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Trying out metal halide
- Thread starter horseplay
- Start date
I ran halides when i first started about 10 years ago... the shimmer and colors were amazing, the light bill... not so much haha
I'm running 3 250 watts radiums and buildmyled strip lights over my 300. Ran 8 T5s before that and honestly my electric bill didn't change much. My tank is in my basement where its cool. With central air running all summer I don't need a chiller. They arent enclosed either whichnprobably helps. The bulbs suck some juice but its offset by my heaters not running as much.
Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk
Mike I am running the fixture made by reefbrite which comes with the LED's. It's a 14k bulb but I am getting use to the whiter color.
The fixture is only 175W. But the tank is a frag tank and only 17 inch deep. The tank is in the basement so heat is not a problem. Only running the Metal Halide for 6 hours. I read you only need 6, 7 hours of peak especially if the light is strong. I have the SPS placed high.
The metal halide definitely look a lot brighter and covers a bigger area than the LED's.
The fixture is only 175W. But the tank is a frag tank and only 17 inch deep. The tank is in the basement so heat is not a problem. Only running the Metal Halide for 6 hours. I read you only need 6, 7 hours of peak especially if the light is strong. I have the SPS placed high.
The metal halide definitely look a lot brighter and covers a bigger area than the LED's.
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charterreefer
Guest
I run 250 watt Radiums in Lumen Brite reflectors over a 250 gallon DD. I have found that with MH the right reflectors are key. I've tried several reflectors and the Lumen Brites are far superior to the others in intensity as well as a much more uniform light spread. I had 400 watters running and they were throwing too much light into the tank i.e with 400 watts 18" above tank (plus 4 t5's- 2 in front 2 in back) I was getting 650 par halfway down with 250s I'm getting 450 par halfway down.
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charterreefer
Guest
I am in the process of putting acrylic material in between the MH light and coral in order to block any UVA that is getting through. Metal Halides produce more UV light than the other light sources. This can damage acropora. Acropora love the high PAR produced by MH but not the UVA. Diana Riddle has several articles on this.
I run 3 250Watt 20,000K Hamilton bulbs and two 72" 454VHO Actinics and I like the look for my 180. I never have a heat problem since my sump is in the basement.
I have enough bulbs for another two years and will then re-evaluate switching to LED. Right now I can't justify he switch due to the cost of new LEDs vs just annually replacing the MH and VHO bulbs
I have enough bulbs for another two years and will then re-evaluate switching to LED. Right now I can't justify he switch due to the cost of new LEDs vs just annually replacing the MH and VHO bulbs
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charterreefer
Guest
Avg (green)glass (the kind on shallow MH reflectors) will block 27% of UVA while most Plexiglass will will block 95% of UVA light going through it.
My corals look very happy for the most part but the lower light type montiporas like the Jedi mind trick and chili pepper monti look kind of sad, even though they are at the bottom of the tank (225-300 PAR). I have a funny feeling that once the plexi is up the montis will darken back to what they were before going into my tank.
If I may put my two cents in on LED's. If LED's came down to half $$ of what they are asking for them I would play around with them. They are only semiconductors and very easy to mass produce. I would think that once the manufacturing technology (and fabricating) gets better and more competitive they will get very cheap. For example: when plasma TV's first came out a 42" was $16,000!! now look at the prices. I'm hoping LED technology will follow the same course especially since in the last 2-3 years they have become a commodity and getting very competitive. This should spill over into our hobby. Only then they will be practical for me.
I like the 20K bulb, I know they are all different shades of blue, some more and some less. To me, the Hamilton 20K works well. I run my VHO 454 in the morning before the halides come on, then shut them off since the 20K MH bulbs are blue enough w/out supplementing them.
I normally wait for a major US holiday and then Hamilton Technology always runs a sale and I get a pretty good deal on them.
I also used the plusrite 20k bulbs, they were not that blue and with my ballasts would always burn out so I stopped using them.
I just rebooted my tank and do not have corals in it yet, but if you want to check out how it looks let me know. I live in Millstone township NJ, about 40mims from you.