Halogen Lighting

I was walking through the local home depot and got this silly thought in my mind when i passed the lighting section. Has anyone ever used the Halogen shop lights in there tanks. They do get really hot, will they work?

 

IMHO..... Wrong Color and way too much heat for the quality of light that you will get with these fixtures.

Jim

 

+1

I saw some with a higher K rating and even then it was to low, plus the heat the generate is incredible.

Marc.

 

If you don't care about the lighting color and bulb cost is a concern like it is with larger scale commercial aqua culturing centers I don't mean a space in a LFS basement or back room with a few little tubs set up then go M/H and use $25.00 5,500 K bulbs the Higher or Hotter K values are more for the tanks owners rather then the tanks inhabitants Unless they feel their $120.00 + 20 K bulbs that are a far hotter K value then the sun is at only 5,5000K . With lighting in these terms temperature = red/orange light , A blue star is 10,000 Kelvin (17,540 Fahrenheit) Might want to look at this as an option ? But as was said the lamps you where talking about will never do.

 

Not to step on toes here. But The Sun's K value is 6500K. (this is a common standard in many industries) There is very little usable light for corals coming out of a 5500K. 5500K is great from plant growth or algae growth but will not give desired results in corals.

 

You can turn those fixtures into halide fixtures for 70W and 150W for pretty cheap. I just did it for less than $75! Couldn't be happier!

You need a ballast and a bulb, that's it aside from the wiring components.

 

where did you get the ballast can you share with us what and how you did it. tia

 

You need to get Full-Spectrum lighting and 5500k is too yellow/white. I wouldn't go with anything under 10000k!!!! Just my opinion however!
Also, I wouldn't try to cut corners and try something new!!!!!
T-5's, Power compacts and Metal Halides are the norm and work wonderfully and have been used successfully with a proven track record for many years.

I would stay with one of those light set-ups!!
There are many good sites on the internet to help you make your decision and answer any question you may have regarding PAR, Kelvin, PUR etc. and even give you pictures of what the tank will look like under different colored bulbs!

 

I used a Halogen floodlight, I drilled the back of the fixture with several ventilation holes. It took some rigging to get the bulb to fit as the bulb had a built in UV sheild so the radius was much bigger than most bulbs, I simply slid the metal connectors down as far as possible and made some gaps using a dremel. With a little persuasion and bending the light bulb fit like it was made for the fixture. The fixture cost $10 and took about 30 minutes.

The ballast, ebay: eBay: NAIS METAL HALIDE BALLAST 70W 70 WATT (item 150069307765 end time Dec-16-06 06:46:18 PST)
That is the exact same one I got I won it for $35 to my door.

The bulb, also ebay:
eBay: HQI 70W 10K DE METAL HALIDE BULB LAMP (MHL) MARINE REEF (item 150068113287 end time Dec-13-06 06:03:34 PST)
I got the 20000K and couldn't be happier, it is plenty blue. I have a 10000K on a 150w setup and it has virtually no blue. $25 to my door.

Add in some wire nuts and electrical tape and it's a $75 project. I have the ballast on the floor, far far away from the tank, I am going to get a metal box to use a heat sink then mount it in my stand. Maybe I'll do a thread in the DIY.

 

Nope I think if you do the math you'll see that with a Kelvin conversion is that K=0 C = -273 or F= -460 and the sun The being a yellow dwarf star, a kind that is common in our neck of the woods with a surface temperature of about 9,440 F. and some will go as high as 10,000 F I split the difference at 9,650 F on the suns surface and then maybe you will reach a K of 5,700 maybe even on a perfect cloudless day on the equator with the planets in their houses and aligned just right you will then get a K of 6,000 tops as you will find again on the K or values is right at 5,500 + or - a 100 K . It really gives me a headache to think that hard and for free Nope not me . but the single simple one is what I posted

P.S I did forget to mention the supplementation of lots of true 430 nm Actinic can't have to much of that along with any bulb except the 20,000k And depending of the amount of Mercury that is added to the arch tube some 15,000K as well really don't need alot of actinic added . But all bulbs are not created equal .