shop lights instead of pc lights?

[bolohead]

been hearing that some use shop lights and install the actinic's and halide lights on them and works great on top of reef tanks. other's use this as well? just wondering if there are other alternatives since pc lights are a little pricey.

[MadManMac]

I think the issue is going to be the spectrum and intensity of the lights. If you only want illumination that is usually a lot more yellow, they should work, but for a reef the intensity and color spectrum will be useless.

[bolohead]

even if you install the actinic and/or vho flourescents?

[MadManMac]

To go from the NO shop light to VHO you have to upgrade the ballast and endcaps so the shop light costs the same if not more than a retrofit kit would.

[loganj]

You could use a shoplight fixture for NO actinics, but there are drawbacks. The intensity is a good bit lower than PC or VHO. The endcaps are open and very subject to corrosion. I have used them over FW tanks and had corrosion issues even without the inevitable salt creep that you'll get on a SW tank. I really think you'd be happier and better served by going with the PC's even though the initial cost is higher.

[fishfreek]

Trust me. Going cheap with your lights now and you will regret it later on. Why buy lighting more than once?

If you dont want to go with PC's then look at going VHO for your actinics. You will need to do some serious retro work on a shoplight anyway to intergrate MH into the fixture.

[bolohead]

makes sense guys, appreciate the responses!

[revhtree]

Is there some kit that can convert the 4pc's that I have to mh or vho?

[kidkameleon3]

dude I am running shop lights NO.3 hoods made into 1 w/ a total of 6 48" bulbs cost $30 for everyting but bulbs. (saltwaterwarehouse.com has cheap bulbs). And my tank is doing great

I have had this argument here but the only diff in PC/vho/NO is the amopunt of watts per inch of tube. The lumens are the same etc.... I set out to prove this and am into the 3rd month and minus a pretty major set back ( not lights) Mya tank si doing great.Everyhting is showing good growth rates etc..... no hard corals or anythign but hey

edit: also for the side note adding a MH to my set up wouldn't be hard at all