Any cheaper alternative

opazen

opazen

Member
I have a 46 gallon bowfront tank. I have 160 watts of standard flourescent lights over it now. The highest light orginism I have is probably a pagota coral or my bubbletip annenome. Although my reef is doing excelently, the variety of corals leaves something to be desired( mostly mushrooms,xenia,yellow polyp, button polyp, pagota.) I am 16 and am not aloud to get a job right now. Thus I have no income and it is almost impossible for me to lay 300-400$ just on lights. Is there a cheaper alternative? Know any tricks that will get me higher intensity light for cheaper? All resposes appreciated.
PS I am a new member. This is a unfound treasure to me. The wealth of information here is incredable. Thanks to all.
Adam stewart
Stewart11986 (AOL screen name)
 
kelly

kelly

Member
To get the best possible lighting out of what you got, you may need to change bulbs. I am assuming you have 4 48" bulbs. If so, try to get triton bulbs, they are rated at 10,000K and are probably about the best 40W bulb you can get. You should also have atleast 1 actinic bulb, Blue Moons are supposed to be one of the best, but Coralife bulbs will also work. You could run a 50/50 for the actinic.
To enhance the light, there are 2 other things you can do. If the reflective material behind the light is not highly reflective, you could line it with aluminum foil. The other thing you can do depends on the amount of salt buildup you have, and that is remove the glass or plastic cover if you have one between the lights and the water. If you have a cover between the lights and the water, and it gets a constant build up of salt, it may not be advisible to remove it due to the corrosion that you will have on the lighting fixture. You will have to make this decision. If one exists, and you can not remove it, make sure you keep it clean.
I hope this helps a little, I wish you the best the of luck and welcome to the forum.
 
fishfreek

fishfreek

Active Member
Good advice kelly, One thing to add, i have found that you can use aluminum tape and use that instesd of foil. I just bought some from home depot in the heating section. I lined the white plastic stock reflector my perfecto light hood (run my NO actinic bulbs in this unit yet) came with and it works GREAT! Seems like it is much more efficent. IMO, best $5 i've spent on my tank besides my HD southdown sand. :D
 
lionpicasso

lionpicasso

Member
I too have been looking for cheaper lights. The cheapest thing I've found is a Icecap electronic ballast, it costs $179.00 for a 660 which will run
on my 75gal 4-48" 110watts VHO light bulbs which is 440 watts. Heres their web site. <a href="http://www.championlighting.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi?page=Products/Lighting/vho.html&cart_id=2046483.16097" target="_blank">Icecap</a>
 
ren

ren

Member
Ya might want to look in the DIY section. There is a post on 250W MH lighting for less than $100.00 - bulb included.
Icecaps are prob the most expensive ballasts out there but not the only ballasts that can be used.
 
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