I bet you could do this with a really small MH...nothing fancy coral-wise though. I think it would be neat. But a pain in the butt to clean. 
super tall pico
- Thread starter monsterberry
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My understanding of metal halide is limited, but I thought it was wattage that determined penetration in water. I think 150 watts is good for 18 inches of depth, and that may be enough since he is likely to only do softies, but I imagine the bottom is going to be very dim.FLESHY;4422723; said:I bet you could do this with a really small MH...nothing fancy coral-wise though. I think it would be neat. But a pain in the butt to clean.
thanks for the reply its going to be a real pain to clean but itll be worth it i think ill post some pics wen i do start
I dont know much about lighting either. What I do know is stuff I have picked up from others along the way.
More watts will probably penetrate farther, but different kinds of light have greater penetrating power as well. Some people refer to this as intensity. Intensity scale goes something like this PC-T5/10/8-MH0-LED
MH and LED are close, but I will give the edge to LED's...that all being said, the only way to really determine it is to get a PAR meter and see what kind of light is getting to the bottom of that tank. Softies can be grown with fluorescent lights, so Im not too concerned.
More watts will probably penetrate farther, but different kinds of light have greater penetrating power as well. Some people refer to this as intensity. Intensity scale goes something like this PC-T5/10/8-MH0-LED
MH and LED are close, but I will give the edge to LED's...that all being said, the only way to really determine it is to get a PAR meter and see what kind of light is getting to the bottom of that tank. Softies can be grown with fluorescent lights, so Im not too concerned.
it sounds like you no a lot about lighting but your right different lighting penatrates more than others it doesnt just go on the wattage
Hmm, maybe I wasnt clear in what I said. It is wattage when it comes to MH that determines depth penetration, not wattage in general for all types of lighting. MH is good if you dont want to spring for LEDs and want light demanding corals, but it is very ineffecient.
People with depths of 24 inches or less are reporting similar or better par numbers with just two strips of mixed stunner led strips, but even par is misleading. A lot of par meters have a bias when it comes to the spectrum of light, which is why running only 10k and actinic spectrum leds leads to a sort of bleached look. LEDs are very specific in their wavelengths and the 10k diodes I have seen have little to no reds, yellows, etc and the actinics have no purple to them. If I were going to do LEDs, I would supplement with two t-5s with one being a 6k and the other being a fiji purple.
And I know that is all off base from the conversation in this thread.
People with depths of 24 inches or less are reporting similar or better par numbers with just two strips of mixed stunner led strips, but even par is misleading. A lot of par meters have a bias when it comes to the spectrum of light, which is why running only 10k and actinic spectrum leds leads to a sort of bleached look. LEDs are very specific in their wavelengths and the 10k diodes I have seen have little to no reds, yellows, etc and the actinics have no purple to them. If I were going to do LEDs, I would supplement with two t-5s with one being a 6k and the other being a fiji purple.
And I know that is all off base from the conversation in this thread.
