metal halide help

[sgriffin760]

got a question on metal halide lighting for a reef tank

1 is 400 watt mh 6500k good enough for a decent reef for a 110 tank about 2.5 feet deep

2 has any one use one of the mh diy setups from marinederpot.com


they have the light mougel ballest and everthing for like 110$ just seeing if anyone has used this or if you know of a different way to go about it



thanks sean

 

[Squawkbert]

Educated guess: No - if not for lack of watts, then for lack of coverage as a 110g is probably 6' or more in length. 1 light isn't going to cover that.

Also - 6500K - you may want higher, depending on what you want to grow.

 

[dmjordan]

i would do 1 mh for every 2' of tank length. you should do 3 400 watt mh.
10k's for good growth but colors aren't great unless you suppliment with actinics
15k's give better colors, growth slows but supplimental actinics aren't necessary
20k's make coral colors look the best but growth is very slow due to decrease in PAR.
6500k's tend to make you tank look yellow.

 

[dmjordan]

if it is a 4' tank you might want to go with 2 of these
https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=55_64&products_id=116