HQI or Single End MH? What would you choose?

[ylmaya]

OK - The dinosaur old used 400 wattt MH ballasts that I bought from a friend for my new tank burned out after a week. Now I am forced to bite the bullet and purchase new lighting.....

If you had to choose - would you buy 2 x 250 HQI or 2 x 250 regular screw in type single end bulb?

Heat is not an issue - the tank is int he garage and the ballasts are well vented......

I know I can save money by not going with HQI - but are the HQI really more efficient in the long run?

Somebody educate me please......

[Casey]

I would go for the cheapest.

[yardboy]

Don't believe Casey, He has the biggest budget of anyone here, he's just enamored of Iwasaki 6500's, which I don't think are made in DE's.

DE's tested to be much more intense than most moguls, but beware of 1)price and 2)UV. DE's have to be shielded, which adds to 1).

[512148048]

how deep is you tank?
i have been strugling wiht this for a wile i dont have a great budget and i want something that lps sps and leathers will like. i was thinking(this is over a 35 long) 1 250 SE would work but now i am looking at 1 175 DE i think it really is a prefrence.

[ylmaya]

My tank is 29 deep (72 long and 24 back to front).

What do you mean they have to be "shielded"? They will be mounted in a canopy over the tank but it is open on the back three sides for ventilation....???
I'll be using 2 250's - one on each side with the 400 mounted in the middle. I planned to run the 400 for less time than the 250's......when it eventually dies I'll replace that with a 250 as well.....

[Casey]

Shielded with glass so as not to burn stuff you need a glass top on the tank which sucks in my opinion.

[yardboy]

I wpouldn''t put a glass top on my tank, but what I did was:

[512148048]

waht he means is the DE put out a ton of UV light and you need a uv shield for them and so spray does not hurt the hot bulbs

[Casey]

Roger that glass aint cheap either is it? Also I think this guy has a normal hood not a hanger like yours and mine.

[yardboy]

Yea, they call it "low-E glass" and charged me $75 for a 10"X60", which I got in 2 pieces. See http://thereeftank.com/forums/showth...1&highlight=UV

[jeepjon]

I have a MH pendant, that is DE, so it is easy to have a glass shield on it....don't know if that helps, but you could go with a couple of pendants with the glass shields built in. Those 250W HQI's are BRIGHT! ! !

[Joel]

I've had 150 hqis for over a year now and am very happy with them. I had 175w moguls before that and there is no comparison the hqis are way brighter (to the eye anyway). I have a purple tipped acro that turned brown shortly after I got it and stayed that way for several months (still grew just brown). Within a couple of weeks with the hqis I started seeing purple on the tips again and within 4 weeks it was looking better than ever. When I replaced bulbs in November they only cost me $67 each at the lfs for ushio 10ks. I've also heard that they can be run for 15 to 18 months but I don't know if I'm willing to go that long.

[Casey]

I got the same purple tips as you Joel with my moguls in fact you stand a better chance of bleaching things with hqis than moguls it is easier to buy Moguls local here than HQIS also Moguls are cheaper and I have had both the difference in brightness is not that much I also think people want to much light on there tanks that the corals just dont need you outta see the colors I get from my corals with just PC lights on it.

[yardboy]

Show us some pictures Casey (not that I doubt you, I just like to look at your photos!). Which tank do you have with just PC's? I've got 55's on a 20L and while things grow, they always seem to turn brown.

[Casey]

Have not taken pics yet Roger lights are off I have a 20 gal with just pcs and am setting up a 400 and another 30