skeleton in a day. I apologize for losing that one. My friend says the zoas are taking over his tank but are helping to out compete his algae problem. Said the algae has been receding since putting in all those zoas. The ric is huge and fat.

I was hoping to try and meet up with you again sometime soon. You mentioned something about a RTG(?) in another thread and I'm stumped.

You know I got a giant efflo of some sort earlier this week. About 7" acrossed. It was browned out when I got it so I'm unsure of what it is. Seems to be getting a purple hue and has white polyps only on the edge of the rim. The polyps in the center are still brown. It also polyps rfom all over the flesh, not just the obvious bumps that would be polyps.

[fishypets]

Glad to hear Mike your sps like the new lights. I can repalce that milli next time you come over if you like.

BTW......RTG=Rapid Tissue Growth, a good thing!

[caferacermike]

Thanks Clint.

Hey quick question, do you feel that in what I wrote about my new efflo and addressed it to the efflo king was an attack on the seller? Or do you see me excited about owning it and watching the colors come back? I'm in a bit of a pissing match on another nameless forum about it.