Mercur Vapor light ? jack pot or not???

[wastedincome420]

While at work today I may have hit the lighting jackpot
We (at work) somehow acquired a bunch (a pallet full) Mercury Vapor lights a nice box, about 8"w X 5"h X 14"d when aimed down. They come with the ballast in the box and have a nice reflector around the bulb. There is a stamp on it that says 100 watts, but we have some mounted in the warehouse and tey seem pretty bright Th bulbs doesn't have a "K" rating on it so I don't knw if itwould be the right color, also the socket seems big, bout twice the size of a regular house light socket Plus the lihgt boxhas a glass cover for the bulb area.
Since I don't knw much bout lighting I'm wondering if it's possible to use this tpye of settup on a reef tank Can you add another ballast to one inorder to get 200w out of it? I will try to get some pics of the unit itself and some close ups on the bulb style. The way I look at it is if I can get the units for free then it might be worthit to by some "correct"bulbs

[Firefish]

I would say no, the mercury Vapor bulbs dont burn at the proper spectrum that your corals need. I would assume it would be fine over a fowlr tank but you will most likely get alot of algae growth.

[organicreefer]

sounds like a nice light for a refugium the k is too low and it also has greenish tint to it (not very attractive).

[wastedincome420]

Ifthey no good thats OK ;) But how can I tell what the "k" is?? The bulb only say "H 100" "EYE"(in the middle of an eye shape) and "Japan".
But hey I guess I'll have to wait til I can buy some "real" MH lights, I was really thinking about PFO ballast and 10k bulbs

[Firefish]

Dont worry about the k of the bulb, they are mercury Vapor bulbs so no matter what they wont be the right spectrum of light for keeping corals. The words " mercury Vapor " pretty much mean it's going to give you a yellow/greenish light.

[organicreefer]

fwiw ,mercury vapor is usually 4300k or lower

[Ninong]

Not, unless you are considering using them over a freshwater planted tank or a paludarium. Mercury-vapour lamps (HQL) have the wrong spectral distribution for reef-tanks.

The "eye" indicates that it is manufactured by Iwasaki Corporation of Japan. They also make some nice metal halide lamps for aquarium use like their 70w and 150w medium base 6500K Metal Arc lamps and their 250w and 400w mogul base 6500K Metal Halide lamps.

http://www.eye.co.jp/

http://www.eyelighting.com/

Ninong