[brooke]

I have a 55 gal, and the only lights I have right now are PC's. About 260 watts total at 10,000K. (I'm still mad at the LFS that sold me these lights ) I want to get lights that would allow me to get pretty much any coral I would like, and especially clams. Which leads me to MH's. I'm assuming I would probably need 2 pendants, but I'm not sure how the ballasts work, will one ballast power 2 fixtures, or do you need one for each? And secondly what wattage bulbs should be used? Can I use MH's in addition to my PC's. Or should I ditch them and just use the Metal Halides?

Or would a MH retro kit be best, I'd like to avoid the pendant's if I can.

[Reefland]

Wise choice going with Halides, I think most serious aquarist make their way to them eventually.

I would go ahead and get 2-250w halides, it's the best bang for the buck. Whether or not you can use a retro kit depends on your hood and if you can fit them. Getting them into a small shallow hood is difficult especially since you want to keep them ~8" from the surface. This is needed for heat purposes, which is the second problem in a canopy. Plan to get some fans to vent the hood.

On the ballast, you will need two ballast to power two lights. There are plenty of "dual" ballasts available with is nothing more than a nice enclosure that holds both ballasts. And yes, you can use your PC's with the MH (provided you can get it all to fit) and preferrable to some for the actinic supplementation.

[SeaMe]

I'll second what Reefland said. :slap:

[brooke]

Would any of the halide lighting from Home Depot work? Or should I get it specifically for aquarium lighting?

[Reefland]

Get specific aquarium lighting and save yourself a ton of headaches searching for something that will work and then trying to put it together.

[cubanheat1]

Get a MH and PC combo fixture they even come with legs. On my 55 gal i have the orbit 4X65w fixture it works well. I have alot of diffrent polyps and shrooms, some leathers and 2 clams ive had them for a while, you just need a high calcium level and they love light so the more the better. I want to upgrade to the orbit 2-150w MH and 2-130w Actinic PCs in the same fixture, it usually sits about 8-11in of the water surface beacuse of its legs. I would hang it about 12-14in for more coverage and high heat. Good luck and remember if you want clams you dont need MH, if you want anything hard like sps you need them in the long run. check out dr.fosters and smith for lighting or local fs they can get expensive and think chiller.

[charlie]

Originally Posted by cubanheat1

Good luck and remember if you want clams you dont need MH, if you want anything hard like sps you need them in the long run. check out dr.fosters and smith for lighting or local fs they can get expensive and think chiller.

I would beg to differ. maybe squamosa and dseresa clams don't require the halide lighting, but believe me it is preferred!!!! Croceas and maximas definitly require halides.