Metal Halide

[Guest]

please tell me if this light will work on a 55 gall tank...

http://cgi.ebay.com/1000-Watt-Metal...706935707QQcategoryZ42225QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Nels22]

1000 Watts is a bit too much for your size tank, but for that price you could probably just buy a bulb (lower wattage) that is a very low price for a mh ballast....i'm gonna tag along and see what the others think.

 

[fishfreek]

As was said above its a bit excessive and the bulb will cause your tank to have a very bright center and the ends of the tanks will be lit somewhat at a lower intensity due to how the light spreads out. Also if your 55 has a center brace your going to have a very bad shadow being cast into the tank from the bulb as the best place to position the bulb is in the center of the tank directly over the brace. On tanks larger than 3' and less than 6' in lenght its good to use 2 MH bulbs and on tanks 6' its good to use 3 bulbs.

 

[MT79]

Along w/ 1000w being excessive to say the least, I would image heat would be a HUGE issue. You would probably have to mount it 2-3 feet minimum above the water surface. I have 2x250w MH over a 55gal and w/ no fans going they can easily drive the temp. up to 90+ degrees. Also the bulb that comes w/ that set up is for growing plants so the k is going to be very low, about 6500 k, which will look very yellow over a reef/fish tank. A 1000w MH running on a magnetic ballast will definitely get your electric meter spinning lol. HTH

 

[Jason]

they use 1000 watt lights at a LFS in atl. it's called cappuchino bay. They have the lights probably 6 feet from the tops of the tanks and if I remember correctly it's something like 1 light per every 4 foot square. all the SPS they have there rock to, if that means anything to you.....

 

[Scottm]

Thats one kilowatt!!!! holy crap talk about sucking power. that would be 6-8 kilowat hours per day at the normal rate of light usage!!!