HQI bulbs
 

is there a canadian sorce that I can buy HQI parts from?

Steve

HQI bulbs
 

Check with your local hydroponics shops Steve. They pretty much carry everything under the lighting sun. Might be harder to find aquarium spectrum specific lamps, but they usually carry all of the ballasts, sockets, wiring and such.

HQI bulbs
 

is anyone here running HQI? if so what kind and whare did you get them?

Steve

HQI bulbs
 

Jamie is running them.

Bulbs are over $200 a pop Steve. If you are going cheap this isn't the way.

J&L sells PFO HQI's I believe. Special order. Not a regular item.

HQI bulbs
 

hehe ya..I think cheep has gone out the window, I just bought another 2 bags of argamax today.. (KRIS hurry and get that sand :D ) a little more expensive but I decided I am not going cheep on MH lighting.. I am going to get 10000K bulbs soooooo.. a 250 watt 10000K MH is ~200.00 at J&L's so 200.00 for a 150 watt HQI is a good deal IMO. I would like to find the 150 watt 10000K Aqualine Buschke double ended HQI as its output is higher than a 400watt Iwasaki and only ~1/3 the power consumption. ya I am going to e-mail J&L's and ask about them thanks for reminding me Darren [img]smile.gif[/img]
another reason for going with HQI's is the smaller bulb size.. with all the tubes I have in my lighting aray I only have to take out 1 and I can add two HQI's [img]smile.gif[/img] tha will let me eveove to 4, 96watt PC's (2 actinic and two 10000K) and the two HQI's

Jamie, whare did you get yours from and what kind did you get?

Steve

HQI bulbs
 

StirCrasy, wheredid you find the information on the 150watt HQI having a higher output than the 400 watt?

Clinton

HQI bulbs
 

it is in the writeup in the marine fish and reef 2002 annual. they compared a bunch of MH bulbs and ballasts.

Steve

HQI bulbs
 

Yeah but it also states that they had to test it with a reflector since that's how it came. The rest did not, so with a quality reflector behind that 400 it wouldn't be the same results. It says that if you read the last couple of paragraphs.

Clinton

HQI bulbs
 

the new iwasaki was rated at 173 so suposing 50 to 70% increase for a reflector that takes it to
259 to 294, the 150 HQI was 246, but if we realy want to compare in the same colour temp (10000K)the best that they got was 90.06 with the 400 watt MH bulbs. so when you add the 50 to 70% to that you get 135.09 to 153.15, so you can see that the 150 HQI blows a 400watt MH of the same colour out of the water using only just over 1/3rd the power.

Steve

HQI bulbs
 

Steve, I have read from a few people's experiences that they have not had amazing growth results on 150w HQIs. I've lookied in to it.. I had the oppertunity to pay a bit extra and go 150w hqi instead of my 400w iwasaki, but after hearing from peoples actual experiences, I decided the iwasaki was the better way to go.. That article really threw off a lot of people IMO.

From what I have seen and read, the 250w hqis seem to be the best way to get fast growth and awesome coloration. You could get away with a single 250 since your tank is only 3'. Focus light demanding coral towards the center and softies to the edges. Your PCs would fill out the sides a bit too.

HQI bulbs
 

Steve,

If you want them for space saving then I don't think it'd worth it. Because the need to run de hqi with a uv shield will put the hole unit as big if not bigger then a 250 watt mogul base unit.I would have to say if your not concerned about money go with the 250 watt de hqi. I think the de hqi is a better unit creating better coral color then the 250 mogul unit. If your looking for your best bang for buck de hqi is not the answer. I purchased mine though jl. They are a good lighting set up. I wouldn't expect miracles from them though.

Jamie

[ 27 March 2002, 15:03: Message edited by: Jamie Cross ]

HQI bulbs
 

ya.. I know the Iwasaki's are the best bang for your buck, but I have decided to not go with the iwasaki's because I don't want to screw around with the colour of them.. instead I will be going with a 10000K bulb.. so now I have to get the best out put for my buck (In a 10000K) bulb so that leavs me with HQI. one of the rreasons I like them is because you have to put a glass UV shield under them. if I put glass under a normal MH it cuts down the out put way to much.

I don't expect miracles from them and I am not looking to get "explosive growth" at any cost, bbut I want to get a clam when my tank matures and have the punch to get the light it needs to it. I was alsso looking at the 250's but I would theink thay are overkill for a tank that will only have a 18" water colume, also I want the power savings over going with 2 iwasakis.

Adam, I don't think I could get away with one bulb.. maby I could get 1 and add one later but I would need two because of my center brace.. it is about 6 to 8" wide and 1/2" glass. a little to much of a UV filter in my opinion :D
but ya I could defanatly buy 1 and buy another later. but then again for the hassel of ripping stuff apart after it is running I think I will get both at the same time.

Jamie, what brand are the bulbs you got and do you have any pics of the set up of them and how they look on your tank? one of the interesting things I found is Albright can get me 6500K single ended HQI bulbs if I wanted to go with a "daylight" colour instad of a 10000K and double ended.

Steve

HQI bulbs
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Why are you putting glass under a reg MH? or why would you want to? You aren't still thinking about putting glass over top of your tank are you???

Steve,

Save yourself the headache. Go Iwasaki 250W. two of them.
That is more than enough juice for what you are looking to keep. With all the actinic supplementation your tank will look nice and white. WIth 10000K's you'd probably end up blue.

HQI ballasts are expensive. Very. Jamie, can you post how much they were for you?

HQI bulbs
 

[quote]Originally posted by DJ88:

Quote:

Why are you putting glass under a reg MH? or why would you want to? You aren't still thinking about putting glass over top of your tank are you???

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">no I am not.. :D
but a HQI has glass so I can just wipe that instead of wiping the bulbs everynow and then..

I was looking into ballast prices.. not much more than a normal MH ballast at all.. (unless you buy them from a fish place) hehe, anyways once I get al the info I need then I will look at them and make a choice.. but I have decided not to go with the iwasaki's for sure, well...er...maby :D :D .

Steve

[ 27 March 2002, 20:19: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]

HQI bulbs
 

iwasaki perfect and save $$$
90$ for a bulb that will grow like crazy and look very good you can not find better IMO

HQI bulbs
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size = "12">WHAT?!</font>

Either you are getting an ASTOUNDING deal on the HQI ballasts (in which case, I want the telephone number and address of the supplier, please!), or you are getting screwed on the regular MH ballasts.

The going rate for M57, M58, M59, etc. ballasts (at least here in Calgary) is $50-$75. For DE/HQI ballasts (I forget the ANSI tags BTW, if someone knows it can they post it?), I was looking at minimum $150 per ballast for 150W, and well over $200 for 250W. You can MO the DE/HQI ballasts for about $100 USD. I ended up buying a 150W electronic ballast supposedly capable of DE/HQI from Premium Aquatics for that price, and that what the best deal I could get at the time. And that does not include the bulb or the fixture which run about $100 USD for each. (I am going to try the 500W halgon floodlight trick for the fixture, but for now the ballast is just sitting on a shelf until I can get some more time to play around with things.)

Whereas mogul base, for my 75g I have 2x250W Iwasaki: I paid $85 for the two ballasts (one was $25 the other $50), the sockets and misc wiring etc. about $20, and the bulbs just under $100 each.

So by my score that's about $300 and I'm done. Whereas for HQI I'm about at maybe $200, maybe $300 for ONE light.

Don't get me wrong I really like the look of the DE/HQI's. I want to go that way myself some day. But to say that there not much more $$$ .... I just don't see how that can be. They're way more.

HQI bulbs
 

I can get the ballast for 129.00cdn for a 150watt and 139.00cdn for a 250watt a regulare 250 watt MH ballast is about 89.00cdn, a 150 watt bulbs is 139.00cdn for a 10000K DE, so only 20.00 more than a 250 iwasaki for the bulbs.
I am still working on a little better of a deal for the ballasts I think I will be able to get them down under 100.00cdn but I am not sure yet.. even so the price that are isn't bad.

Steve

HQI bulbs
 

Steve, is that retail or cash sales? If so, can you please email me the phone # or contact info of your supplier please? Or alternatively can you get me a manufacturer name and a part #?

If you can whittle them down to under $100 then you've found yourself an astounding deal. I was pretty happy with the deal I got on my $100USD 150W electronic ballast until now :( (and that was a special pricing situation from PA! Not even their regular price.. oh well).

Anyways if you could send me that info please, I would sure appreciate it (either a contact # or a part # will do)

HQI bulbs
 

BTW I think you should be able to do better than $90 for a 250W/ANSI-M58 ballast, but maybe prices have gone up in the last little while? I know my $35 ballast is an anomalous deal (Home Depot was unloading their stock, they didn't want to stock MH ballasts anymore) but I thought that I found them around $60 last time I looked, but then I found an unused 250W at a hydroponics store that they wanted to unload and I paid $50 for that one...

HQI bulbs
 

ahh, your talking electric.. I am talking magnetic.. I am waiting for some prices to come in on electric ballasts also.. but from the artical I rad the AB 150 had a higher out put on a magnetic ballast than the electric.. so I am thinking I might go magnetic to try recreat this.

Steve

HQI bulbs
 

The one lighting supplier that was able to provide me a magnetic ballast still wanted something like $220 per unit for the 250W size. So for your $130 price or whatever it was I still want to get ahold of that place and either buy from them or get a part # that I can try to find locally. Can you send me the info when you get a chance please? Click on my profile thingy to get my email address. Thanks!