mh vs t5

[vander45]

i just bought a 65 gal tank 36inch long 24 heigh and 18 wide. would it be best to run a 250 watt mh? will it make my tank hot enough to need a chiller? also about how much do they cost to run a month? any input is appreciated. thanks

 

[iantower]

Well Id say 2 250's would be to much unless your planning on keeping a sps dominated tank. I have the same dimension tank and I run two 150's on it with T5 supplements for actinic and thats more then enough for my LPS/Softies/Anemone. With two MH, even my 150's, heat is an issue even in our climate, and I would assume two 250's in a closed hood would be even worst. You would need a lot of computer fans and would probably be evaporating off over 2gals a day, I'm close to that myself.
I guess what Im trying to say is if I did it again Id go LED or if money was to tight T5... I love the look of MH's but in a closed hood they are rough. If you have the room to lift them off your tank 18" then you may be golden.
Im rambling.
Hope it helped a bit.
Cheers!

 

[vander45]

great info thanks ian

 

[crazybizzle]

not sure if this will help u but my 65 gal is 48 long 25 high and 13 wide and im running a 6 bulb t5 suspended 6 inches off the top and with that i gotta be careful, sometimes some sps and lps show signs of bleaching if i put them to close even with moving them up slowly. but like usual everyones tank is different. what my corals dont like yours might and vice versa....as for mh never had them so i cant say

 

[Blob-79]

very strange you get bleaching with your t5's.. my sps the closer I get them to the metal halides the crazier the colouring gets.

 

[crazybizzle]

very strange you get bleaching with your t5's.. my sps the closer I get them to the metal halides the crazier the colouring gets.

yeah its weird i dont get it either?thought it was my parms at first but it was the lights at least thats what my experience shows me from placements?

 

[fishit]

I tried my  2 250w on my 55 when I had it suspended with fans and not good brought the temp up 10 deg in 20 min so I guess what I'm trying to say is yes you will have some serious temp problems you will need 150w or smaller for that Moguel base are more expensive then the double ended bulbs I run 2 250w and 4 t5s with 10 leds and they are not that expensive to run...  Just try your 250w but watch your temp might work but I doubt it

 

[phi delt reefer]

most efficient halides are going to be mogul base 175w VERTEX or ICECAP ballasts running the iwaski 15k 175w bulbs. I would go with two of those and a couple t5's (one blue plus and one purple plus ati bulbs) in LET Reflectors -couple reef optix 2 reflectors to keep costs down unless you have some cash - spring for the lumenarc is you the money