Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Im fixing to order a MH setup for my 28gallon Bow front tank. Im just wanting some opinions. I have 110watts of PC light. One Actintic and one 10k. What would you guys recommend? 175 or 250? Not much difference in price, but I figure the 175 will be enough and a little easier on heat and power. Also, how about the spectrum? 10k? 20k? Im thinking 20k and know its bluer but with what I have I think it will look pretty nice and I dont want the yellow look at all.

ANyway, Im open to any and all suggestions.

Heat will be your main concern. Shawn (Salt'n'lime) has a 175 on his 29 galon and it looks good. I think he is using two NO actinic bulbs and a 10kk AB 175 watt bulb. He has great growth and colorful SPS. If you are planning on upgrading to a 75 gallon or bigger in the near future I would consider going with the 250 with a Ushio 10kk. Mike found some good deals on The Ushio's on E-Bay. You might look there in the industrial section for the ballast too.

Here are some ballasts:http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... ry=ballast

Ushio 10k 250w's for $68 or so + shipping on eBay, and 1000bulbs.com has M58 ballasts for $40 plus shipping. hellolights.com has reclector/mogul base combo for $30 plus shipping. I did 4 x 250w setup with the above items, for all total $600.

Here is a link to a 20kk bulb: http://oceanencounter.com/Merchant2/mer ... y_Code=MHB John has one and likes it. They do have to be replaced more often.

Here is a deal I was looking at. This is a Coralvue bulb, electronic ballast, mogul, reflector...seems to be the works.

http://www.diyreef.com/shop/product_inf ... ucts_id=80

It seems to be a pretty good deal for what you get and from what I read the coralvue bulbs are not only bright but also less blue on the 20k bulb which I dont think I want really blue blue.

I know I could go a bit cheaper with a total DIY setup but this would be an electronic ballast and I figure the savings on electricity and bulb life might pay for itself.

Does this seem fair? And thanks for all of your input so far.

John Hughes

That's not a bad price for an e-ballast complete setup.

You won't find a better deal than that.

I heard that those coralvue 20k are very nice bulbs

Thanks guys. From all the research I had done that looked to be the best deal. I will probably order it today. Thanks again.

Is your canopy built yet, if it is not already built you may want to this of a rather tall canopy to help keep down on some of the heat. Already having 110watts of power compact lighting and adding MH lighting you will build up alot of heat when all of the lights are on. Also take into consideration that the heat of the lighting and fans blowing over the water cooling the tank down will probably double your current evaporation rate. Just something to take into consideration.