MH lighting. Pictures and suggestions !

[organicreefer]

reefman ,
those are hqi's???they look like halogens..............what wattage?75 bucks would be a steal if they were hqi's.................

[Reef Man]

organicreefer:

Yes, they are HQI. All the setup is National, nothing imported, only the 4100k bulb.

It is not stoled, It is new and I found it in a electric & lighting store.

It is a 150 watts HQI setup.

If you want some, let me know. The only drawback is that I live in Meico and I don´t know the shipping costs and taxes to send them to USA.


Anyone else have experiences using the 4100k bulb on a reeftank?

TIA.

;)

[organicreefer]

reefman ,i used a 4-something k MH bulb when i first started ,it worked ok for some softies,and a couple lps for about 4 months(still have em).
thats said i would bite the bullet and buy a bulb with the proper spectrum,better for youre corals, and it is worth the price for the color the bulb puts out alone(i like 10k).
75 bucks for a fixture and ballast,what is it, about 75 for a 10k bulb,still a hell of a bargain ,imo.

[scubadude]

Sorry to be jumping into this thread a little late (been busy) Anyway I think Ninong and LTSPD have pointed you in the right direction....I can only propose one more option

Option 10)
One 250watt double ended HQI 10k bulb
and possibly a few NO actinics?

I would definately stay away from any kelvin ratings below 10k as mentioned by Ninong! they may be cheaper but you get what you pay for and besides I doubt you will be happy with the coloring! I have 3 250w HQI's on my 220g and if I could do it all over again (which I may) I would add some NO actinics like suggested above....the HQI 10k's are a nice crisp clean white color with just a tad of blue to them. Also one warning on the UV protection....I did my first wc the other day on my tank and the way my lighting is setup I was exposed to all three of the HQI's for over an hour (it wasnt supposed to take that long) and my wife thought I went to the beach :eek3: Im using 1/4" Tempered glass as my UV shield and the bulbs are about 11" away from the water and the UV shield is about midway between the water and bulbs. HTH

[Reef Man]

scubadude:

I like your Idea.
I researching the info and now I have less options to chosee:

a) One 250 watts bulb plus 1 NO fluo actinic. [Iwasaki, 10k bulb or 10k HQI bulb to chosee]

b) Two 175 watts MH 10k Ushio plus 1 NO fluo actinic ;;

c) Two HQI 150 watts 10k plus 1 NO fluo actinic



I don´t know yet what to chose.

If I go with option a), I will get both kind of light: very bright and less light on the tank sides

If I go with option b) I think I will not like it, so I can take out this option, but I have it in consideration.

If I go with the option c) I will get a uniform light, but I don´t know if it is as bright as my animals will want.

Any other suggestion?

Ninong recommended me the options a) and c).

My question now is: can a 250 watts HQI give me the same coverage area like the 250 watts MH bulb????

And your vote goes to................................................


Thanks and Happy New Year !!!!!!!!!

[Ninong]

Based on what you have already said in this thread, you won't like the appearance of the Iwasaki, so you can scratch that one.

As far as the two 175w 10,000K Ushio MH lamps are concerned, look at it this way: two 175w 10,000K Ushio MH mogul base lamps = 126 PPFD total vs. one 250w 10,000K Ushio HQI DE lamp = 128 PPFD. So a single 250w double ended lamp is stronger than two 175w mogul base lamps from the same manufacturer.

However, I still believe that your tank would look nicer with two 150w 10,000K HQI DE lamps. This would be more PPFD than a single 250w 10,000K HQI DE lamp in the middle of the tank and it would give you a more even appearance. Also, this would be much stronger than two 175w mogul base lamps.

I don't know why you are concerned about whether two 150w 10,000K HQI DE lamps would be bright enough for the depth of your tank. It would be plenty bright enough for anything you wanted to keep, including SPS and Tridacnid clams.

Ninong

[Reef Man]

Thanks Ninong !!!
Your comments are very good.

The final decision is for the option 8)=C)

BTW, Ninong, do you know the PPDF of the HQI 150 watts bulbs?

Thanks for all your replies mates !!!!

;)

[Ninong]

>BTW, Ninong, do you know the PPDF of the HQI 150 watts bulbs?

I don't have the actual PPFD numbers on that lamp at my fingertips like I do the others. Sanjay Joshi tested a lot of metal halide lamps but not that one. There was a test on those lamps about two years ago that raved about them but I forgot the exact PPFD numbers. However, I have seen reviews online from more than one source that claim, based on side-by-side comparisons, that the 150w 10,000K HQI DE lamps are much stronger than the 175w 10,000K mogul base lamps and equal to some 250w MH mogul base lamps.

Just as an example of how much difference you can have in PPFD with equal wattage metal halide lamps, consider that the 175w 10,000K Ushio mogul base lamps--which are excellent--produce 63 PPFD vs. only 20 PPFD for a 175w 5500K Venture mogul base lamp.

I may go find a review of the 150w 10,000K HQI DE lamps that is posted online by an LFS and link to that for you later. I believe Richard Harker did the article on them about two years ago but I can't find it anywhere.

Ninong

P.S. -- Here is a link to a good article on lighting. The reference to 150w 10,000K HQI DE lamps is on page 3 of this article: http://www.thereefweb.com/lighting.htm

Quote: "The second type of bulb is gaining popularity this year among several high-end vendors. These bulbs, called HQIs, connect at both ends through a ceramic ring that attaches to an electrode on the fixture. They are smaller and thinner (usually no more than an inch in diameter) than their conventional counterparts. They also are far brighter. In fact, a 150 watt HQI produces more lumens than a 250 watt conventional metal halide and is roughly equivalent to 300 watts. Best yet, they burn cooler and use less electricity than conventional metal halides."