Let There be light ?!?

[Ydav]

Whahhh... Big confusion, maybe some-one can help me!

Tank Measurments 48*24*18 i think... I have 450w balast and a bunch of metal Handle lamps, even an HPS, I wonder if I can use them, they are 4-3k degrees, the internet told me that I could get one of those 175W MH at home depot for $20. I want to keep the costs of the setup low intitatialy.

o, I want to keep corrals !


Thanks !

[malawiMD]

You can only put a 450? watt lamp on a 450 ballast. not a 175

[Ydav]

Why not ?



The ballast creates 450 watts, I can put anything under that amount, another question is the socket size, 450 watt sockets are bigger then 175, but not bigger then 250, in any case I can get a smaller socket at Radioshaik if it is needed.



O sometimes they sell 175 Metal Heidle fixtures for $75 at home Depot....



But aside all that, the Home depot Lamps are 4,000 Calvin, the Internet told me that I need at least 5,000 Calvin while everybody who uses them gets 10,000 or 20,000 Calvin’s.



Cinse I am only starting up, and I do not know what type of corrals I will use in the future, for the first 6 month or so, do you thing I can get away with 4,000 Calvin? Because I have read on the Internet that some corral breeders use those.



Another question is the wattage, 250, 175, or 2*175? Do they need to be supplemented?



I know that members here advocate PC.


Thanks

[malawiMD]

I know of no ballast that can handle multiple lamps. If you have one, tell me what kind it is. That would be great. GrayBar (electrical wholesaler) says there is no such thing as a multiple lamp ballast. Now on to something else.

Mogul sockets are available for $5 on marine depot or $20 from GrayBar. Mogul sockets will fit Mogul lamps from 100 watt to 1000 watt. Most of the lamps at home depot are Mogul socket.

I went with the 20,000 Kelvin lamp for my DIY lighting system because I didn't want to have to put in actinics also. I really don't know much about using a 4,000 Kelvin bulb. It still seems like it would put off a lot of light, but I really don't know anything about corals.

I am running two 250 watt Metal Halides and 4 NO flourecents.

here is a pic on my tank - which measures the same as yours. 90 gallon

[Ydav]

Man, your tank looks HOT !



I am not the worlds biggest expert on Ballasts, but the way I understand them they convert the 220v electrical current to a 450w (in my case), if I am using a 175w lamp, it is fine, or I can split the cord, and use 2*175watts, for a total of 350w (still 100 left over. But I could be wrong. And they do sell ballasts for 2 lamps, check out "Hydroponics" on the web, in Hydroponics they also use ballasts with M.H. although they use lower Calvin’s and higher wattage.



A question for you though, why are you using 250 watt Metal Halides and 4 NO fluorescents? I kind of thought that ether one would be fine...

[Reefland]

To my knowledge, there is no such thing as a 450w ballast to power Metal Halide bulbs. And no you cannot power 4-250w bulbs from a 1000w ballast. If you have a 1000w ballast, you can only power a 1000w bulb, end of story.

As far as what kind of Metal halide lighting you would need over your 90 gallon tank, 2-250w halides with anywhere from 6500k to 20k bulbs would be fine. From an appearance standpoint, the lower the Kelvin (i.e. 65k would be the lowest I would go), the more actinic light you will have to provide to balance the appearance.

[Ydav]

Actually it was 430 watt not 450, my bad...

[malawiMD]

I put the flourescents in because it makes it cheap and easy to add a little variety. If I want more blue I can throw in an actinic. If I want more yellows and greens I can throw in a WalMart aquaruim bulb. Plus it adds more light without adding much heat.

[traveller7]

Actually it was 430 watt not 450, my bad...

430's are commonly called "400HQI" here. The are designed for different bulbs then are used by most reefers. Quite a few still use them for Radium brand bulbs though. Be cautious at it may overdrive a standard 400wt lamp.

Metal Halide ballasts are not for playing around with, especially the multi tap variety which support 120/277. If you don't have a wiring diagram, post or search on the exact part number.

Again, be careful, like all ballasts those buggers will hurt you, badly.

[saltjunkie]

the 4000 k bulb will be very very yellow!
like the highway street lights...
the flourescent lights mentioned above would be a very wise choice if you intend to use 4000k.... 2 or 3 blue/actinics and either 1 or 2 50/50 or sunlight bulbs would maybe help whiten/ blue up the light enough to be pleasing to your eye..........
be very careful with that ballast............

[kevinpo]

A Son Agro 430 watt ballast will only drive a 400W bulb. Lesser wattages will last only a few seconds and may rupture. There are no ballasts that run multiple wattage bulbs. Corals can only utilize light from narrow light spectums (mostly in the violet and blue) so you need to use a bulb that meets these requirements. If you can find a spectral output graph of the bulbs you plan to purchase and they have spikes in the 420-450 nm range they can be used. Typically the 3000-5500K bulbs don't meet these requirement (if they did we would all be using them ).
One other note the above ballast will need to have a capacitor and an igniter to fire most bulbs (It may have come with the ballast but just in case it didn't I mention it).

HTH,
Kevin