Metal Halides

balakoth · 04-06-2002, 11:07 AM

Well now that I have my lights, RO system canopy and other goods all setup. I have decided I will try and run the system for at least 6 months trying to keep i stable.

If thats successful I wish to add a or two metal halides to my tank. Here' s my question though.

A) For a 48" wide 18" deep tank, how many should I use? I was thinking with either 2 - 175 watters (Though with all my PCs makes it VERY hard to fit in some how and distribute light evenly)

B) Or One 250 Watt pushing it in the center and keeping most of my high lights while letting some of hte others live in the lower light.

Last but not least, I will be extending my canopy when I decide to do this raising it another 4 or 5 inches off the top of my aquarium (right now its about 7 1/2).

Now the major questions are, with 2 am I going to get so much Heat from these bulbs that in my size of tank I would need a Chiller? (I dont want to go that route for obvious reasons)

Besides total height FROM the water, what is the distance requirement for it to be placed near other bulbs. My canopy is a tight fit and if I can squeeze MH in there while still keeping my 2 55s for Actinics 96s for 10ks and was thinking possibly a 20k corallife MH bulb. Any suggestions or pictures of how you might have OVerfilling canpoy's setup with all your light schemes.

I also assume the 20k will give me more of a Blue feeling, which I felt i would need with the lack of more watts with my Actinics.

Thanks again guys , your still the great so far

Doug1 · 04-06-2002, 04:29 PM

Ideally you would want to use 2 MH (good for 2x2 area) but if you only do one put it over one end and put hi lite lovers there.
The Corallife 20K bulb would be me last choice, I have heard bad things about them and would go with a good 10 or 12 K 250w if you want clams or SPS, 400 would be better but 250 would be great in a short tank, esp if you do a DSB.
As far as heat build up, well vented canopies with fans usually keep temps managable, its not like the weather stays killer hot there from extended periods , HTH

balakoth · 04-06-2002, 07:14 PM

Unfortunately my situation isnt ideal.. I would like to Utilize ALL the lights i have spent my savings on already and still use metal halide in the future.

I kind of put it in a round about way with other question, but my main one was.. if I did choose to use at least one.. how far from the PCs do they need to be? is there a real distance at all?

Currently lights are setup in this fasion ---- being the light.. and ::: just used to space it out since it doesnt acknowledge it here in the boards.

________________________________________
|
||------------------------------------------ <- 96 watt
||--------------------------------||----------------------------| <- 2 55 watt
|...................------------------------------------------------| <- 96 watt
|________________________________________|

My question is without losing the 2X55s do you see a way of fitting a MH in there... Since everything is pretty tight in there i see bulbs pretty close together, is this going to be a major problem?

seahawkjohnny · 04-06-2002, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by balakoth
Well now that I have my lights, RO system canopy and other goods all setup. I have decided I will try and run the system for at least 6 months trying to keep i stable.

If thats successful I wish to add a or two metal halides to my tank. Here' s my question though.

A) For a 48" wide 18" deep tank, how many should I use? I was thinking with either 2 - 175 watters (Though with all my PCs makes it VERY hard to fit in some how and distribute light evenly)

B) Or One 250 Watt pushing it in the center and keeping most of my high lights while letting some of hte others live in the lower light.

Last but not least, I will be extending my canopy when I decide to do this raising it another 4 or 5 inches off the top of my aquarium (right now its about 7 1/2).

Now the major questions are, with 2 am I going to get so much Heat from these bulbs that in my size of tank I would need a Chiller? (I dont want to go that route for obvious reasons)

Besides total height FROM the water, what is the distance requirement for it to be placed near other bulbs. My canopy is a tight fit and if I can squeeze MH in there while still keeping my 2 55s for Actinics 96s for 10ks and was thinking possibly a 20k corallife MH bulb. Any suggestions or pictures of how you might have OVerfilling canpoy's setup with all your light schemes.

I also assume the 20k will give me more of a Blue feeling, which I felt i would need with the lack of more watts with my Actinics.

Thanks again guys , your still the great so far

I would go with 2 250 watt 6500 k , you already have plenty of blue with your atinics, and the bluer you get with the halide the more intensity you lose, if you dont plan on SPS, or clams 10k's would be fine

Jimbo · 04-07-2002, 01:33 AM

Hi,

I have a 400 watt 6500k bulb over my 40gal and have a 4" pc fan blowing over the bulb and 2 exhaust fans. Heat increase is small. I've had my flourescents only several inches away from the MH and they seem to be ok. Depending on the height between your bulbs and your corals, you may be able to get by with 2 175 watt bulbs. Hellolights has Xanium bulbs that come in 10,000k and 15,000k. You could go with 250 watters, but you may not need that much light. With to much light SPS's fade in color. I have to much light and only run it 4 hours a day. Supplement with flourescents which you already have and keep sps on the rocks.

Hope this helps

seahawkjohnny · 04-07-2002, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo
Hi,

I have a 400 watt 6500k bulb over my 40gal and have a 4" pc fan blowing over the bulb and 2 exhaust fans. Heat increase is small. I've had my flourescents only several inches away from the MH and they seem to be ok. Depending on the height between your bulbs and your corals, you may be able to get by with 2 175 watt bulbs. Hellolights has Xanium bulbs that come in 10,000k and 15,000k. You could go with 250 watters, but you may not need that much light. With to much light SPS's fade in color. I have to much light and only run it 4 hours a day. Supplement with flourescents which you already have and keep sps on the rocks.

Hope this helps

Hey Jimbo what made you deciede to go with the 400 watt instead of a 250 in your system?

Jimbo · 04-07-2002, 11:30 AM

Hi, figured the more light the better. But that is not always true and the ballast and bulb cost are about the same. I am now using a diffuser under the bulb, this helps greatly and spreads the light more evenly over the tank. Cost wise I am using 4 2' NO's over my tank powered by electronic ballast that I modified to give me about HO output. I leave these on most of the time. I want a 50g bowfront, that 400 watter will go nice over it hehe

Have a great day!

tdwyatt · 04-07-2002, 11:14 PM

I never did notice what you intend to keep in your tank, nor did I see a biotope you wish to emulate... Before you spend a lot of money, what will you be keeping? If you wish to keep lagoonal spp of corals and octocorals, you may have everything you need already. Let your budget control your speed of acquisition for now and decide which biotope you wish to emulate,: What you already have is a good start, MH can come later as you build your water quality and husbandry skills.

Just a suggestion, hope this helps.

thebigblue · 04-08-2002, 10:37 AM

ive got 3-250w 10K ushios over my 6' 125...with a 5" DSB....

they are housed in a open-backed canopy 8" from the water surface with 2 fans running...

i maintain 81 degrees during the day....

i wanted the least amount of lighting in my canopy as possible...i feel the 10Ks give me a good balance...

cost was about $250 for each light, so for your 48" tank your lookin at $500...it would be only about $420 for a 65K setup...all at www.premiumaquatics.com

FWIW

brad

Metal Halides

Re: Metal Halides