lighting

[kellane1]

I am totally lost on this lighting subject, sorry to sound dumb but is MH a flourescent tube, bulb, fitting or what. Can i change the existing Dalbarb lighting that i have to take a 300watt flouro, seems a big jump from 30 watts to 300.
Is high output flourescent flouro just another type of bulb or is it a a whole lighting system?
Can i just buy a complete system and install it, if so please tell me make and model and i will hunt for it.
kell

 

[jackdp]

The type and wattage of fluorescent lamp you can install depends on 2 things...the ballast you have and the actual lamp holder. Metal Halide MH lighting is a whole different ballgame, different lamp, different ballast different technology. Without knowing more about your current lighting setup I would say you probably cannot just replace the 30 watt lamp with a 300 watt lamp. The best is either to buy a hood/canopy that provides the lighting you need. What are the dimensions of your tank and what do you want to keep in it down the road...anwering these questions will be the first step in choosing the proper lighting setup.

 

[kellane1]

My lighting is a two twin flouro's, one set is coralstar actincs 30watt, and the other twin is white light 30watt 10,000k. (whatever that means)
These are attatched to my hood and the two ballasts are seperate, the ballasts are about two foot long and have no writing on them, so i can't get any info.
The tank is 6ft x 2.1/2ft X 2ft holds around 800 to a 1000ltrs
I want to keep corals, invertebrates and reef fish.
I don't care if i have to get rid of the current setup, what i want, is to get a good lighting system with no problems down the road.
So if possible can someone give me the info for exactually what i will need so that i can order it.
Kindest regards kell.

 

[cj10488]

I am totally lost on this lighting subject, sorry to sound dumb but is MH a flourescent tube, bulb, fitting or what

MH is kinda like a normal house bulb except larger and brighter..

Is high output flourescent flouro just another type of bulb or is it a a whole lighting system?

its pretty much a whole new system.. most ballasts are backwards compatible for Flourescent tubes except the ones that usually come with the light strips stock...

Can i just buy a complete system and install it, if so please tell me make and model and i will hunt for it.

If you were to Do MH lights (best IMO) spend the money now instead of wasting money on PCs of VHOs you can install them into a canopy.. The MH lights should sit a MIN of 8" off the water.. I believe the standard MH canopy is about 14" tall..
Cooltouchlighting has retro kits that can easily be mounted into an exsisting hood without much work.. Few screws and bolts and your done.. Make sure you get the kit for the size of your tank.. For Example "Dual250 Metal Halide 48" Reef Aquarium Retro" is what I went with for my 55g tank.. The only other thing besides the canopy that would be needed would be some MH bulbs.. And preferrably Actinics of some sort but not really all that needed (preferred though).. If you need any more assistance with lighting please feel free to ask..

HTH<
James

 

[cj10488]

The tank is 6ft x 2.1/2ft X 2ft holds around 800 to a 1000ltrs

3x250w retrofit kit I would put something like this on the tank and have to worry about lighting again.. However if you dont have a hood I would look around locally and see if you can find a MH canopy that you can mount them to or build one depending.. However if you want to be about the best you can get then I would go with 3x400w Retro kit As you can see it all depends on how you want to go.. personally you are borderline between 250w and 400w bulbs.. you are going to want a tripple ballast of either.. These lights would let you keep anything that you wanted in the tank without worring about the light..

HTH<
James

 

[kellane1]

Thanks james.
I havejust emailed a seller of the 400wat retro kit, in regards to shipping and voltage differences here in aussie.
kell

 

[cj10488]

LOL.. Well the ballasts I know are multitap ballasts able to do like 110 and 250 I believe.. I think you guys use 250v right... I would think that they would ship considering they already ship from canada to the US all the time LOL.. Glad I was able to help...



James