1044 watts to much light?

[scootrnerd]

well crap! i guess i better start looking for some cheap mh lighting. i will have to go with two separate fixtures as the tank will have a center brace and i don't want any shadows in it

 

[Grins]

What is the surface area of the tank? A MH basically covers 2' of tank.

 

[Ace25]

Really? My 400w MH states it covers a 4'x4' area but the most intense is in a 3'x3' area. 2' seems kinda small unless your talking about lower MH lights like 150's.

(I'm just thinking of him using 1044w of power, you could go 2x 400w up high and a few T5HO or VHO for that power and get much more coverage)

 

[scootrnerd]

the surface erea is 61.75 x 28

 

[Amphiprion]

Really? My 400w MH states it covers a 4'x4' area but the most intense is in a 3'x3' area. 2' seems kinda small unless your talking about lower MH lights like 150's.

(I'm just thinking of him using 1044w of power, you could go 2x 400w up high and a few T5HO or VHO for that power and get much more coverage)

That kind of spread is only possible with more efficient reflectors, like lumenarcs. It would be much more energy efficient to use T5, MH, or a combination of the two.

 

[clown-lover]

Yeah but even in the high end tanks you see those lumanarcs every 2 feet of tank.

 

[schigara]

Look on Ebay and try to find some used electronic MH ballasts and used reflectors. Get new bulb ofcourse. Probably come out a lot cheaper.

 

[Amphiprion]

Yeah but even in the high end tanks you see those lumanarcs every 2 feet of tank.

Depends upon the type of lumenarc. using one of the regular ones for every 2 ft is just overkill and unnecessary (not to mention that much bulk in a small space. The overlaps will be brighter than the other areas. Now, the lumenarc minis should be used every 2ft, since their spread is much less.

 

[vorlx]

I agree with the rest. PCs are terrible lights for SPS/LPS. They can work, yes, but barely. Look at it this way.

Average Bulbs
1 65w PC light puts out 40 PAR Watts
1 24w T5HO puts out 80 PAR Watts
1 70w MH puts out 90 PAR Watts

so, for you:

16 65w PCs = 640 Par watts for 1044w of power used
16 24w T5HO = 1280 Par watts 384w of power used

Almost 1/3 the power for a T5HO and 2x the PAR output.

Also, like already mentioned, are you really going to change out that many PC bulbs at $20+ ea every 9-12months?

I honestly did not realize there was such a huge PAR difference. So, in theory if I replaced my cheap 520w of PC I could go with a 216w (assuming non individual reflectors) and get twice my current PAR output at half the wattage?

 

[scootrnerd]

ok ok so how much mh lighting am i goin to need i want to do lps and sps and softies and i want them to thrive! not just survive