Couple of Mh questions

[alison]

Hi, I have a couple of metal halide questions. 1) Is sunlight supply or cool touch any good for balast brands? 2)Cool touch is electromagnetic though, and what is that? I want to go electronic of course. 3) I only have 4-5 inches for clearance under my hood so what do people do?
This will be dual 175 watt electronic retro kit. I found a couple deals on ----, new units. And bulbs for around 30$ each. By the way do I want 10, 12 or 14k on the bulb kind? I want to do any kind of coral. This kit will be added to my pc's ~Thanks in advance, Alison

 

[golfish]

your hood is way too short, I'd think about replacing that before you go to MH's, you could also remove it and run pendants and or hang the canopyhood above the tank.
BTW, those 30.00 bulbs are just that, 30.00 bulbs. I'd not opt for cheap bulbs if it were me.

 

[alison]

hi, I think I'll just pretty much redue my hood. My mother is good with woodworking. She said she'd come over and help me rebuild it. Then I could raise it up about a foot higher. Do you know the best bulb kind to get. 10k or 12k, or 14k? I'm a newbee a mh's so I dono what's best to give me the best oportunity's for whatever I wanna get. Thanks, Alison. I'll be adding in my 2- 55 watt actinics for color. Thanks

 

[golfish]

Ali,
I'd get a good 10K bulb..I've been trying the XM bulb for about a month now, I really like it.
Yeah, you want to get that canopy up to about 12" if you can.

 

[alison]

Thanks for all your help. Now I've been readin around and to grow any coral I want I need a dual 250! The bulbs for those are way more, but I may just go that route, or start with the dual 175's and in a year then go to dual 250's and sell the dual 175's. I dono. I found a awesomes site called www.californiareefs.com/tanklighting. They explain A LOT about all the differnet kinds of mh's and I learned a lot. I guess now I just have to search for a good deal on either a dual 175 retro kit or a dual 250 retro kit. It all depends on how much the bulb will be on those every year. Thanks again, Ali

 

[alison]

I was just told by 2 places that I can't do mh's because my tank will get too hot. So I'm thinkin VHO's now possibly. Do they have the same heat issues at metal halides though, and do you have to have them a certain distance from the water, and are they better than pc's? Thanks in advance, Ali

 

[thegrog]

Originally posted by alison
I was just told by 2 places that I can't do mh's because my tank will get too hot. So I'm thinkin VHO's now possibly. Do they have the same heat issues at metal halides though, and do you have to have them a certain distance from the water, and are they better than pc's? Thanks in advance, Ali
You can do them if you have good ventilation in the hood. Two fans, one at each end. Either that or go with pendants and leave the top of the tank open.
You can also reduce the heat output if you go with dual 150w HQI pendants. They put out enough light to equal a 250 mogul and they put out less heat.

 

[alison]

Hi, thanks for all the help. Well, I was all set to do mh's then decided no, because of heat, then decided to go Vho's. Now, I read that Vho's put out half the light of pc's. So if I get 4 bulbs totalling 460 watts, then it would be like my old setup of pc's? Then why do people do vho's over pc's or was this info wrong? Thanks in advance, ali:notsure: