Suggestions on lighting 300gallon tank?

[ahreno]

So it's time to replace the lights in my tank... Just curious what you guys would recommend. I dont know anything about this as the tank came with the house i bought and was already setup.

 

It's a 300 gallon tank About 8 feet long. There are 4 250w HQI bulbs evenly spaced along it as well as 8 t5's. 4 t5s on each side.

 

I pretty much need to replace the entire lighting setup.

 

Any advice helps.

[stylaster]

Sounds like what it has is ok, how deep is the tank? If it is 30" tall or less the 250w halides will work fine. You will just have to build the rock structure up closer to the surface. You could also supplement with 2 400w halides on each end.

[ahreno]

I guess i should have been more specific. I am definately not changing that actual fixtures. I need to change the bulbs. I dont know if 15k 250w are ok or if i should do 10k. Not sure what kind of t5s to get either. Super Actinic Actinic+ etc...

[wegotjs]

My fav's are 20K Xm . Love that blue.

[SamatSLS]

What lamps, both MH and T5 do you have now? What don't you like about it, or wish was even better?

[ahreno]

Right now i have 2 Gieseman Megachrome 250w coral. I dont know how many K they are as it doesn't say on them and i didn't purchase them. Then i have 2 10K generics that you gave me. these don't necassarily have to be replaced as they're not very used.

 

For t5's the side with the generic 250's has 4 super actinic lights and the other side i have 2 super actinics and 2 that i can't tell what they are. Blue plus perhaps?

 

I dont like the colors i'm getting. A frog spawn and hammerhead both look brown and other things just don't pop how I want them to

 

 

[andy]

What ballasts?

[ahreno]

I dont know exactly what the ballasts are called. They're dual 250s each (2 of them powers 4 lights) they're blue. under them it says Powered by Advance and the other sticker says Sunlight Supply. BW-7. I am pretty sure they are

 

Blue Wave 7 Dual HQI 250W

Metal Halide Ballast

by Sunlight Supply

[andy]

Ahh, excellent. Good ballasts. I've never run DE bulbs, but a lot of people seem to like the Phoenix 14Ks.

[kilmca]

I'm currently running 14k 250w Phoenix HQI on my current setup. I have also run 14k Hamilton and 14k Ushios but I found the Phoenix are the best looking. I also run 10,000k and actinic vho's but only before and after the MH are on, not at the same time. I don't need to supplement the Phoenix bulbs with actinic vho's cause they are blue enough for me, it's also nice to not have the vho's on all day cause I save on electricity and the bulbs last longer. HTH

[ahreno]

I've heard good things about coralvue as well... anyone else have thoughts? Also will i get decent coral growth out of 14ks?

[SamatSLS]

Nice setup! Lol.

 

Alright, you should get Phoenix 14K's or Ushio 20K's. The Ushio's run crisp on the BW7's you have. Not sure who has them in Eugene, but you can find them. I would supplement that with 50% UVL Super Actinic and Giesemann/D-D Actinic+.

[ahreno]

thanks man... if i go with the ushio 20k will i get any sort of coral growth out of them? i was hesitant to even go to 14k as i am worried that my corals will stop growing.