good deal

[chromis]

I havent posted lately because of my new job at the lfs but I could really use some help now. A guy came in yesterday and wanted to know if anyone wanted some metal halides, my friend pointed me out as I am looking for some lights. THe guy has 2 large bell bell pendants with remote ballasts(175 watt) and one 175 watt 20k bulb for sale. We talked a long time about the lights and he left his adress and phone numbers. He had one pendant and ballast in his car and I went out and saw them and they were in excellent condition. Heres the question:
Is $300 a reasonable price for the following:

2 large bell pendants
2 remote 175 watt ballasts
1 20k 175 watt bulb (used 3 mo)


and is this a good lighting system for a 55 gallon tank? I am going to keep some acropora, sarcophyton, euphyllia, polyps, pocillopora, and maybe some seritopora, as well as clams in the upper regions.



thanks,
Andrew

[chromis]

^^

[organicreefer]

the pendants dont give that great a spread of light-not very efficient reflectors imo.
it depends on how you want to setup youre tank though...maybe if you want an open top tank,also veiwable from above perhaps,pendants are something you might want to consider ,other than that,you can easily beat that deal, imo.

[scubadude]

I think the lighting setup would be excellent for that tank....I think he is a little high though on price, for about $150 per bulb/kit you can get a complete brand new retro kit for 175w with ballast, bulb 12-20k, socket, wiring, and reflector. The only thing you would be missing is the canopy/pendant....I would say that if you could get both of the setups for $200 it would be a good deal, considering you still have to buy another bulb.

for prices on the new retro kits that i mentioned above check out these two places

http://www.lampsnow.com/hidretrofitkit.html

http://www.aquaticlight.com/retrofit.html

[chromis]

thanks guys, unfortunately I lost the guy's number and hes not in the book either. Hopefull he'll come in the shop saturday

[Ltspd]

I agree with Scuba, a bit high IMO.