As most of you probably know, I've got a 192 watt coralife fixture. I've been pondering on purchasing a 150 watt metal halide light. I'm wondering if the $220 dollars would be better spent on replacement bulbs for my current fixture and equipment for a sump.

192 watts is brighter than a 150 watt metal halide... if I'm right. Metal halides just put out more intensity per bulb, correct? So at 192 watts / 29 Gallons I'm getting 6.6 watts per gallon. I should be able to keep almost any corals apart from the super high light requiring corals, right? Plus I don't have to worry about UV rays from the metal halide light.

I figure if I can spend $70 dollars on bulbs instead of $220 for a new light fixture with less intensity, then that's going to give me about $150 more dollars to spend. That's a new pump, plumbing, 20 gallon tank, and small light for the refugium. It also leaves enough that I can build a better stand for it.

I'm already planning on getting an R.O. unit, so I'm thinking that will do quite well. If I can sell my breeding pair of parrots, then I'll purchase a coralife skimmer to put in the sump as well.

The only bad thing? I'll have to drill the 29 gallon tank. What can I do with my tank critters while I'm setting that up and getting it drilled? It will probably be a day or two before I could get the tank back. I've got a 22 gallon rubbermaid bucket, but I was afraid my heater would melt a hole in the side of it. Should I even be worrying about that? Or would they be OK in the bucket? I'd probably leave the PC lighting off because I'm afraid it would fall in the bucket or melt the plastic, and that definitely wouldn't be good. All-in-all, hopefully only looking at two to three days in the bucket.

Anyone see a problem with doing that? Or have any better recommendations on equipment?

Coralife Super Needle Wheel Skimmer
Quiet One 2200 Pump
10000k Bulb
O3 Actintic Bulb (That's as blue as they get, right?)
Pure-Flo II TFC 24GPD RO Filter

Thanks!

I am by no means an expert on this, but when all i had was PC lights my corals and anemone did not do very well. I installed a 562 watt (total) halide sys. and everything has done so much better. They have grown and i even have some polyps that have spread.

That is incorrect. A 150 watt metal halide can put out as much light as 490 to 750 watts of incadescent lighting.

I think this outlines why the watt per gallon scale needs to be eliminated. Different light types put out different amounts of lumens. Remember that watts is a measurement of electricity used, while lumens is a measure of light produced. So while incadesent bulbs put out about 15-35 lumens per watt, White HPS puts out 40-47, Mercury 35-58, Flourescent 30-98, and Metal Halide 65-115.

With the amount of PC lighting you have you should be able to keep the majority of Softies and LPS without a problem. Montipora Digitata should also do well if placed high up on the rock structure. If your planning on keeping more light demanding SPS such as Acropora, Pocillopora, or even Clams I would invest in a metal halide system. It would also promote faster growth which is usuallt a good thing.

While you are drilling your 29g you could place the fish, inverts, etc in either a large rubbermaid container or a seperate tank. A heater should be fine to use although I've never personally done it. Adding a small powerhead should help provide water movement.

Yeah 03(420nm) Actinic bulbs produce a nice blue/purple color. My PC bulbs are 10K/03 Actinic and they look really nice.

Sounds good Perfectblue. I didn't know that, Sergeant Major. Intersting to find out, though.The thing that worries me about metal halide systems are the fact that they put out UV radiation. I know some lights have glass shields, but do they all? Is that something that you should even worry about?

Well it depends on which type of Metal Halide lamps you are going to use. Single Ended(SE) lamps contain an outer glass shield which eliminates the majority of the UV so an additional glass shield is not necessary. Now Double Ended(DE) lamps do not have a built in glass shield so one needs to be added to protect against the UV. DE lamps need to have a shield or it can cause serious eye injuries.

What type of MH lamps are you thinking of using?

The bulbs used in the fixture I was buying we're double ended. I think I'm going to stick with the power compact. The look of metal halide bulbs are awesome, but I don't consider it worth the risk since PC lighting puts out a tremendous amount of light. Since I don't plan on keeping a lot of the high light requiring species, I don't think it would be a good purchase on my part. I could always double up and use two 192w power compact fixtures. That would give me 384 watts of lighting. No telling how many lumens.