500 Watts of Metal Halide!

[CrohnieBoy]

All:

I am thinking about using two 250 watt MH bulbs to light my 125 gallon tank.

some plants, schooling fish, NO co2

Is this too many wpg?

Comments?
Suggestions?

I have a feeling Barr and others are going to tell me I will have more algae than fish, but want to hear the collective's opinions...

 

[cdawson]

No way!!! Drools..... I've seen a planted 90g w/ co2 (BTW you better use CO2) and two metal hallides bulbs....it was awesome.
I actually think you should be using CO2 for that many WPG.
It also depends on the type of plants you want. Make sure you use background plants for the background, mid range plants for the middle area and so forth. You actually only have just under 4 watts per gallon with those lights and some people use 5. Just control the nutrients everyday and you're not going to have too much algae.


BTW this should've been posted in the planted forum.

 

[CrohnieBoy]

lol; thanks for the drool,... i think

So how do we go about getting this moved?

I couldn't decide if this post was best in here or the planted section, so you are the tie breaker.

(Looking up to the skies): can someone move this?!?

 

[Cearbhaill]

I'd be looking at the heat they generate.
I'm in such a hot climate that to challenge my A/C that severely would be silly. I can't get my living room tank under 85ºF to save my life as it is.
But if you're in a cooler climate and need the heat that's a different story.

 

[HungryGoldfish]

You'll also get the cops knocking on your door asking where the pot is.










(some reef people consume so much electricity their power bills go through the roof and the police suspect indoor pot growing. Other times they use heat-imaging to determine unusual areas of heat, also suspecting indoor lighting for pot plants).

 

[Fishiebusiness]

You'll have to be careful with that much light, your plants will be at a high growth rate and susceptible to shortages of nutrients which algae will exploit to grow. I think 2x150 watt would be plenty for your situation.

 

[cdawson]

Yeah I agree, unless you know your stuff stick to the lower wattage. I had enough trouble evening all my nutrients to daily doses in my 50g. I imagine with that much light it'd be expensive to maintain a tank like that every year.

 

[slipknottin]

Where are the cross bars on your tank? Usually MH bulbs are used to cover a 2' spread.

 

[Richer]

500 watts of MH lighting for a 125 is far more than you'll ever ever need. Even for a CO2 supplemented tank.

If you don't want CO2, I'm not even sure I would suggest going with MH lighting... far too bright imo. You could probably get away with hanging shop lights from your ceiling, and that should get enough light into your tank to grow plants.

If you want to go the CO2 route, I'd personally go for the 2x150 watt route. That should be quite sufficient for growing a high tech, CO2 supplemented tank.

HTH
-Richer

 

[The Gipper]

I wanted MH lighting for 10 years, ever since I saw a great 135 gal display tank at the LFS, with 3 x 250w MH pendents and every Dupla product you could imagine. Loved the ripple effect. I've done fluorescent for years.

I have two 175w rectangular pendants on my 120 gal and love it. your 500 w on your 125 is 4 watts/gallon, on the higher side but definitely not excessive.

If your tank is a 6 footer, I agree with Slipnottin about the 2 foot spread. With only 2 lights, you will definitely have brighter and less bright spots in your tank.

I also agree with Richer, in terms of the CO2, etc.
That much light will be EXTREMELY difficult to keep algae at bay without going high tech on everything else (CO2, K, P, NO3, etc)

Read this thread:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=16177