greentin

I have a spare 250watt 10k metal halide retro and ballast from my reef aquarium and I'm planning to put over a 75 gallon at least 8 inch above the water. Personally I never tried metal halide in a planted aquarium as I think it would cause a major algae problem. So I want to ask what everyone opinion is?

shadow

I run two 150w halides over 75 gallon planted tank with no algae problems. I run them six hours a day and the tank is heavily planted. I have mine about 25cm (10 inches) above the tank

marrow

I run a 175 6500k over a a 50 breeder 4-6 inches above the water and it works fine.

Cavan Allen

Anything else with it? And do you get enough spread? I have a 150 in combination with two 36 watt PCF on my Grand Solar but it doesn't seem like a get quite the intensity I want (12 inches above water on a 40 breeder). I'd lower it, but I'm concerned about spread.

greentin

How is the plant growth?

Cavan Allen

Good. I'm just trying to get a little more out of some of them.

marrow

sorry to respond to your question two months late Cavan but I dont seem to have a problem with spread. The tank is not equally illuminated the edges are certainly not as bright as directly under the bulb. The tank ends have plants that dont really require as much light, Blyxa on one end and Ranunculus on the other end. I must say that I don't do the aquascape thing to much and tend to plant in 4 x6 blocks with taller plants towards the back. Much of the my view of the tank is from above, not from the front. Also my sole concern is cultivating interesting plants, my fish are incidental and there is no attempt to conceive of the tank as an entire composition or percept. I am perceptually much more drawn to the minutia and quite capable of being absolutely unaware of what may be occurring an inch aware from the narrow focus of my attention.