Metal Halide Q&A

Hi polarshrey. To power the bulb you will need a ballast to supply the correct current. Also, some type of socket will be needed to hold the bulb... this is usually what the fixture is. A good fixture will have a highly reflective surface to keep all of the light concentrated towards the water. I recommend lumenbrite and lumenmax reflectors

As a general rule, a quality reflector will give you approximately 24"x24" worth of light in a tank. I have seen people stretch one halide to 36" but they have a lot of dim spots. IMO there is no way that you can stretch one bulb to work with 48" :-/

 

Thanks

 

Thanks for the thread, it's a very good read and answered several of my questions

 

I will soon be purchasing an oceanic bio cube 29 hqi. I've heard one of the more necessary upgrades is the light. Would I get a significant increase in par/pur swapping the stock bulb out with a phoenix 150w 14000k hqi ? Would I need to swap out the stock coralife ballast as well? I'd like to utilize the oem housing/reflector.

Thanks in advance.

 

With biocubes the level of par is not important. What any aquarist should be more concerned about would be the quality of the light being put out. The Phoenix upgrade would be a very good upgrade and it will produce better quality and a higher output (par) of light.
The factory ballast can be used with no issues, however just know that it will not be as efficient as other brands such as lumatek, galaxy, or icecap.

 

I found some good deals on HQI lights on Ebay. Are these fixtures actually worth it, or are they junk?

For example: 48" 716W HQI Aquarium Light Metal Halide T5 Reef Fish LED 2x250W 4x54W Saltwater | eBay

I want a fixture that I can set up top of a tank and not have to hang. Mainly due to that I am not really a handy-man and am terrified of drilling into my ceiling and then having the light fall into my tank.

 

Well for what it is, it seems like a pretty reasonable deal. Now keep in mind you will have to replace those halide bulbs because they are going to be poor bulbs. Also the ballasts that usually come with these fixtures are by no means name brand and they will typically underpower bulbs. The ballasts are hit or miss for functionality... A friend of mine had two "no name" ballasts, one burnt up 2 weeks after purchase, the other is still going on three years.

Now the fixture will get you by but if you get serious with all kinds of corals then I would recommend getting new halide bulbs (in 250w DE my bulb of choice is Phoenix 14k) and the t5 that come with it are reasonable but once again, they aren't Giesemann bulbs. Your ballasts should be okay unless they burn up. Then I recommend lumatek or galaxy.

 

For my 300DD build.. If I decided I wanted to get a MH setup. I would be going 3 400 watt Radiums with 2 60" figi pink t5s and 2 vho true actincs.

What ballast and what reflectors and specifically what bulbs... I'm curious to price it all out.

 

I personally like the Galaxy ballasts. You said you wanted Radiums, so there's that. Ushio makes nice bulbs too. Lumenmax Elite reflectors are the way to go IMO.

 

What's the difference in double ended vs. mogul bulbs... I have very little MH knowledge. It's the only tech I have never used.