question on metal Halide??

[sirfishmaster]

are all metal halides ok for saltwater reefs?
i am asking because my work uses metal halide for warehouse lighting, and i could get a good deal on them (free), but dont want to if they are different, i cant seem to find anything online that tells me different

whats the advice of you great info people?


doug

 

[revhtree]

I am no lighting expert, but I do believe tha the spectrum of lighting produced by the ones at your work, and the ones used for reefs, are totally different. Sorry.

 

[SquishyFish]

Yep...same with the ones at HD. You can get M/H lights at HD, but the spectrum is so far off that you wouldnt like the way they look. Reef lights show the K rating which tells you what color the light is.

Sunlight is 5,500k (very yellow)..This will give you the best growth. The larger the number, the blue'r the light. A 20k bulb will have a great color, but no growth.

 

[sirfishmaster]

what about just using the fixture, and purchasing the bulb?


doug

 

[SquishyFish]

Thats possible. Would need the specs on it first before we say yes or no.

 

[Biggen]

SquishyFish wrote:

A 20k bulb will have a great color, but no growth.

I wouldn't go that far. In fact, some people in the community are now only recommending 20k MH bulbs coupled with 03 fluorescents as that provides "better" growth that other spectrums or other bulb combinations.

I used to run a 20K bulb from Hamilton as well with my two 55w 03 PC's. Had good growth on just about everything. Recently I switched to a Coral Vue 14K and it is doing fine as well.

sirfishmaster wrote :

what about just using the fixture, and purchasing the bulb?

No problem with that, however, you may not be able to find one that will fit on or over your tank like you would like it to so you will probably have to do some modifications. If they had some pendant fixtures, that would be fine, but I have never seen those at HD.

 

[SquishyFish]

If you notice...I was talking about a bulb to bulb comparison. Not combo's with other lighting systems.

 

[Biggen]

If you notice...I was talking about a bulb to bulb comparison. Not combo's with other lighting systems.

Actually I didn't notice. My bad! But, I did use to run a single 250w 20K Hamilton without any fluorescent supplementation. This was before I built my light hood. I still got decent growth using this but not as much as I do now with my combo system.

 

[ellisz]

Seems like a lot of people are running 20k's with nothing else. The nice LFS store here does and a guy I met over the weekend. Don't know their growth rates though. I guess it is easier to run bluer MH's that MH's and 03's.

I know I want at least 14k when I replace my 10k's. A little blue is nice.

 

[Brad]

I think if you could get a MH ballast and hardware for a good deal (free), then I would take it! Then you can figure out what bulb to put in to get a good spectrum/compatability with your ballast.

Sounds like an opportunity to save a lot of $ to me...