Commercial MH Bulbs

I am working at a condo in south alabama. We have the big halide bulbs that we use in the parking lot. Question is, would not one of these work over a reef tank??? They seem to have a certain blue spectrum to them.

 

Commercial MH's tend to typically be in the red spectrum.

Thread moved to the lighting forum

 

I have seen people use them Joe Yaiulo joked that he started out reefing with "borrowed" MH lamps from the parking lot. Now he maintains a 20,000 gal reef in New York!!

 

Best thing to do, could be to take a peek at the bulb when its off and see if you can find the manufacturer and model number. Call them and see what spectrum it is. If its a good one, you may be able to "recycle" those commercial bulbs. My company had put up a few of those, but the ones we've installed are around the 600w+ range and 6500k.

 

A couple months ago, I went out and bought a MH ballast and bulb without looking at the color spectrum. It was a 6500K and very red which promoted so much algae growth, it was ridiculous. so when buying your bulb, retailers usually have a catalog or product sheet which gives them all the specs on the bulbs that they carry. They sometimes mix up the Kelvin with the lummens and this is where you need to be careful.