MH vs. PC?

[Dan Norgard]

I'm in the process of putting my tank in the wall ala Marc and I now have
room to go with any kind of lighting without my wife mumbling something
about the tank appendages being ugly. Which is more efficient to operate,
PC or MH? It would seem the PC is less $$per watt to
replace bulbs but how does it compare for operating costs?
Thanks,
Dan

[kim gross]

As far as operating costs, you will find that the wattage costs not what
uses the wattage. As far as bulb costs, I think they are around the
same for similar amount of light and with MH the cost goes way down with
higher light levels as far as bulb cost.

How I would decide is first determine what types of corals I want to be
able to keep and then come up with the best lighting system for those
corals, and how far away from the light the corals will be. So if you
have a deep tank and want to keep lots of SPS corals and clams I would
suggest MH 250 or 400 watt bulbs. If you want mushrooms, polyps and
other low light corals I would go with PC or VHO lighting since you do
not need the lighting intensity.

Kim Gross


Dan Norgard wrote:
> I'm in the process of putting my tank in the wall ala Marc and I now have
> room to go with any kind of lighting without my wife mumbling something
> about the tank appendages being ugly. Which is more efficient to operate,
> PC or MH? It would seem the PC is less $$per watt to
> replace bulbs but how does it compare for operating costs?
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
>

[Marc Levenson]

Dan,

I just changed my lights yesterday from MH & VHO to MH only.
The jury is still out on what I will end up with. Keep in
mind that my tank is 30" tall.

It was 3 x 250w bulbs: 14,000K - 10,000K - 14,000K
Now it is: 10,000K(250w) - 20,000K(400w) - 10,000K(250w)

I left my six foot VHO actinic bulbs in place. Each bulb is
160w of lighitng, or 320w when on.

With the 20,000K bulb running over the tank, I turned off
the VHO supplementation to see how I'd like the tank, and it
wasn't that bad. I can't decide if I'll run the VHOs or not.

The point is this: With MH you have some upfront expenses,
but there are a number of benefits including the fact that
you can have any type of livestock you like. PCs run less
heat, and don't need a tall canopy. I use an IceCap fan to
blow the hot air away from the water and it works well.

Marc


Dan Norgard wrote:

> I'm in the process of putting my tank in the wall ala Marc and I now have
> room to go with any kind of lighting without my wife mumbling something
> about the tank appendages being ugly. Which is more efficient to operate,
> PC or MH? It would seem the PC is less $$per watt to
> replace bulbs but how does it compare for operating costs?
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
>

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