Metal Halide ?

[dylopez]

I am currently constructing a metal halide fixture for my 50 gal. aquarium and wanted to know if a standard 10,000K halide bulb from a local electrical supply house would serve the same purpose as using a bulb I would by at the local fish store? Is there really a difference in bulbs if the K ratings are the same? Has anyone done this before and have you been successful? Please help!

[chrisjet]

i dont know the technical stuff, but i am pretty sure there is a huge difference in "fish tank bulbs" and other bulbs.

[Hop]

It will work, but odds are you'll find it more yellow than you like. Also K ratings are really kind of null... Take any three of the top 10k bulbs and put them on the same ballast and not one of them will look the same

[caughtaniner]

will the "fish tank" bulbs work in a regular ballast?

[bosscrab]

most will, except some german bulbs will only work w/electronic ballast.

[PelagicMagic]

10k is 10k. However you will be better off with a bulb built with the intention to be used on an aquarium. With the aquarium bulbs you are buying a bulb that will have a longer par life as it is intended to support aquaria life and not brighten a wharehouse. As Hop said the yellow hue will be more apparent with the generic bulb. You will be better off buying a reeflux or EVC bulb at the same cost.

[ckusnierek]

One difference will be the par like pelicanmagic said. In a 50g that probally wont be much of an issue for you. The biggest difference will be the ballast. The electrical supply "commercial" ones are probally magnetic cap/coil ballasts and they may be for only probe or pulse start bulbs. This will greatly limit you bulb choices in the futrure. Shop around and you will find a "REEF TANK" setup for about the same price. I was going to go your rout and found that you really dont save any money. I got my MH (retro)set up for $400.00 that included IceCap ballasts (top of the line) XM bulbs and high end reflectors. The nice thing about the icecap ballasts (about $125.00) is they will fire ANY and ALL bulbs including HQI. Check out hellolights.com and aquacave.com before you buy a commercial setup. By the way my kit included everything plug and play!


And 10K is NOT always 10K Here is a link to a guy who tested a bunch of bulbs and there is a signifigant color difference between makes. click the link the goto the MH testing link on the right of the page. There are 1/2 dozen 10k bulbs tested and they all look different.
http://www.cnidarianreef.com/