175 watt MH on a 24" deep tank work?

[daves-reef]

I am thinking about buying an aquactinics 175 watt MH/T5 fixture. I had been looking for a 250 watt version but haven't been able to find one anywhere. It uses SE bulbs so it could be upgraded to 250 watt by changing ballast and bulbs in the future.

I was wondering if 175 watt might be good enough for mixed reef or does everyone recommend at least 250 watt for 24' deep tank. SPS would be located higher up but I had also thought about having a clam.

Has anyone been running 175 watt bulbs on a 24" deep with good success?

 

[jbishop]

I am. Just get the iwaski eye bulbs

 

[Jocko]

The only issue with the 24" depth is making sure the light can penetrate to the bottom. If you're keeping high-light guys towards the top, then technically the depth should be irrelevant. Unless I'm overlooking some weird law of physics or something...

 

[Aquaman_68]

I am. Just get the iwaski eye bulbs

Where may have you got that idea from??

 

[quarrydawg]

I've been running a mixed reef for over a year now with a 175 se in a 30" tall tank. On the bottom of the tank there is a fungia, star gsp, and clovers. Mid-tank and up there is a massive leather, monti(growing fast), gsp going nuts, acro growing fast, xenia doing what xenia does, a hammer torch that's growing very well, a brain, a bubble, some lps from skipton's that looks like a slice of pizza; they have one there for $300 right now. blue zoos, you name it.
The growth is not explosive, but this allows me to keep my hands out of the tank which i do like. It also looks great.

 

[jrmx635]

175

I have 175's on my 24" deep tank and my mixed reef grows
I also run t5 54 watt actinics

 

[jbishop]

Where may have you got that idea from??

A good friend gave me the idea. You should see his tank, its quite amazing.

 

[daves-reef]

I am. Just get the iwaski eye bulbs

Do those bulbs use the same mogul socket as other bulbs? Do they require a different socket? I thought I heard once that iwaski bulbs used a different socket. Maybe it was something else. I can't remember.

 

[Miller]

Do those bulbs use the same mogul socket as other bulbs? Do they require a different socket? I thought I heard once that iwaski bulbs used a different socket. Maybe it was something else. I can't remember.

Same socket at SE bulbs you must be thinking of something else.

 

[Leroy]

Dave I think you'd be happier with 250w SE. After seeing your tank last week and the rest of your filtration and equipment I know you'll have your mindset on some nice SPS, high end acans, chalice and other sweet LPS. Why not, you've got a kick a$$ tank going. Don't skimp, it's not your style.

 

[KSC]

The Iwaski 6500 uses a mercury vapor ballast, but will fire on a standard MH ballast. I ran a 175 Iwaski 14k on one side of my 90 gal., an XM 250 20k on the other. After 4 months (I bought a par meter at this time; according to Sanjay's site these bulbs have identical output when new) the Iwaski was putting out 750 par, the xm 450 par at the surface. This was using lumenmax reflectors 12" from the surface. Then I switched to 250 watt Radiums 20k and am getting over 1000 par at the surface, we'll see how they hold up.

 

[daves-reef]

Dave I think you'd be happier with 250w SE.

Leroy, you are right. I do want SE bulbs and probably should go with 250 watt. But I want to try out the Aquactinics MH/T5 classic fixture. From what I have heard and read they run really cool and do not transfer as much heat to the tank as other fixtures. They are made to place directly on the tank. Unfortunately the only 48" one I have been able to find is a used 175 watt version. Currently 48" not available from the manufacturer. If seller comes through he can ship it next week (May have changed his mind). He may just trade it in for a different fixture. He will get more in cash though. If he trades it in I will have to see if I can buy it refurbished but then it will probably be full price. May also have to go through a dealer to get it.

I thought I would try it out as is and maybe use a par meter to check the values. Either way price is good and it would be an easy upgrade to 250 watt just by changing out the ballasts and bulbs. I would need to find the old style Icecap to fit in the ballast box or could also use ARO.