[trymypride]

Hi all,
lately there have been some great deals on MH lights here in Aus.
I know that in reef tanks MH are the real deal - so what about in my planted aquarium. I currently have only 2wpg on a 3ft tank. (thats 3x30W flourescent globes)
i have seen for sale a single fitting with
250W 20 000K UV Block Globe + 2 T5 39W High Output Floro Globes and 2 Blue LED Globes.
The blue LEDs are just for giggles really but i thought that the 2 T5s running most of the photo period with a 4hr burst of MH might allow me to grow some better plants (i want glosso
any advice would be greatly appreciated
cheers

 

[RachPreach]

have you researched the forum on metal halides? you could find alot of the answers there.

 

[epicfish]

You said 2 WPG using 3x30W globes.
3x30W = 90 watts. So ~45 gallons?

I'd go for the setup if you have the money and want to. It's very plausible. Just make sure you dose fertilizers and have pressurized CO2.

 

[trymypride]

yes epicfish thats correct,
the tank is 160 aussie litres thats 42.26 of your US gal
90/42 = 2.14wpg
Hmmm Enough????
I have DIY CO2 but with Kh of 12 and pH of 6.7 chart gives me 45ppm CO2
this seems heaps!!!
still not getting great growth perhapes its the tubes?? i have 3 10000k tubes in there

 

[epicfish]

Oh, whoa whoa whoa. The chart won't give you the correct readings. You're going to need to invest in pressurized CO2 before you go with those MH lights.

Your growth isn't great because you're lacking CO2.

 

[trymypride]

oh - thankyou very much again epic fish
y wont the chart give me the correct reading? i have one of those small coloured changing sera things (co2 indicator) and its well and truely light green/yellow. I am hoping that the difuser i ordered will arrive this week. (and after reading a few posts today that it will work with DIY co2 - what do u think?
its this one but from my LFS
http://cgi.ebay.com/Spio-VIII-Co2-d...hZ015QQcategoryZ66794QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem