Theatre lights?

[mark-24]

Hey, I've been working with the theatre at my hs, more particularlly with the lights. We have an awsome system, over 100 channels for lights, 5 expensive spots, and a killer light board to control it all from. And after talking to some of the people that have been doing lights, some of the fixtures are pretty cheap (like a par can is like $30 and it is 120watts). I would love to setup a reef tank, but don't want to spend all the money on lights, so do you think that is is possible to use some of the lights to light a reef tank? I dont know what the k value of the lights are, but can I adjust them with light blueish gels to increase the k value?
Just curiuos about this...
-Mark

 

[wally]

The biggest thing you would have to worry about is heat. Cans make a TON of heat. Actually a par can is 120 volts but can have a 1,000 watt bulb in them. The bulbs are just halogen so if you wanted to you could save even more and do the same thing with some outdoor light fixtures and outdoor halogen bulbs. The bulbs in cans also do not seem to last very long in my experience. Of course they were always being set-up and torn down and then rattled around in trucks so that may have had something to do with it.
It would look very cool however to have a small truss hanging above a tank with some cans shining down on it. You caould also get some intelabeams and make a nice "lazer" show in the room to call attention to your tank.

 

[sonny]

Were they going to give you some of these lights? Theatre lights are not known for being cheap, so I don't think you'd save money by buying them. The lights you are talking about are almost surely 3200 k lamps. They are "halogen" lights. While you might be able to get the light to look like it is the right color, you will not be getting what you might think you are. Changing the color does not deliver the spectrum you need, plus the gels you are talking about fade pretty quickly under the heat of these lamps. I am a television director, and I work with this type of light all the time. One thing you might want to look at is the lamps made by Mark Weiss company that is similar to a floodlamp, but it is designed to be used on reef tanks. They come in 150 watt and 250 watt sizes. They just screw into a normal light socket, and don't require a ballast at all. They are fairly expensive, but they cost about the same as a Metal halide lamp, without the cost of the ballast to worry about. I don't know anybody who has used them, but I'd love to hear somebody's evaluation of them.
Sonny

 

[wally]

Good point about the cost after going back and reading the post I think he is talking about the tiny par cans that they make for like a disco or for a DJ and that is what he is getting for $30.00 with just a 120 watt bulb. We used to pay $200 a piece for "Thomas Cans" without bulbs and thought we were getting a good deal. But they were very light and made from aircraft alluminum so you could fly quite a bit of them without a lot of weight.
If it is the "disco" lights and not a "real" can you are talking about save yourself some money and just get a regular light fixture from Home Depot for about 99 cents and wire it into a large coffe can, and use a halogen bulb. You will have the same thing for about 4-5 bucks.

 

[mark-24]

Well, I can buy the lights through the school, so I could get the same price that the school would pay. The Par Cans we have are alright, but thats in comparison to fernels, ellipsoildals, cycs, mini-zooms, scoops, ect... I was curious because I was up in the light booth, and was looking at all the different lamps, and reading the info on them. I was told by th light head, that they can get par cans for like $25-$30, all the way up to Ellipsodials for like $200. But consider that some MH lamps are like $50 and are 175 watts alone, not including a ballast or fixture. When at the same time I can get a par can for like $30, a lamp for pretty cheap, and a gel. But getting a truss system would be pretty pricey.
-Mark

 

[sonny]

IT WON'T WORK!!!!! Don't waste your money doing this... As I said before, the spectrum will not be right.
Sonny

 

[mark-24]

Whoa, chill, don't have a hernia. I got the idea, I won't try it. I was just curious, because I heard that the par cans are like $30 and are 1,000 watts, whereas a Medal Halide is like $220 for 175 watts, you do the math, what sounds like the best deal?
-Mark