Halide fixtures and such

j-cal

j-cal

Member
Heres the bottom line. I am going to be upgrading to a 125 and will need new lights. My 55 runs 4x65 watt PC bulbs and for the stuff I have and want to get in the 125 it works GREAT. I've been toying with the idea of upgrading to halides, but im a poor college student and here are my 3 options and I'd like opinions on which one you guys think woiuld suit me best from a price factor i also want something built, i dont wanna make anything:
1.because of my job, i could get 2 fixtures which each hold 4 96 wall pc bulbs for a trade in on my old lights and extra money. it would cost me about 200 dollars or a little less.
2. I've never seen Red Sea Halide fixtures irl, but the pictures look nice. I am unsure of the price but it runs either x2 150 Watt HQI with 2 24 watt actinic compacts, or 3 150 watt HQI. The bulb type is unlisted but i think that this may give me a weird color since that is the general consensus on halides alone. Odds are it will cost me a little more than option 1...i think...
3. Are the fixtures for metal halides from home depot compatible with halide bulbs for fish tanks? If so i would be willing to rig sometyhign up since that would definitely cost way less than buying the pieces online.
It would definitely be too much cash and work for me to build my own setup and i defintiely dont want used stuff. Im gearing for option 1. What do ya'll think
 
j-cal

j-cal

Member
I am not sure ive never seen the socket for halide bulbs....do the "swivel" like a regular bulb? are the like a PC bulb and push in?
 
j-cal

j-cal

Member
I was asking because a friend has a light that I havent disected which is a "metal halide" lamp for working in the dark etc. im sure that the bubl in it produces the wrong kind of light, but can i put a good bulb in is my question :)
 
jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Active Member
I know you said you didn't want to buy used stuff, but I have an extra MH bulb and balast if you're interested. I initially bought two bulbs and two balasts for my 44g reef tank. I used them for about a month, and decided that both bulbs were too much, so I removed one. It hasn't been used since.
It's a 250w Iwasaki bulb, 6500k and a 250w magnetic balasts. Comes with mogul socket and grounded power cord - all you would need is a reflector and some mounting screws.
Let me know if you are interested.
 
scottnj

scottnj

Member
J-Cal
Another option depending on what you want to keep in the tank would be to see if you could fit a couple of VHO bulbs to suppliment the existing PC's. The workhorse 7 or 5 ballast is a pretty economical solution.
-Scott
 
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