Metal Halide lights?

I cant remember what tank you have but you would be better off buying a really good reflector, mogul socket, & ballast. 250 or 400 should be good

 

HQI is double ended mogul is single ended. As far as I know, there really is no other difference. In some cases I have read that getting two of the same kelvin temperature rated bulbs from the same manufacturer, one being mogul and one being HQI that they don't actually give off the same visible light (ie one may be bluer or whiter than the other). I have heard that HQI is more efficient, although I have heard the other way around too.

 

not to mention with HQI bulbs, you need to run a seperate UV filter/shield on them...

 

Do you have a chiller? Sump?
If you go with 250w or higher Mh your likely to have heating issues on a 55.
You might get away with it if you ran 175w or even 150w with fans.

 

good point John... I have 2 175w halides without fans on my 55 with no heat issues. I am sure the sump helps with that though. Any bigger on the halides and I am sure fans at least would be needed

 

One other thing you might want to look at is the depth of that fixture, it says it is 18" front to back. You would probably have to hang it over a 55 plus you might not get a lot of light from the t5 bulbs into the tank because they will overhang the front or back or maybe both...

 

i would go a 250 halide. really anything less in the halide range is going to not get good growth/ color/ health at any place but the very top of the tank.
T5s are nice, but hotter than most people admit- the heat is just mroe diffused across a 4' bulb rather than a 8" bulb,....


I like the Single Ended mogul halides.. I am a bit old school though

FWIW in the past i have run sucessfully without a chiller...
- a 55 gallon with a 400 watt AND a 250 watt halide (hard to do w/o chiller) both were not on at the same time...
- a 25 gallon with a 250 halide (air flow is the key)

 

Anna had some great reflectors and ballasts for sale...$360 (at least that's what I remember...I could be wrong on the price) for two reflectors, mogul sockets, and ballasts. Look for her post...good deal!

--AJ

 

i do know that odyssea used to have a bad reputation about their ballasts, something about catching fire... BUT, I am pretty sure that was a while back and those particular issues have been addressed (no way they could stay in business if they werent)

That being said i do own a odyssea pc fixture that i had absolutely no problems with the fixture itself, however the bulbs it came with were sorely lacking... I ended up replacing all the bulbs in the fixture within the first month from a combination of crappy color and outright bulb failure...

15" is still going to give you almost 3" of overhang if you look at the actual opening of trim/brace... is that going to be enough that the t5 bulbs illuminate something other than the trim and floor? I didnt see any pics of the fixture to know how recessed they are, but that would be a concern for me...

just my .02...

 

I've read some posts on Reef Central talking about their drastic improvements on their lights now. They seemed to address all the concerns with peoples lights getting too hot and starting on fire. Someone even tested the par on their bulbs and they weren't too bad. With that said, I would still beef it up with some new computer fans to keep it cool and buy new bulbs for reassurance.

 

I hate to be the voice of reason here, a 55 gallon for a sps tank? I will probably get some crap on this but here goes!A 55 g is the #2 worst tank behind a 46 bowfront(which was my first tank!) for sps. This being the dimmensions make for poor gas exchange at the surface. Simply put there isnt enough surface area to properly diffuse gasses for 55g worth of water and livestock. Remember reeftanks expecially SPS tanks work best if they are low and wide. I would suggest a 40 or 50 breeder they also make a awsome 70 cube! Either way if you decide to put SPS in a 55 be ready to have a lot of heartaches and exercise your water change muscle! Seriously my vote is for a 40 drilled breeder w/a se 250 in a small Lumenbrite reflector. If your keeping your 55 i vote for T5s and good beginner SPS like montipora or piccolipora, definately not acropora. Remember its just my 2 cents...

Dave

 

bil has good things to say.. i would only do limited acros IF you can keep montis thriving.


I have always kept sumps, and think really anyone with a 55 should consider

 

Mabe look for Brandon (gb387) he has had great results with T5 lighting. Is your 55 drilled w/sump coralbandit? If you wanna run any demanding SPS you need to look into at least a sump. www.diyreef.com is closing. :-(. they have a 24" Octopus Sump w/filter sock for $100 thats $50+ off. But remember this will only help your situation, not eliminate it...

or save your $ on the sump and get a huge stock tank as a sump,this is your best bet!

ps try purchasing a small frag of Montipora Digita, place it up high. See if you can keep it alive with the water quality your tank has now. If it dies out fast then you have bad parameters. I have seen massive ammounts of Digita grown under Compact Flouresents. Water quality comes way before lighting intensity...