[Reefer769]

ive narrowed my lighting down to 2 choices now, give me your advice on which one would be the best to keep SPS.
-PFO HQI mini metal halide pendent 150W
-Metal Halide pendant 175w Spot Light

[Reefland]

The 150 DE fixture with a nice 20k bulb would be an excellent choice for your tank.

[Reefer769]

would anyone recommend the spotlight? becuase i can get it for a lot cheaper, and im on a budget.

[Reefland]

The bell pendent would not be a bad choice but you asked which one would be best to keep SPS corals. There are some really good threads on this site which go into detail about the differences between SE and DE bulbs available.
http://www.reefland.com/forum/search.php?searchid=25119

It's not the wattage your interested in here, it is the amount of PAR (photosynetic active radiation) that the bulbs produces which is beneficial to your corals. The 150w DE setup will provide much more than the 175w. I am saying this based on the 250w DE being right along side of the 400w SE. I am not aware if the 150w has been included in any of the studies.

Scott Z.

[Reefer769]

alright so im better of just getting the MINI PFO HQI MH pendant for $299?, this deal at marine depot comes with: 150W 10000K double ended HQI bulb and PFO 140W HQI ballast with quick disconnect.

[Poseidon]

Do the 150 DE, it will concentrate the light better over your tank. The Bell will do more to light up your WHOLE ROOM!!!

[Reefer769]

alright, with the 150w mini pendant from marine depot, does that have to be hung from the ceiling too? or can i just put it right now on top of the tank?

[Poseidon]

You will need to either hang it up, or put it on some sort of legs. Ideally the bulb should be 7-10" above the water surface.

[dougc]

Since you might want to check out the AquaMedic Ocean Lights. Ocean Encounters has the 150 watt pendant with remote ballast and AB DE 10k bulb for $239. I am guessing that they are a new item, since I haven't heard any feedback on them yet. I stumbled across them just this morning.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by dougc

Since you might want to check out the AquaMedic Ocean Lights. Ocean Encounters has the 150 watt pendant with remote ballast and AB DE 10k bulb for $239. I am guessing that they are a new item, since I haven't heard any feedback on them yet. I stumbled across them just this morning.

Yes, the Ocean Light 150 is a new model. They also offer the Ocean Light 150+ that has two 24w T5 actinics in addition to the 150w 10,000K HQI DE lamp. Note that AB-Aqualine/Aqua Medic claims their aqualine 10000 lamps are all an actual 13,000 Kelvin.

One possible problem with those fixtures is that they are 60 cm long (23.6") and therefore would stick out about 1.5" on either side of his Oceanic 30-gal cube tank. My Aquastarlight Future fixture sticks out 1.5" on either side of my 45" tank but it doesn't bother me thanks to the semi-built in appearance of my installation.

P.S. -- I just checked Ocean Encounter's website and noticed that the Aqua-Medic Ocean Light 150 fixture they are selling looks entirely different from the picture on Aqua-Medic's website. The one they are selling has a remote ballast and the size of the fixture is only 9.75”x9.5”x2.5”. The pictures on Aqua-Medic's website show an Ocean Light 150 that is the same size as the Ocean Light 150+. I guess this is a newer, smaller version that Ocean Encounter is selling.

As pictured on Aqua-Medic's website:

http://www.aqua-medic.de/cgi-bin/php...id=165&field=0
The new luminaires of the ocean light series bring the brightness of the metal halide lamps into your aquarium - and that for a very economic price.
Of course, there is no compromise about the known quality:
ocean light 150
- annodised aluminium housing
- high quality reflectors
- incl. 1 aqualine 10000 bulbs 150 watts with 13.000K colour temperature
- incl. steel wire suspension

Aquarium Luminaire for metal halide lamps

And this is what is pictured on Ocean Encounter's website (entirely different):

[Reefer769]

hmmm... that looks nice...and actually the white one kind of looks like the big black one only smaller in size it seems. i might consider looking into this fixture though... thanks ninong! one more thing, could you maybe get me a link, so i can see a price? thanks!!