Metal Halides??

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xxnonamexx

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
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I was curious about Metal Halides. I have PC's blue/white and also 3 1watt lunar lights. I read alot on metal halides and have seen a nice unit from Corallife that is about $700 w/ lunar lights. It looks like a nice unit but pricey. I was wondering do all metal halides need to be over open water? I have a canopy 55gal. I see retro kits but noticed that metal halides have just the white bulb and not the blue lights like the PC. are the blue bulbs necessary in Metal halides? Also do they go on timers like the PC does? Thanks
 
There are cheaper units out there. Just be careful. Aquatraders has some you might check out. Some say be wary with them though. I purchased from them and had 2 out of 4 bulbs broken during shipping , not sure that's their fault though. (they are not repsonsible for replacing due to shipping) Other than that they have worked great for 2 weeks now. MH from what I understand gives off a spectrum like the 10k light or 12k lights depending on the buld in the fixture. You will need to supplament actinic with either vho or pc to compensate for the spectrum in the MH lights.
 
So what you are saying is that if I have a retro metal Halides set then I need to add the Blue lights also correct? Thanks
 
You can supplament your current lighting. Not just the blue actinics. The MH will be centered so you will have to cover the other area of your tank with light as well. MH has about a 2' square area of effextiveness, anything beyond that you will have to either have more MH bulbs or supplament to cover.
 
I checked out the sight you mentioned and i have noticed that ODYSSEY makes a nice setup with the blue lights fans etc. Does that mean I need to add more light to it? Also how do you decided the best wattage to get? thanks
 
The Odyssey light system on the site you mentioned seems nice it have th Blue lights and also I have 3 Lunar lights already. Do you think that this is a sufficiet lighting system for my tank?? I understand you said Metal Halides cover a 2' area the Odyssey has 2 metal halides so I assume for a 55gal. which is 48" that this is sufficient enough. Thanks





I have a 55gal. 260Watt CoralLife Power Compact, 3 1W Lunar Lights, Live sand 4in DSB, 75lbs. Live Rock, 2 Cinnamon Clownfish, Firefish, Magenta Dottyback, snails, crabs, Feather Duster, Sabae Purple Tipped Anenome, 1 White Leather Coral, Red Sun polyp, assorted polyps, 2 Assorted Color Plate Corals, Pipe Organ, Frogspawn, Fox Coral, Flat Brain, Finger Leather, Mushrooms, Green Star Polyps, 2 8" Maxima Clams, Wet/Dry filter, Protein Skimmer, Heater, I have the Liquid Plankton and also frozen plankton and brine shrimp for food.
 
I would still build a hood and add the pc lights that you have, But yes the 2 MH would be plenty for your tank. With that you would be able to keep any coral that you want includin clams. If you have the tools and ability, build a hood and place one MH each side of the center brace of your tank. Then place one PC bulb on each side of each MH bulb like so I0I
----
I0I
I= PC bulb
0=MH bulb
---=center brace
Then place the lunar lights where you want.
 
You don't think that this unit is enough? I don't understand why they would make a unit then have the consumer add more lights?? I am not undertstanding the concept of this. I have 260watt in my PC. This metal halide unit will give me 384W along with Odyssea metal halide system comes with non corrosive powder coated housing, built-in cooling fans, dual on/off switches on external ballast controlling HQI and T5 fluorescent separately, tempered glass splash guard, hanging kit and mounting brackets included.



http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=14
 
Oooops sorry did not know this system came with extra lights!!!! Now that would be plenty all by it's self. Sorry for the confusion!!!! :D :oops:
That gives you almost 7 watts per gallon with MH. No problems on anything you want to keep in there. Be careful with the temp. That much light will cause your water temp to rise.
 
2 questions I have a glass canopy now should I still use it? Also Should I lower temp first b4 I put the lights on to see how high it was raise temp? Thanks
 
Leave the temp where it's at. Just monitor it. As for the glass, not sure, if you have gobies probably leave it or get egg crate.
 
It is not rue that you have ti add actinics with metal halide lamps. It all depends on the bulb that you choose. A 10k bulb will give off a bright white look and many people like to supplement with actinics. When you get into higher kelvin bulbs, the color becomes more blue and you do not have to supplement with actinics. I have a 20k metal halide bulb on my tank and the colors of my corals are spectacular.
 
What would you suggest I am trying to keep my old canopy and looking for a metal halide unit for me 55gal. What do you think?
 
i would suggest 2 coralvue 175watt with the 14 K bulbs. i was trying to decide what bulb to get. i saw the 14K's today. they are awesome. they look like 10K with actinic sup. those two bulbs would give you about 6.30 WPG. you could also go with the 250 watt setup it is about the same price and would give you better penetration to the bottom of your 55g. i am going with 2 x 250 14k coralvue for my 75g

hope this helps.
 
Why not just build a canopy? Thats what I did. I retrofitted a JEBO 220w PC light system built that into my canopy with 2x 250w 10k MH lamps with ballasts. The final cost ended up with something far better than the 384w system above, and costs about $300 total. PM me for any information.
 
I would have to second the 14K MH retro's. They are cheap enough, and with the extra money you could build a 15" canopy to house everything. With the 14K, you could use supplemental lighting, or not. It has enough of the white/blue spectrum that you wouldn't have to. However, if you want more wpg, then you could add it on as well. I will caution you on the heat though. Just make sure you get fans for them! Good luck

Mike
 
I cast my vote with Steve R and Salttanker. I use 20Ks personally, but im getting more and more curious about 14s. If you resolute about keeping a canopy I highly recommend a retro. Just to toss it in though, I have a large oak canopy on my tank with a swing top. I took the hinges off the top and set my MH hood on it. As far as the wattage goes, I say you can't go wrong with the beef. Toss the 250s on there (if heat is no issue)
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=4658
in that link you can see my tanks oak cap. I have just modified it so its open and the light hood lays across it.
 
I have added pictures of My Canopy and I am in phase 1 of retrofitting Metal Halides then I will worry about the bulbs but I want to get a good unit. I would like the 250W I have 260W PC now which has fans built in. I have read that I would still need to put fans in it also correct?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59422509@N00/


MAXAMILLION can I see a pic of your light? Thanks
 
I'll try to get a pic tomorrow, I have a big speech that I have to finish for noon tomorrow, so sometime after that I will have the time... that is, if I remember... I'll try my best.
 
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