light question

bigtyguyy

bigtyguyy

Member
can your ballast be more power then your Fluorescent bulbs. Mine are 30W and 40W, so could the ballast be more then that.
just want some thoughts on this retro light fitting im thinking of buying for $580 including shipping to canada and my choice of bulbs.
Sunlight Supply's Blue Wave II Dual 400W is a complete Aquarium Lighting kit. This metal halide aquarium light system has two pulse start ballasts in one enclosure. Each ballast runs a 400W Metal Halide Light Bulb. The fully assembled ballast also has rubber feet, a back lit on/off switch, louvers for cooling, heavy duty key-way handle, high temperature 100° capacitor and 6ft. power cord. Includes everything you need: Dual Ballast, two retrofit reflectors with sockets & lamp cords and your choice of two 400W Ushio 10K , Radium 20K, Venture 10K, Eye Iwasaki 6.5K, or Ushio Blue 20K Metal Halide light bulbs.
Also what should i add to this Fluorescents or PC and what bulbs would you use is either one?
Lets here what you guys have to say!!!!!
 
bigtyguyy

bigtyguyy

Member
also what K rating is the best to have in a Halide Bulb. What do you think of a 250W 6500K Iwasaki bulb? can someone also explain the igniting think with the bulbs (fulsing, firing and so on)?
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
If you just plan on running halides, I'd go with the 20K Radiums. If however you plan on running flourescent actinics, I'd go with the 10K's along with the actinic's. On average,10K's put out much more PAR than do 20K's. I bought my lighting system from this site, it may give you some more options. http://diyreef.com/shop/index.php?cPath=3. The following site helped me alot, when it comes to evaluating halides, their power, and output. http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm
 
bigtyguyy

bigtyguyy

Member
see the thing is that i know nothing about these lights. All im looken for is a quiet ballast and bright white light not crazy purple or dark blue just a nice light blue colour to it. My tanks 5 feet long so 60 inches and 24 deep. I am planning on putting in 2 MH's. I want to buy a ballast that will support all coral types so that i don't have to upgrade in the future. So what wattage do you think for a 24 inch deep tank. umm im wondering if i can us just Metal Halide or do i NEED to have also VHO's with them to have nice coral. Im just starting out right now so i wont forsure have crazy corals so maybe i would buy the VHO's later if i have to. So what brand ballast do you think would be quiet and how much and also what bulb and how much do you think its around.
Im going to be putting all this in the custom made hood myself
im sorry for all the dumb questions
 
bigtyguyy

bigtyguyy

Member
Hey Hurt i was on that site you gave me what do you think for my 100G (2) 250w Electronic Retro Kit
- Ballast Choice Aro Electronic
- MH Bulb Choice XM 20,000k
what do you think and what will i have to do when they come (step up)
Thanks sooo much
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
Bigtyguy, I not familiar with either the ballast or bulb. I bought the 48in retro with two Icecap MH ballasts and 10k XM's. But if all you want right now is MH than go with that choice. Later if you decide to add vho actinics, you could change your bulbs to 10k if you wanted. Here's a picture of my light with only the vho's on.
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
As for what you will have to do when it comes, just mount the light to your canopy and mount your ballasts where you wish. All the wiring is done, all you have to do is plug the light wires to the ballasts and screw in your MH's. Here's of picture of how I mounted my ballasts. I have two IC 250MH ballasts and an IC 660 for my VHO, mounted to a board. These ballasts never get that hot at all, and the reason I went with the IC MH ballasts is they run MH bulbs at a lower temp than other ballasts, yet still drive plenty of PAR.
 
bigtyguyy

bigtyguyy

Member
hurt call me Tyler, you have any pics of your tank with the lights on? how many watts do you think for 24 inches deep 175, 250,400 watts. why would say that if i had VHO's i could change to a 10K from a 20K is there something that the 10K has that the 20K doesn't? You think that 2 MH is enough for now on a 5 foot tank? Also why do you have both MH and VHO's? what do the VHO's add to the tank?
i can't thank you enough for answering these questions!!!!!
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
Tyler, since your tank is 24in. deep you should be able to get away with 250's. If your tank was 25in or greater I'd suggest 400's. Don't go with the 175's. MH's are the best possible light source for a reef tank, they penetrate very deeply into the H20. With the 250's you will be able to have most any coral, anenome, clam, and the reason I got mine-SPS. The "K" we are refering to is merely the spectrum of the bulb. 10K's are very bright and white, 20K's are more blue. As far a MH is concerned you can change different spectrum bulbs in your sockets, as long as it is the same wattage as your ballasts. Two should be allright for now, but you may want to get another in the future, just position your corals underneath the MH's. THe only reason I have the VHO is for the super actinic 03 bulbs. These bulbs peak at 420nm which is very important spectrum for most corals. Plus, the blue from the VHO bulbs helps give the tank a nice color. If I only ran the 10K MH's my tank would be very white, almost yellow. A 250w 10K XM MH bulbs delivers a 530 PAR rating on my IC 250MH ballast, my same ballast with a 20K XM MH bulbs delivers only a rating of 270 PAR(Photsynthetically Available Radiation).
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
Here's another picture with only the left MH turned on and both of my VHO actinic's on. As you can see the right side is very blue from just the actinic's, but the left side has both the white from the MH and the blue from the VHO's for a nice color IMO. Hopefully this will give you a good idea of what certain bulbs look like. Sorry about the crapy pics, I have a cheap camera.
 
bigtyguyy

bigtyguyy

Member
i love that. Thanks soo much. i think i have a great idea what i want now and how im going to build the canopy. You know of any sites that have DIY canopy pics. I love your tank!!!!! Ya i think i am going to get both VHO and the MH's. thanks so much boss
 
bigtyguyy

bigtyguyy

Member
do you also have any pics of your canopy? or maybe the whole tank stand and all. I bought my stand from big al's but do you think they can take all those rocks and stuff. i would think so but you would know better.
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
Here's a picture of my whole setup: DT, fuge, stand, and canopy. Again, I have a cheap camera, it looks much better in person. In this pic, my DT has only the VHO actinics on.
 
bigtyguyy

bigtyguyy

Member
do you guys think that i could use a MH to keep outdoor plants over through the winter? Right now im using a cheap Fluorescents from like canadian tire that are philips plant gro bulbs. What wattage should the MH be 175,250, 400 and what bulb do you think would work the best? Im going to hang it from the ceiling above them. I though i could because of the high UV levels they put out.
what do you think?
 
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