hi i am looking into upgrading to metal halide and i was wondering how many watts would look good. its a freshwater tank and no plants. i want the mh purely for the look( shimmering effect). so i dont want to buy a system and it blow the fish out of the water with light. whats a good sized wattage on the tank? thanks
2 250 watt metal halide on 110 gallon???
- Thread starter cichla81
- Start date
WOW man 2 250 watt metal halides would give you enough light to keep the highest light requirement plants . you'd probably get an algae explosion if you dont have any plants to compete with the algae for nuitrients. just get 2 100 watt halides and youd be fine (and have a very bright tank with a great shimmering effect).
i wish i could afford halides lol
i wish i could afford halides lol
i thought that would be a bit much but wasnt sure. this guy on cl has two 250 watt mh with moon lights for 200 bucks for both( steal). they are independent. each light fixture is 23 inches by 12 by 2. do you think if i placed one in the middle of the tank,( its a 5 footer) would look good?
it will look great, but without plants to out compete the algae, the tank is going to go green quickly. including green water.
probably not a good idea to go that route without plants.
probably not a good idea to go that route without plants.
You want one light, mounted high. And something in the 75 watt range at that. Anything over 150 and you'll have headaches (heat, algae, shy fish) that aren't what you're looking for in FW.
LED lighting will add a shimmering affect also. The powerbrite lights I actually really like the look of though they are pricey for the light you get. Much cheaper than a metal halide setup though. Could do some cheaper T8 lights with a couple powerbrite LED lights to add the shimmering affect.
As far as the 2x250MH it will definetely be bright but could go with a bulb with a higher kelvin rating than your standard bulb and you will get the shimmer without a blinding white light. In my 120 reef I use 2x250 halide and 4 65w PC and even though the PC were actinic it looked horrible with the 6700k halide bulbs, but much better with 10000k.
As far as the clip on lights I dont think you will get it high enough over the tank to avoid the "spotlight" look. I would think if you gonna stick with MH to go with 2x75w otherwise it has to be very high over the tank to avoid the spotlight affect.
As far as the 2x250MH it will definetely be bright but could go with a bulb with a higher kelvin rating than your standard bulb and you will get the shimmer without a blinding white light. In my 120 reef I use 2x250 halide and 4 65w PC and even though the PC were actinic it looked horrible with the 6700k halide bulbs, but much better with 10000k.
As far as the clip on lights I dont think you will get it high enough over the tank to avoid the "spotlight" look. I would think if you gonna stick with MH to go with 2x75w otherwise it has to be very high over the tank to avoid the spotlight affect.
Dan Feller;3834567; said:
Lot of factors go into that. I have 2x250 and still have to use heaters for my reef tank. In the summer without a heater it gets to about 78 max. In the winter without a heater though it drops to upper 60's overnight if I dont have the heater. Far from needing a chiller in my case.
Going to depend on how warm his house is, whether tank has glass top or open, if he has a sump and what water volume is, etc.