Lighting suggestions needed

[Fish guy]

Hi all, I just received the following for free in mint condition. (1) dual
175 watt MH ballast with mogul sockets and cables. and (2) 96 watt power
compact ballasts with cables and mounting clips. I want to use this setup on
my 72 bowfront. The tank has (4) 55 watt PC's on it now and it is a softie
and mushroom reef. I'm going to ditch the 4 55 watt setup for the MH and
dual 96 watt PC system. I'd like to know which K value bulbs to get for the
MH. Some people have told me to get MH bulbs that have a white look to them,
and use Actinic PC bulbs to round out the look. Still others have said to do
the opposite, using blue looking MH bulbs with white PC's. Reply here please
with your ideas and also who's MH bulbs should I purchase? Thanks in
advance, J

[Allamand]

Why not leave the 4 55w CF? IMO they last longer and give you more options
for what
bulbs you can use. Just add the 2 175 MH. I use 10K Ushio and 2 55CF 50/50
over a
46bow and like the color very much. Not sure if it's better to go with bluer
MH, as i have
only had mine for 4 months now.

"Fish guy" > wrote in message
. net...
> Hi all, I just received the following for free in mint condition. (1) dual
> 175 watt MH ballast with mogul sockets and cables. and (2) 96 watt power
> compact ballasts with cables and mounting clips. I want to use this setup
on
> my 72 bowfront. The tank has (4) 55 watt PC's on it now and it is a softie
> and mushroom reef. I'm going to ditch the 4 55 watt setup for the MH and
> dual 96 watt PC system. I'd like to know which K value bulbs to get for
the
> MH. Some people have told me to get MH bulbs that have a white look to
them,
> and use Actinic PC bulbs to round out the look. Still others have said to
do
> the opposite, using blue looking MH bulbs with white PC's. Reply here
please
> with your ideas and also who's MH bulbs should I purchase? Thanks in
> advance, J
>
>

[Marc Levenson]

Hi J,

Be very careful to acclimate your tank to the new intense lighting of the MH. I
have dual 175w 10,000K Ushio bulbs in mine, and they are 9" off the water. I
supplement with dual actinic VHO bulbs, but you could use actinic PC bulbs in
your setup.

Just don't blast your softies tank with this light for the same photoperiod you
currently employ, but rather add a little bit every few days until you
eventually reach your full period again. This should take about 2 weeks to
achieve, and your corals shouldn't suffer. If anything, you should see some
improvement from them.

Marc


Fish guy wrote:

> Hi all, I just received the following for free in mint condition. (1) dual
> 175 watt MH ballast with mogul sockets and cables. and (2) 96 watt power
> compact ballasts with cables and mounting clips. I want to use this setup on
> my 72 bowfront. The tank has (4) 55 watt PC's on it now and it is a softie
> and mushroom reef. I'm going to ditch the 4 55 watt setup for the MH and
> dual 96 watt PC system. I'd like to know which K value bulbs to get for the
> MH. Some people have told me to get MH bulbs that have a white look to them,
> and use Actinic PC bulbs to round out the look. Still others have said to do
> the opposite, using blue looking MH bulbs with white PC's. Reply here please
> with your ideas and also who's MH bulbs should I purchase? Thanks in
> advance, J

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Dragon Slayer]

to answer your question its best to use the PC's for actinic and the MH for
your white. I use 20KK MH only on one of my tanks and while they give great
blue colorations, they don't give the fluoresce that the actinic pc/vho's
do.

HTH
kc

"Fish guy" > wrote in message
. net...
> Hi all, I just received the following for free in mint condition. (1) dual
> 175 watt MH ballast with mogul sockets and cables. and (2) 96 watt power
> compact ballasts with cables and mounting clips. I want to use this setup
on
> my 72 bowfront. The tank has (4) 55 watt PC's on it now and it is a softie
> and mushroom reef. I'm going to ditch the 4 55 watt setup for the MH and
> dual 96 watt PC system. I'd like to know which K value bulbs to get for
the
> MH. Some people have told me to get MH bulbs that have a white look to
them,
> and use Actinic PC bulbs to round out the look. Still others have said to
do
> the opposite, using blue looking MH bulbs with white PC's. Reply here
please
> with your ideas and also who's MH bulbs should I purchase? Thanks in
> advance, J
>
>