time to replace MH bulbs

[davejnz]

I just looked at your first post,you have a 3x250MH setup.I think you'd be better off using a combination of bulbs.Personally,I would go with 2 of the CV reeflux and 1-XM10k.That should give you a nice 14k look but still have excellent PAR.The XM10k has the most PAR out of all the 10k's when ran on your M58 ballast

[Reptoreef]

That would definitely be an awesome combination.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Ok, next ? Where is a good place to order the 2 14k cv reeflux lamps and the 1 xm 10k lamp from? The only place I have ordered bulbs from in the past is A to T lamps off of ebay. They have cheap bulbs but I think I'm getting what I pay for there The bulbs usually run me about 34.00 ea for 20ks and there 14ks are about the same. I think they are Venture brand.

Thanks for all of the help everyone. It's nice to get everyone's opinions then pick and choose which advise to follow. At some point I will have to invest in the actinic bulbs and ballast, but I would have to redo my Canapy and I don't want to do it now.


Angie

[Reptoreef]

Check out www.hellolights.com I know they carry XM's for a good price... just not sure of the reeflux.

[davejnz]

http://stores.ebay.com/Club-Reef_Lig...dZ2QQpZ2QQtZkm

[davejnz]

They carry both brands of the bulbs.The reeflux is $68,the XM is $65

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Now that I have all of my new lighting, I have to change my canopy around. How will the light "spread" of the MH's affect my tank? Will this work? I'm afraid that the corals that are between the MH's won't get enough light this way. Also, because I'm going from 20k's to 10k's should I move them higher so they don't burn the corals? The 10k's are going to be so much brighter than the 20k's. (If you remember or look in my pic gallery, my lighting is on a track system so I can raise or lower the lighting up to 2 feet)#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Here are some crude drawings to show what I plan to do. Any suggestions are welcome.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thanks,#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Angie#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#IMG alt="image file name: 2k41cd3535a7.jpg" src="http://www.captivereefing.com/richedit/upload/2k41cd3535a7.jpg" border=0#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[dakar]

Angie, Since you have the luxury of being able to raise and lower your lighting I think you are on the right track but starting them higher and slowly brining them down weekly or so to acclimate to acoomidate increased lighting. Maybe even consider cutting back the daylight photo periods a bit during the whole process.

I'm in the planning process of doing the same thing of swinging the halides 90 degrees as you did (we've got a 65w PC on each side of each halide and converting things over to use 8 x 48" T5's). The overall lighting spread of the hadlides should be about the same, so no real worries there. The change from 20K to 10K is likely to provide you with upwards of 50% more light for the tank.

Of course we need before and after pic!

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thanks for the input Dakar. I did get all of the lighting moved around and it's up and running. I did not get pics yet. We seem to have misplaced the digital camera, lol. I think it may still be in one of the semi trucks. I will take pics as soon I find it. I LOVE the actinic VHO's !!!! For the first 2 hrs, me and my husband just sat and looked at the tank(VHO only, no MH)and all of the "COOL" colors we didn't see before with just the MH's. I just wish I would have added them a lot sooner. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Angie#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[dakar]

Glad they are working out for you!

BTW let me know if you want to part with your old worn out bulbs, I'm still looking to get my paws on as many SE and DE bulbs as possible for some experimets with different ballasts types. Putting on my evil scientist hat again, pretty sure we are all getting ripped off by manufacturers, and on a mission to prove that we are not limited to certain high end ballasts/bulb combinations.