New solana 34, 150w or 250w?

[johntan]

Hi all, so I just picked up the new solana 34 and I have my choice of wattage here.

Should I go with a 150w or 250w MH? The 150 is already the perfect size, small. The 250 is in a 26" enclosure with 4xT5's, so I would have to dismantle the enclosure and pull the T5's to match the solanas 20" frame. By the way I want to build a hood for this, I don't like light leaking out all over the room.

Anyone have any experience with this? will the 250 keep the water too hot?

 

[STiTCH87]

The 250 will put off a good amount of heat, and having it in a canopy will make it even worse. Are you dead set on MH?

If so I would go with the 150 and then supplement it with additional T5s or LEDs.

 

[dakar652]

150 on a 34g should be plenty light for anything you would want to keep...like stitch said though, heat is going to be a MAJOR issue with a 250w...especially with the upcoming season. Personally, I just use 4xT5 on my JBJ 30 RL...all my SPS are doing well (they'd be better if I did more water changes). It's up to you, obviously, but even a 150w on my old 20high used to cause the temps to skyrocket in the summer.

 

[yukyuklee]

i used to have a solana with a 150w mh but if i were to do this all over again I would have went with the 250 especially reaching corals on the sand bed I had zoa's reaching for more light. and if you plan on having clams i rather have more light. don't worry about heat if you have an ac unit for the summer you should be ok. I wouldn't have it inside a canopy but I can see why you don't just go t5 the width of the tank was just like my elos mini I wish they made bulbs under 24" but nothing beats good ol' MH

 

[RMc]

Second that 150 would be plenty as long as you have a good/large reflector that directs enough light straight down.

That said, if you want MH for the shimmer - you may want to consider one of the newer kessil setups. I've heard them be compared very favorably to metal halide.

 

[johntan]

Just wanted to update this with the recommendation of the 150, so far so good
https://instagram.com/p/7N1AXFELaI/