need metal halide help

[hondotob]

I have a 100 gallon 5 ft. glass tank,right now i have 250 watt 10,000k's on each side.I would like to add another Metal Halide in the center above center brace.This will be an sps tank,no room for vho's so i would like to put a 20k in center to get some blue would a 20k in center of the 10k's look good?What brand of bulb would be best a radium or Coralife.
Thanks Bill

[Casey]

I dont think it would look good the 10ks I have seen or yellow whitish and the 20k is real blue would not be balanced imo. Casey

[mojoreef]

Hondo that is the combination of bulbs I run in my tank and IMHO are the best MH combo. Now what I would suggest to do is to take the reflectors and bend them flat. SO if the 20 k is in the middle both of its reflector wings will be flat and the 10K's on the ends will have the wing that is closest to the 20k are also flatened. What this will do is to blend the colors of the 2 different bulbs. and thus make it un-noticable.

on which bulb I would suggest the radium for sure.


Mike

[Stang69]

I just mounted mine in a new canopy tonight. I bought a 4-96 watt 60 inch reflector and mounted 4-110 VHO's and 2-175 watt mh's in it. I have room for another halide mogule but I wont do it. This is a 60 inch tank also BTW. See this post.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...threadid=14693

HTH

Jeff

[cyberchef]

Be careful about mounting a light directly over the center brace. I've seen post about it and the general concensus seems to be "it's a bad idea", weakens the brace. Hopefully others with more experience with MH lights will chime in.

[hondotob]

Do you think that i need another Metal Halide as far as sps goes,i have spider reflectors.I have some sps frags sitting on bottom and they seem to be growing and i've only had the frags for less than 2 weeks will they be happy and keep their colors?The bulbs are Ushio.The one thing i don't like is the ripple affect where most people do i guess, i thought maybe another bulb would lesson the ripple affect.
Thank You
Bill

[Rick O]

I would not put a MH bulb above the center brace. That's flirting with disaster. If it's glass then it becomes hot and the cool water can cause it to break. If it's plastic then the UV from the light weakens the plastic and causes it to become brittle, eventually it will break.

[Casey]

I have a 175 watt mh over my center glass brace and it doesnt hurt it at all I have a 7inch fan blowing cool air across it,100 gal glass tank. Casey my 2 C

[Casey]

Here is mine

[Junkzoo]

Originally posted by Rick O
I would not put a MH bulb above the center brace. That's flirting with disaster. If it's glass then it becomes hot and the cool water can cause it to break. If it's plastic then the UV from the light weakens the plastic and causes it to become brittle, eventually it will break.

Rick , how far should a Mh be away from a center brace,i have a 200Oceanic,(glass brace) and was brain storming the move to it from my 75,(2-400W 10K- 4 55w PC actinics) was wondering on lighting up the center,,,,it's a retro Hamilton unit,and plan on mounting the works on a reflector and moving them some to cover the tank(now thinking a 3rd light might be out of the question)
Thanks

[Casey]

Jeff Rick doesnt like the bulb above the brace ,I would say a minimun 8 inch the lfs I go to has theres at 10 in. Casey

[Rick O]

It's only going to be a problem if the glass gets hot. If it does and water gets on the glass then it could break it. And I don't mean splashing on it, I mean a good amount of water, enough to rapidly cool the glass. If you can manage to keep the glass cool as Casey has done then you can prolly get away with it. I just know that when I hold my hand under the MH bulb it gets hot fast. Experiment with it but be careful.

[Casey]

ok guys heres the trick to do it,first of all fans help that why I went to Wallmart and bought 7in ones for 14 bucks each and put them in my hood,also I keep my water level high in the tank so it is constantly touching that glass and it never gets hot,my friend down the street kept his water level lower and his got hot,so he keeps it higher now like mine problem solved.Just have to have good air flow and keep bulbs at least 8 in away and tank water can cool to help ya. Casey

[David Grigor]

Catch 22.

Using parabolic reflectors trying to blend colors doesn't look good IMO. I have 3X400W 20Ks on a 8' tank. I wanted to add 2 150W in between to get more light. I tried 150W Iwasaki Aqua bulbs, Iwasaki 65K bulbs and 150W 10K DE fixtures. None of which was an acceptable blend IMO. Finally decided to just add another 400W 20K bulb and not try to blend.

Using a flat reflector may give you a better blend but you also loose light directed into the tank.

IME: You best off adding the same temp bulb and not trying different combine different temp MH bulbs if your goal is to have a uniform looking light and maximize output.

[Casey]

I agree David Casey