Coral ID?

[Ausfish]

Found them. They are 175 Watt each (have 3) is that good? I copied from the web site .... 175 watt metal halide lamp with a BT28 shaped glass, clear finish, 4000K, and a E39 mogul base.

So i should be running the actinic with the metal halide, correct?

Thank you again for all your help

There you go, now you know why your Tank Looks yellow.
Try and find a bulb on their website that has 175 watt as well(this is great!!!) but anywhere between 10000K and 16000K.

The K defines the color spectrum your lamps emit. Corals need heaps of white light (10-16k) and blue light (somewhere around 450nm I think)

As mr x mentioned, that fixture was probably intended to grow plants. Since it has high output though you just need to find the right bulbs.

Personally, I'd consider investing in a LED panel though. They're expensive but so are the bulbs every 6-10 month

 

[ssapp94]

Thank you very much, I will look for them! In your opinion with the new bulbs how close could I move it to the tank. It looks terrible where the guy I got it from has it it is so high, I can't even build a canopy to hide it. But I am also concerned about the heat?

 

[Ausfish]

Well in my case I have my fixture about 30cm(I believe that's a foot?) from the surface. Started off higher though since my corals weren't used to that much lighting.

As for the Heat, if you Build a canopy you should leave venting areas and if possible a temperature controlled fan

 

[mr_X]

Are those lamps encased in glass? If so, you can lower it to about 8" off of the water or so, but I would suggest installing a cooling fan. See the end of the unit where the vent is. One side should be a fan and the other the vent. I can't see if you have that or not yet.

Here are some options for replacement lamps-
Metal Halide Light Bulbs for Aquariums, 175 watt

 

[ssapp94]

Are those lamps encased in glass? If so, you can lower it to about 8" off of the water or so, but I would suggest installing a cooling fan. See the end of the unit where the vent is. One side should be a fan and the other the vent. I can't see if you have that or not yet.

Here are some options for replacement lamps-
Metal Halide Light Bulbs for Aquariums, 175 watt

There is a fan on the end that turns on with the lights. Thank you for the link, they are expensive for sure, but I want nicer coral and inverts so I know I am going to have to take the plunge. I have another question or two or hundred.

I have a fluorescent ballast in my shed not being used they are 48" long and hold 4 Bulbs. Is there any reason I couldn't use these with aquarium bulbs? and is so wouldn't they be cheaper (electricity wise) and maybe even cooler to run ?

another question there is these led light strips I have seen online, I also found them on ebay. Would they be sufficient? I am attaching the link but also the description in case it doesn't work.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Saltwater-A...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3f187c2f9d

- Power supply included so you just stick to tank and plug it in.
- This WHITE is a custom made 14,000K White
- Strip can be cut at every 3 inches (on cut lines) to fit any aquarium.
- If you need more than 16 Feet you can simply wire 2 strips together.
- Strip is completely WaterProof
- LEDs put off about 13 lumens each and there is about 19 LEDs per Foot.

3ft= 750 Lumens
6ft= 1500 Lumens
9ft= 2250 Lumens
12ft= 3000 Lumens
16ft= 3750 Lumens

 

[mr_X]

Those LEDs are not strong enough. You need LEDs that are about 3 watts a piece. Even the 1 watters aren't penetrating the water as well as we would like.
If you want to invest in a whole new lighting system, we can talk about that.

The fixture you are speaking of with the 48" lamps in it. What type of lamps are they? If they are VHO t12, you could use them, but I don't know how much less power and heat you'll have.

 

[ssapp94]

you are wonderful for not screaming and running the other way!!!

I think the more I research the more I confuse myself. So Lets talk LED for a min. If you don't mind. they are apparently the way many are going. so obviously they are measured differently then metal halide and fluorescent. I see you said each led should be about 3 watts each. What about Kelvins?

I am watching this guy on you tube build a led light and it seems pretty good, but how does one decide how many leds they need and the colors to choose. he uses 4 colors for a good spectrum?

I know lighting depends on the animals as well, I would like something decent to house a variety of things without having to sell my kids to get them. lol And what they heck is lumens mentioned with leds, I am seeing that word more than watts.

 

[mr_X]

The multiple colors aren't necessary. The only colors you need in a fixture are the daylights, which I'm seeing are somewhere between 5000 and 12000k, and blues. The blues are more for aesthetics than anything else. back in the metal halide days some folks used to grow corals under 6500k lamps with no actinic supplement. Corals grew fine. The lower K lamps have a lot more usable light than the blues. The trouble with them, is that they make the tank appear yellow, and the corals bland.
The blue really brings out the colors, and makes even the fish look better.

I'm using these over my tank-
TaoTronics Blue White Dimmable Aquarium Coral Reef Tank LED Grow Light | eBay

-With great results.
As you can see, you can manually dim these to suit your livestock, and they don't have all the extra colors like red and green, though they work perfect. My proof is in the last few pages of my build thread. best of all, the price is right.

Lumens are a measure of how much visible light is emitted from a fixture, or lamp, and PAR is the amount of that light that is utilized by photosynthetic creatures.

PAR is what you want.

Metal halide, florescent, and LED are all measured by lumens, however, we have found that the measurement of PAR (photosynthetically active/available radiation) is more important.

 

[mr_X]

BTW, you can count those fixtures to cover a 2 x 2 area easily, so, I'm betting you'll want 3 of them for your tank, if you went that route.

 

[ssapp94]

Awesome!!! Thank you so much, you have been so much help!! I could keep you here forever with different questions, but I will let you rest for a while! Right now I am going to find your tank build thread!!!