Metal Halides

[Browner]

Hello fellow planters

I would like some lighting advice please if you good people wouldnt mind.

I have today bought an Arcadia metal halide pro deluxe unit for a bargain £100 for my rio 240, It was being used on a marine tank so im assuming the lights i have are not suitable for planted tanks.

At present it has one proper halide light either side these two are 150cw 10,000 and in the middle it has i think 3 compact blue.

My question is what halide lights will be suitable for my planted tank as im currently enjoying an algae free tank and dont want to use the wrong lighting and create a right mess.

Btw i have press co2 and flourite its just my light that are not up to scratch as im a big fan of stem plants they tend to go leggy at the bottoms.

Thanks for your help

Matt

 

[BHornsey]

Hi,

For a Rio 240 (about 50 galls?) thats a lot of light. I put a single 150w MH over my Trigon 190 and had loads of problems. I had to drop it to 70w. The colour temp isn't quite so important.

Light drives all plant processes: more light, faster growth, more need for CO2, ferts etc. Any shortfall and algae will take advantage. Try to hit 2 wpg and things will be better; slower growth, better tolerance for variations in CO2, etc.

A single 70w MH won't give a good enough light spread but a couple of 55w T5 would be OK. I prefer a 5500k lamp; the plants don't seem to care

 

[George Farmer]

You could hang the MH higher off the water surface to decrease intensity. Also run the MH for 3 to 6 hours midday, with fluorescents for 9 to 10 hours.

 

[Browner]

Thanks for the replies chaps

wont the T8s get in the way though?

what is the ideal kelvin rating that i should aim for 6500k? or is that too much

bit confused when it comes to halides not much experience with them and not a great deal of info out there

Cheers

Matt

 

[cheesy feet]

I think 6500k is about the reccomended for planted tank.Tbh I don't think plant growth will be much different from 5500k-10000k.Although at the higher end it could start to look bluey