my brain is overloaded with info and still dont know what to do

nicole05

nicole05

Member
:help: my levels are good today i did my first water change on my 55 gall
but have a problem i like most newbies bought stuff to early i have two anomones and not the right lighting started a thread to figure out what i needed to do and i didnt realize that it was going to so expensive to to get what they needed i guess my question is isnt there just a light bulb to put in the orginal fixture with out spending a ton one person said he made his own but i wouldnt even no were to start with that why is all of this stuff so confusing?
any help would be greatly apperciated
 
j-bird

j-bird

Member
hello again Nicole, unforunetely there really is no cheap way to do this, there really isn't anything cheap that has to go with this hobby at all

The lighting needed in order to keep that anemone thriving in your 55g is going to be expensive, especially in a 55g, I am guessing it is a 55 long and approx. 24" deep. Well anyways the light losing intensity once it hits the water, more intensity lost the deeper you go. VHO (very high output) lights are a little less exspensive than the MH, but not by much, and in my opinion, if you are going to get the VHO's you might as well get the MH.
Like I said last night, I would highly suggest taking anemones back to LFS,...
I know you are doubting me, but if you go in there and demand, they will take them back, remember you keep them in business.
 
j-bird

j-bird

Member
I saw your previous thread today about wattage. I forget who it was, but somebody in there was talking about components you need....ballast, socket, bulbs..
The main and most expensive part being the ballast, this is where all the power comes from to "light up" the light. The ballast you have in your normal hood setup, or even in your house for that matter does not create enough power to give you the intensity you need.
Maybe I should not be telling you this next part...now don't get fooled. They actually do sell "MH" bulbs that will fit into a normal socket, but they do not have the "true" spectrum a real MH light does, they are really not much better than a regular household bulb....So please do not go out and buy one of these because you really will be wasting your money.
 
nicole05

nicole05

Member
i dont mean to doubt you its just i really want to keep them i wish that there was an easier way that wasnt so pricey my head hurts with all the info i have gotten from everyone and thanks to all have helped me i tend to ask a lot questions but its getting all jumbled up now so i am going to try to do something with the anomones so they dont die i have heard it takes a while to kill one so that to me means a slow painful death and do not want to put it through that i just thought that there would be a way around spending hundreds of dollars
 
coachklm

coachklm

Active Member
the MH bulb must be run by a very high powered ballast(every light has one) the most common light for an aquarium runs a ballast for the 40w light bulb if you try to put a 175w light bulb into a fixture run with a simple 40w ballast bad things happen....these two items must match power....i'm doing all the research now to find the cheapest and most efficiant way to equip my tank with pc lighting at 440w and it's not looking cheap.
ive found ballasts for cheaper then the bulbs for MH.
 
j-bird

j-bird

Member
Like I said yesterday, if you look hard around that big auction site and even on this webpage in the classified, you should be able to find at least one 250w MH for around $100, if you are tight on money right now, you could at least get one of these and put it on one side of your tank and keep the anemone on that side of the tank for now until you get another one. This will help it.
 
j-bird

j-bird

Member
The ballast will be BIG ( alot different from one you have now) and will have to go under your tank or along side or something, but you will not be able to put it in canopy, too heavy. But then again, the ballast is what costs the $$$.
 
coachklm

coachklm

Active Member
sry j-bird but i'm going to say that the MH are not very cost effective in the long term.
to short a bulb life escpeccially with 40-50$ bulbs. it adds up.
i'd say 2x65w or 4x65w pc would last longer and do just fine for many softies and anemones
3-9w /g is golden depending on light spectrum 10k +actinic and your set
 
j-bird

j-bird

Member
I agree, I had a conversation with nicole yesterday about this and stated that I got my MH's because I plan on adding hard corals in the future, don't want to upgrade twice.
From my research...(might not be right)...with a good ballast the 14000K bulbs you should only have to replace about once a year, is this info incorrect??
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Originally Posted by nicole05
can you not just buy the ballest and put into the tank hood
Oh my no, the one that operates standard bulbs are like the size of a half roll of nickles, the VHO and MH ballasts can get quite large, here are my VHO and MH ballasts.
 
pfitz44

pfitz44

Active Member
nicole, shoot me an email-patrickfitzgerald at azz.com i can show you some inexpensive ballasts
 
coachklm

coachklm

Active Member
shoot me the site would you please i'm sick of research i have well over 30hrs over research to find a ballast and light combo.....
kmox2002@yahoo.com
thomas what vho combo you using?
i'm trying to stay away from MH (no need)
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Originally Posted by coachKLM
thomas what vho combo you using?
Total custom job. 440 watt VHO, 500 watt MH.
 
pfitz44

pfitz44

Active Member
nicole... heading home from work now (yea!!!) email me at home, its my username @juno.com or you can get me on aim fitznrwch or yim pfitz44
 
j-bird

j-bird

Member
Originally Posted by coachKLM
i'm trying to stay away from MH (no need)
No need?????????????????????????? Please clarify.
 
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