Halide Assistance

[Jacksonbriggs]

I currently have PC lighting. I believe I have the 4X90W or something like that. I would like to get halides as they really bring out the colors in the fish and hard corals if I get the lights. I have a 55 gallon tank right now and really have no idea how much light I would need or how much a set up like this would cost me. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[moebetter]

a good rule for lights is 5-7 watts a gallon-sometimes people go with more depending on what type of corals youre going to have-the best way is to see how your set up is-if you have a center brace on your tank or a canopy-that will play a major role in what type of light you go with-also do forget that the may bring up the temp on your tank depending on how close you mount them to the tank-when it comes to cost the can run you any where from 200.00 and up just depending how much you want to spend-then comes in to effect is the kalvin rating you want to go with-10k or 14k bulb for example-so you may want to do a little research before buying them and see whats best for you and your budget-

[nengland]

My understanding of halides is simple so forgive me if my explanation is equally so.

It's usually best to plan on having one halide bulb for every 2 feet. Since you have a 55 gallon (normally 4 feet) that would be two bulbs.

While that answers how many bulbs, there's still the issue of what type of bulbs. Two basic types of halide bulbs exist. These are the double end (HQI) and single end (mogul) bulbs. Double end bulbs are more focused and from what I'm told produce more of the sparkle/shimmer effect and sharper shadows. Since your priority seems to be aesthetics you'd be well served to see some setups with both the mogul and HQI setup and decide for yourself how focused a light you want for your tank.

Once you know what kind of bulb you want to use then the last consideration would be the temperature of light. Higher numbered kelvins tend toward the blue spectrum. Normally people do 10k bulbs and then run supplemental actinic lights to make the colour pop, or just run 14k halide bulbs without the supplement. (14k bulbs already have the blue mixed in)

So if I were you.. I'd do 2x 250w HQI @ 14k w/o any supplements. (250 should be enough for any hard corals)

[Jacksonbriggs]

thanks for the info. Can you recommend a good site that has good pricing for these halides. One of my other concerns is the heat factor. I understand that these lights get pretty darn hot. Should I get a hood, place them on top of the tank or hang them from the ceiling?