Metal Halide Light for $100

[Cuttlefish]

Hey guys, i'm fairly new to reefkeeping but so far (3 months old) the tank is coming along nicely. Coralline Algae is beginning to encrust all over the place. Pink, purple, maroon, feathers dusters growing on dead coral and even plumbing. My question is this..

I noticed a lighting chart somewhere, maybe it was this site. It indicated that for stony corals and other reef organisms, the required lighting wattage is double what I presently have. Its a 75 gallon tank and all I have atm is a Nova Extreme T5 48" fixture. Two 54watt Actinic Bulbs and 2 Daylight bulbs for a total of 216 watts. I was wondering.. If I added a 250 or 400 watt Metal Halide light over the center of my tank, but behind the T5 strip, would this supply adequate lighting for almost anything I might want to put in there? What about spectrum? Anyone have any advice for me?

This is the light I had my eye on. Some guy on Ebay is selling em for under $100. Now thats something I can afford. What do ya think?

Scratch that.. tried to post a link to the ebay auction but Im not privy to that yet. If you search on ebay for aquarium light, it wont be long til you come across the light i'm talkin bout

[usmc2b2004]

First off Welcome to TRT.

Second are you in a real rush for the lighting? Do you have a canopy?

The reason I ask is that if you like Halides I say go Halide, lots of people like the shimmer or the penatration you get. Also if you are wanting to go halide and just can afford it dont be in a rush take time and research. What are you wanting to keep? Im guessing Anemones and SPS?

[Cuttlefish]

definetly not trying to rush it, thats pretty much why i'm asking around before I buy. I just came across the reasonable cost of adding 250-400 watts to my tank and wondered if it could be that simple. I personally love what the t5 has been able to do so far, things are really lookin nice in there. But yes i'd like a couple more anenomes, some leathery soft corals I suppose. basically I just want to make sure I have enough lighting, then be limited by nothing when I start lookin for things I find interesting.

I guess a more specific question would be which spectrum is better for what things. These bulbs seem to come in two types.. 14k and 20k (i think).

I can make a canopy to accomodate the new light, have a pretty nice woodshop. So Id just need to figure out the best placement for both lights and design it around that.

[aquawolf]

Welcome to TRT!!!

If you have good handyman skills, you may be better off with a T5 retrofit kit that would serve your needs. If you search for a thread on here called VZ Reef, you will see what is capable when using T5 lighting. You may be able to fit 6 - 8 bulbs over the tank depending on how you set it up.

As for the halide lights on EBay for $100. One of the first things you need to find out is if the fixture is UL Listed. It is my understanding that if it is not UL Listed and it catches on fire and burns down your house, the insurance company may be able to get away without covering the damages. I am not trying to scare you, as many people probably have these lights and have not had a problem with them, but it is something you need to be aware of.

14K will be a bluish white and should give you good coloration and growth, while a 20K bulb is much more blue. It will make the corals pop, but the PAR will be less and growth will be a little slower than with the 14K bulb.

[Cuttlefish]

Originally Posted by aquawolf

Welcome to TRT!!!

If you have good handyman skills, you may be better off with a T5 retrofit kit that would serve your needs. If you search for a thread on here called VZ Reef, you will see what is capable when using T5 lighting. You may be able to fit 6 - 8 bulbs over the tank depending on how you set it up.


14K will be a bluish white and should give you good coloration and growth, while a 20K bulb is much more blue. It will make the corals pop, but the PAR will be less and growth will be a little slower than with the 14K bulb.

I hear what youre sayin but I already have the 4ft T5 strip that gives all the 216 watts i have in it. What I'd be doing right now is just adding more light to it. The shimmering effect of the Halides does look cool and evidently 250-400 watts of it is quite affordable. I'd have the benefits of both lighting types. So I could try to mount the bulb on a canopy and have it shining down behind the 4ft fixture, over the center of the tank. In which case I could just place intense light loving corals n what not in the center of my tank. When it comes down to it, $100 to handle all the light needs I could ever have is very manageable. But I still have a couple questions bout that...

Is there a chance of another 400watts being TOO much light for a shallow 75 gallon tank? perhaps I should just use a 250 watt bulb..

Will the addition of more light cause my new coralline to change? The rock is between 2 and 3 months old. Added two pieces, by two pieces. Pink, purple and maroon algaes have re-encrusted the rock due to the way light has been striking it. I just hope that adding more light doesnt mess too much with the nice growth I have.

I realize more light will definetely cause more undesireable green algae to grow as well but if that happens I'll just return some of the hermits I had to put in my algae scrubber... now that my tank is stabilizing there isnt enough algae growth to support all of 'em and things were starting to get pretty competitive in there. I could swear some were starting to chow on stuff I wanted ungrazed-upon, like coralline algae. Until I got around to selling em back to the LFS, I let them have a go at the remote scrubbers algae. PErhaps I'll keep them in the DT after all, if adding this halide will produce more algae there.