Lighting question... 150W HQI or 175W Mogul

[bergie33]

I have heard that the DE HQI bulb output is better than the SE mogul style bulbs. For my 55g tank, in which I am planning for the most light craving inverts, would you use the 150w HQI setup or a 175w mogul base setup? I am building the lighting myself in the hood that I just made. I was going to go with two 10,000k bulbs, along with the TEK T5 retrofit with Geisemann 54w pure actinics. The tank is 18" deep.

The thing I like about the DE bulbs is that I can find a retrofit reflector that is more enclosed and comes with UV protecting glass. With the mogul retrofits, it seems like I have to find a way to mount some glass to protect from UV.

Also, I see alot of HQI retrofit reflectors on E-Bay that say they are for 250w bulbs. Does that mean they won't work with a 150w bulb? Why?

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Karl

[reefermike1]

the mogul bulbs dont need uv glass, the glass on the bulbs itself filters uv. id go with 175w over 150w anyday, the ushio? 175w 15k puts out par of that of a 250w bulb. as far as reflectors u would probably just need a different socket, but id just get the reflector for the bulb u want to run. id also go with actinic+ or blueplus t5 bulbs rather than the pure actinic.

[bergie33]

Originally Posted by reefermike1

the mogul bulbs dont need uv glass, the glass on the bulbs itself filters uv. id go with 175w over 150w anyday, the ushio? 175w 15k puts out par of that of a 250w bulb. as far as reflectors u would probably just need a different socket, but id just get the reflector for the bulb u want to run. id also go with actinic+ or blueplus t5 bulbs rather than the pure actinic.

So you think that a 15k bulb would be better mated to 2 T5 pure actinics than 10k bulb?

Also, the more I look, it seems like there are a lot of 250w MH kits that are cheaper or same cost as the 175w. Would 250w be too much for a 55g tank that is 18" deep, with the light being about 10" above the water? Or, should I stick with the 175w?

[Loverotties]

175w.

[DevilBoy]

175w

[Wiskey]

I had 2*250W XM10K's over a 50G tank and it was a heat and fans nightmare.

For how skinny that tank is, and what a pain it was for me to get the reflectors for the mogul bulbs to fit,.. I would go with the 150W HQI bulbs,.. it's the only way you'll have room for the Atinics as well IMHO.

Whiskey

[bergie33]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

I had 2*250W XM10K's over a 50G tank and it was a heat and fans nightmare.

For how skinny that tank is, and what a pain it was for me to get the reflectors for the mogul bulbs to fit,.. I would go with the 150W HQI bulbs,.. it's the only way you'll have room for the Atinics as well IMHO.

Whiskey

I was actually thinking about the same issue. The hood is 13" wide, and I did notice that the HQI reflectors were narrower.