Best Metal Halide Talk

The reefers I mentiond above use 400 watt Radium Metal Halides.  I stand corrected.

Metal Halides provide the greatest PAR rating, a measure of intensity, required by marine animals for photosynthesis.  Lighting is expensive no matter what you do, so starting with MHs gives you the greatest flexibility.  

My soft corals love my MH lighting in my 80 gallon and perform better in color an growth than under the PC lghting in my 20 gallon.  Both tanks have 10,000k bulbs.

 

Thanks, how do you keep the tank cool? Do you absolutely need a Chiller or can you keep the temp down by other means?

 

4 fans in hood would help alot.

 

I really don't have room to hang pendants, however I was reading about a Custom Sealife combo metal halide/power compac system that can be placed right on top of the tank. I'd appreciate your input. It must get pretty hot in Texas in the summer, do you use a Chiller or do the fans do the job?

 

I have a swamp cooler vent in my fish tank room. It is on the second floor and can get warm in the summer. So far with the fans and the swamp cooler the temp stays between 80 and 82 degrees.

Nautilus will have to chime in regarding the weather in Texas.

 

[quote author=Pipe_Organ link=board=lighting;num=1075418968;start=15#23 date=04/20/04 at 18:59:24]I really don't have room to hang pendants, however I was reading about a Custom Sealife combo metal halide/power compac system that can be placed right on top of the tank. I'd appreciate your input. It must get pretty hot in Texas in the summer, do you use a Chiller or do the fans do the job?[/quote]

On my 440 watts of VHO I just use the fans.
These last fans I bought are like turbos and had to put them are a dimmer switch as they were cooling the tank to much for my liking.. got down to 75 degrees.
During the summer the room temp is at 75 degrees and the tank stays at 80 degrees. without the fans It would be 90 degrees in there.

 

The turbo fans sound great. Do you hook them up to the canopy? Where can I find them?

Craig, what is a Swamp cooler vent?

 

Nautilus you said you have 4 fans. are they set up so 2 blow in and 2 blow out?

 

A Swamp Cooler is a cooling unit for houses that usses a huge squirel cage fan to suck air through watered batts and blows the cool moist air into the house. You may have seen them set up in a window on the side of the house. Very good in airid areas, not sure how they perform in humid areas.

No different really than an AC vent. Just happens to be in the fish room.[/b]

 

i dont know much about the metal halide lights, is this a good retrofit kit MH lights
also do u know what type of ballasts this uses