Hey Johnny,
Metal Halide(MH) lamps are the best pretty much hands down, they have the best spectrum of light and the best intensity. The problem is they are also the hottest, which makes it next to impossible to put them into a canopy. Typically they are suspended from the ceiling above the tank, there are regular abs hoods with them, but again are meant to be suspended, or at least stood off the tank quite a ways with larger fans to help dissipate the heat and keep the heat away from the tank. I've seen some guys build their own canopies and either suspend the lights keeping the top open, or build it extra high with additional fans. The next closest in quality is power compact flourescents or pc's and they come close in spectrum but are short in intensity, requiring more bulbs to achieve the same. The pc's do run cooler than MH's and are readily available in abs hoods or retrofit kits to build into your own canopy. The other higher end lighting is VHO or very high output flourescents, they run a little hotter than pc's and deliver about the same spectrum as pc's. They have been around the longest as high end lighting, and are very easy to find with many many DIY designs available. The last and lower end is just regular grade flourescents commonly used in households or businesses. These have, of course, been around forever and are the weakest lighting as well as the coolest. It would take many many of these bulbs to achieve the same intensity as two MH bulbs. So, after that run down..you basically need to decide if you want to pay for someone's premade light fixture to sit on top of the tank or to get a retrofit kit and build your own canopy. Building your own is by far the cheapest and gives you total control over looks and function, but you may not be in a place where you can build them, or may not feel comfortable with that, and so would be stuck buying someone's prefab unit. I myself am not in a place where I have the room or opportunity to build my own canopy easily, so I have purchased my lights. I also am in an apartment where ceiling mods are frowned on, so I have had to go with stand on units, I have been very pleased with the pc fixtures I've gone with..I started out with a Jalli 220w fixture for my 80Gal. and have added a second Jalli for 440w. These have individual ballasts built in so I can put a timer on each bank. I would like to try some MH lights at some point, but am extremely pleased with my pc's for now. Hope all this info helps! let us know of other questions! dave
btw, your circuit is fine.
