[Mark024]

Hey all I hope all your tanks are going well.. I've been searching for a metal halide system for my upcoming 75 gallon reef. At first I looked at some 175 watt setups but I figure that I might as well spend the money and get the 250s since I may want to get some higher light corals in the future. I've looked at all the aquarium sites and I am thinking about going with a Hamilton hood, I already have 110 watt pc from an earlier plant tank that I can throw on to supplement the MHs. I have two questions..one is the kelvin rating I should be looking for. I will be starting out this tank with some hardy zoes and mushrooms, but I plan on adding some stonies later on. My thought was to just go with the 10,000 K, but since I don't have any actinic lighting to speak of, should I get something higher to get some more blue color in there? The pc is something like 9600 K I think. Finally, do the aquarium MH setups (ballasts, fixtures etc.) have any advantage over the much cheaper ones used for plant growth and landscaping? Couldn't I just buy a 250 watt pendant setup for plants and pop a 10,000 K 250 watt Hamilton bulb and get the same light while saving a boatload? I have no reason to think otherwise but would appreciate your opinions. Thanks in advance.

-Mark Schibler