Ninong,

Thanks for the clarification. I never was going to go with the 6500K MH's, don't really care for the ones that I have seen. Until I started reading these threads I was going with the Ushio 10k 400 watts on an HQI ballast. Now I am sitting tight as the tank is still a few months from needing the lights. I will continue to absorb the info and see how the others like their fixtures. It really does appeal to me to be able to buy the complete fixture and not to have to buy all the various parts and assemble a hood.

Two more ????'s.

Can you use either the AB or the Ushio bulbs in these fixtures?? And

Will the 250 Watt mh light up a 30" wide tank adequately? I think golfish posted that his 30" was a little dim at the front & back, but I will ask him Saturday, as several of us are planning to meet at Jeffs[img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img].

Yes, we did get up to Monterey. I did enjoy the Monterey Aquarium, but actually do prefer our local Long Beach Aquarium because they have more of the warmer water species that I enjoy. The conference was ok. My particular Friday night discussion group leader did not plan a talk or slide show and just asked if we had any questions for him. It wasn't very enlightening, as most expected a talk which would naturally lead to some questions. He just kinda chatted with us and that was it. Saturday the 4 talks I attended were all well-prepared and interesting. Sunday was kinda a waste. They had 4 speakers scheduled. The fourth one didn't pan out, so it was down to only 3 speakers. Then one of the 3 gave basically the SAME talk we just heard 10 months ago at WMC in Sacramento. So we had 2 out of 4 good speakers on Sunday. Hmm.....

But of course, it's always fun to go on vacation and meet lots of reefing friends, so that part was great!!

Joyce

P.S. You should become the local dealer on these fixtures. You know all about them and we'd all prefer to buy from you. I am serious!!!

ahhh, now i see. thanks for the bit of info ninong.

rj

Originally posted by Macimage:

Can you use either the AB or the Ushio bulbs in these fixtures??

Yes. As a matter of fact, I purchased a couple of Ushio/BLV 250w 10,000K HQI double-ended lamps from www.petwhse.com for only $85 ea (instead of the usual $109 to $129 elsewhere).

Will the 250 Watt mh light up a 30" wide tank adequately? I think golfish posted that his 30" was a little dim at the front & back, but I will ask him Saturday, as several of us are planning to meet at Jeffs[img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Hmmm... I'm not sure. The problem could be that Golfish is a little dim front-to-back. [img]/ubb/lol.gif[/img] He has his two mini fixtures mounted perpendicular to the front of the tank, whereas every picture that I have ever seen of any tank lit with HQI double-ended lamps shows them mounted parallel to the front of the tank (lamp ends pointed at the ends of the tank). I have already mentioned this to Golfish in an e-mail earlier this week. [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] Since the fixture you are considering is to be suspended over the tank, you have a good deal of flexibility in positioning it to best advantage. Also, a fixture that is suspended 10" to 12" above the tank would provide more spread than a fixture that is suspended only 5" or 6" over the tank. The effective coverage area of each lamp is probably about 26"x26" which should work out OK in your tank.

I try to make it to Monterey every time I get back to California. I lived in Monterey in 1980-1981.

Regards,

Ninong [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]



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Irrational Exuberance!

Thanks for the help Ninong. Joyce

LOL.... Ninong, I thought we cleared this up in our e-mails last week[img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img] My lights are mounted in the hood with the bulbs running front to back, not "lamp ends pointed at the ends of the tank". When you look at the tank from the front (HQI's on only) there is a dim spot in the middle under the glass cross bar. The cross bar is not the problem, its just that the lights don't cover that area. If you look at the tank through either end you don't see any dim spot. With The 400 watt 12K bulb on, it does a good job lighting up that area and adding a little blue to the rest of the tank.....

Joyce,
Will talk about it Saturday......

Mark

Originally posted by golfish:
LOL.... Ninong, I thought we cleared this up in our e-mails last week[img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img] My lights are mounted in the hood with the bulbs running front to back, not "lamp ends pointed at the ends of the tank". When you look at the tank from the front (HQI's on only) there is a dim spot in the middle under the glass cross bar. The cross bar is not the problem, its just that the lights don't cover that area.

Mark

That's exactly what I just said above. Your lamps are perpendicular to the front of the tank, not parallel with lamp ends pointed at the ends of the tank. [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

I have NO IDEA if it would make any difference if they were mounted in the usual parallel position; however, if you check out Giesemann's German language website -- www.giesemann.de -- they seem to be giving each lamp a coverage area of 70x60cm (27.5"x23.6") but I'm not sure which direction the 70cm is figured.

I think your best solution is to mount a third metal halide in the center of the tank, and I believe this is what you said you are doing. You could even offset it 6" towards the back of the tank, if you wanted to even out the front-to-back coverage a bit. But if you were not intending to use a third metal halide, it would probably have improved the center if you moved the two mini hoods about 6" closer together; thus making the outer 3" at either end of the tank dimmer.

Ever since you told me that I'm toying with the idea of not using my PC fixture with my HQI fixture, but perhaps trying to work in some 20,000K HQI lamps instead. Sanjay posted some test results for the Osram/Radium 400w 20,000K HQI mogul base lamp in his recent ballast testing article, but I can't seem to find any test results for any of the 150w or 250w 20,000K HQI double-ended lamps.

Do you have any before and after pics of your tank to show the appearance with just the 2x250w HQI vs. the three metal halides--that's assuming you already have the third one mounted? [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

Later,

Ninong [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

LOL, Man was I tierd this morning. I just woke up from my normal 4 hours of sleep and I'm ready to go for another 16 hours (I walk around the last 4 half asleep)

That's funny cause all the pics I have seen of the single mini pendants have been mounted the way I have mine. I would think the wider light spread you mentioned would go with the lenght of the bulb, that's probably why I have good coverage front to back.

I have a guy coming over today to replace the condenser and coil on my central air (still haven't got over that $2000.
00 shocker)I will try to get you a shot of the tank with the HQI's only and then all 3. You know how these lighting pics go, it might not even show up.....

Mark

Ninong,
Here's some pics of my tank. Next time I'll remember to clean the glass[img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img] I was afraid the dim spot wouldn't show up, it not only showed up but its exaggerated. The dim spot in the first pic is not even close to that dark...The first pic is 2x250watt HQI's and the second is 2x250watt HQI's and a 400 watt 12K....

Hmmm... I don't like either pic. [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

How close are your HQI lamps from the bottom UV shield to the water's surface? Because that central area is really, really dark. The AB-Aqualine tech people told me that I need to mount my fixture 30cm (11.8") from the water's surface in order to achieve proper light spread. I think I'll go with 10" and see what happens.

But, OTOH, I really don't like the looks of the second pic either. Looks like someone just dumped some laundry bluing into the middle of your tank. (P.S. - You're not old enough to know what that is--it's from the 1940's. [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img])

I think you need to ditch that 12,000K lamp and put something else in there--anything else! [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

Later,

Ninong [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]



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Irrational Exuberance!

Yeah, I really didn't prepare the tank or setup the camera to take good pics. The pics really exaggerated the color. If you saw my tank LIVE you would only see a hint of blue in the middle of the tank. I didn't care much for the 12k bulb when I first installed it but I kinda like it now. I may and I mean may go with an Iwasaki bulb next along with 2x55watt PC's. I have all these PC's laying around doing nothing[img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

The UV shield is 5" from the water surface, I guess I could go up to 8" if I wanted to but I don't see any reason to do it since I have great coverage now...

Hee hee, I just noticed, That big coralline covered rock under the 12K really does make it look blue in the middle of that pic....

[This message has been edited by golfish (edited 04-27-2001).]

It's not just the coralline covered rock. What about the water column in the middle... what about the surface of the water in the middle??? It looks navy blue! [img]/ubb/eek3.gif[/img]

Ninong [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

Ninong, its the picture its looks that way but its not....

Steve Elias use a 20K between two Iwasaki's and his tank also has a hint of blue in the middle. Too be honest if you didn't know I had the 12k bulb you wouldn't notice it....

[This message has been edited by golfish (edited 04-27-2001).]

FWIW Mark - I think the tank looks great! [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

Might be about time to update the website with some of those new purchases!

Hey Brian, I missed you at Jeff's today. I met Joyce, Hughem and the bay area guys from Aqualink down there about 1:30pm. I only bought a few pounds of rock [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Bummer man. I didn't know anyone was going there. At 1:30 today I was sitting on my fat a$$!!! Well I'll meet up next time. Let me know next time you cruise in there.

Talk to ya soon.

P.S. - I brought in my first cutting to the LFS for some credit. I was like a proud father! [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]