Reef lighting?

[onnen]

What type of light(s) are you using for your reef tank? I'm looking at different options for my 75 gallon tank. Any feedback is appreciated. I have a 75 gallon tank and want to be able to put just about anything in there that I want!!!

[-Ace-]

I run (2) 250MH 10K bulbs with (2) VHO actinic bulbs on my 72 bow.

[David Grigor]

I have a 75 gallon tank and want to be able to put just about anything in there that I want!!!

Keep in mind there is no perfect lighting. Everything has it's pros/cons ( heat, electricity etc. etc. ) and there is no one lighting that will be best for "anything I want" there will always be some compromises with what you can keep or is best for a particular coral or types of coral.

For a 20" tank, T5s or MH should be able to handle the widest variety of options. PC and VHOs more limited to LPS.

[patent]

I run (2) 250MH 10K bulbs with (2) VHO actinic bulbs on my 72 bow.

That is what I had on my 72 bow.

[spsick]

I had awesome results with 2x175w xm10k and 2x 110w actinic VHO on my 75 for a long time. All my colonies were grown from 1 inch frags under this setup.
LPS and softies did very well under this setup as well

[wes]

when I can afford it, I'll be changing out the PCs for T5s, but right now I'm getting healthy growth from a few SPS and several softies and LPS.

[onnen]

What do people think of 2 150 watt MH on my 75 gallon? What would be my limitations?

[David Grigor]

I've had 150W DE before. While you will be able to keep most everything with 10K bulbs, there are some high light demand corals that you will likely not see it's true color potential because the intensity just not quite there.

It's a good choice for a community tank with a little bit of everything but can be lacking if you were into a sps/acro dominate tank looking to maintain some of the more flashier colored corals. It's a decent compromise. I'd personally do T5s though over 150w MH though.

Of course this is assuming good water parameters too. Good ALK/CA/Mg/PH levels and low phosphates. You can never overlook that as being just as important as the lighting itself.......

[spsick]

What do people think of 2 150 watt MH on my 75 gallon? What would be my limitations?

not enough, 150's are kinda weak, only good for aquapods and such. why dont you just but the 2 175 watt magnetic ballasts I have for sale? then you just need sockets and bulbs.

[David Grigor]

I consider 150w DE and 175W SE MH to be about the same. I don't consider 175W to be much of an upgrade. When I had 150W Aquamedic fixture the MH were drawing a little over 200w. So no real difference in input wattage. Most 175W input wattage is like 186+.

Only exception would be the 175W 15K Iwasaki bulbs which can pack quite a punch for only 175W MH and run really well on Icecap 175W ballasts but I have never actually tried them since I'm a retired MH user.

[darasy]

other: i put candles around my tank.

[David Grigor]

No wonder everything breeds in your tank........