[JPfish]

I'm trying to decide on lighting for my new 90 gal AGA rr tank which is 48" long and about 25" high. I allready have 2 X 96 PC's Actinic 03's and I want to add 2 X 250W MH 10K's

What do you all think of this setup? I plan on putting the 2X250W MH on Spider reflectors.

My question is which bulb is better? USHIO 250W 10K or Aqualine AB 250W 10K? both are the same price.

Will my choice of lighting provide a nice crisp white/slightly blue appearance?

Is it true that I don't need a glass/uv protection if my bulbs are mogul type and they are 10-12" from the water

 

[thefatman]

true you wont need and actually dont want glass between the bulbs and tank.

true 10k will give a crips bluish white light. the lower the number ie: 6.5 k wil lgive yellower tint.

diffs between thsoe particular bulbs, i cant answer that one.

 

[thebigblue]

i have the ushios...they give off a great crisp white light...i have mine about 10" from the open water...

do a search and im sure you'll find some comparisons...i need to order new bulbs any day now and im goin with the ushios again...

something to think about though...i see you already have PCs for actinic supplementation...have you thought about goin with a iwasaki 65K MH bulb?...i know alot of guys do that here with success...and the bulbs are about $65ish vs. $95 for the ushios...

i went with the ushios because i didnt wanna have any other ballasts/bulbs in my canopy...

HTH

brad

 

[Guest]

USHIOS!!!!!!!
thay are by far my fav mh bulb. of course i am limited with the 175w option

 

[JPfish]

Are you sure 6500k Iwasakis would look nice with 2 96W Power Compact actinic 03's??

 

[Casey]

I have 65k I wasakis on my tank I love em I dont like the yellow 10k ushios I think they are yellow.

 

[Stang69]

I am using the AB 10k's and like them but I also have 220 watts of vho to suppliment them too.



Jeff

 

[murphy]

I have 175 Watt 10k Ushio and I love them. They give off a nice crisp white light. In addition, I use 2 VHO Actinic 95 Watts bulbs.

 

[thebigblue]

the 65Ks are much more yellow than the 10Ks...the 10Ks arent yellow at all, IMHO...

im not sure if the PCs would work with the 65Ks or not...but if they do it would save you about $30 per bulb...and i think give you a better PAR rating...

brad

 

[tdwyatt]

Are you sure 6500k Iwasakis would look nice with 2 96W Power Compact actinic 03's??

the Iwasaki bulbs have the highest PAR for the wattage bulb and have good long life with electronic ballasts. They look GREAT with the blue VHO bulbs, I cannot comment on pc's (as I don't use them...)

but, as with all lighting issues, this is somewhat subject to your personal tastes. I would go with the Jap bulbs both for value and the PAR levels (check out Sanjay's article on the 250 watt mh comparisons )

...metal halide rules, everything else drools...

 

[JPfish]

ok, now you got my attention, what is PAR ? your not talking about golf right? j/k But really I don't know what PAR is

 

[tdwyatt]

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/june/product/default.asp

 

[tdwyatt]

AND THIS ONE (READ IT FIRST)

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/june/features/2/default.asp