Lighting ??????? Question #2 changed
 

OK I have to know the answer to these question's:

#1 Is it possible to achieve the same lighting of 3 - 250w MH 14000K, 2 - T5 10000K 54w, 2 - Fiji Purple 54w & 2 Actinic 54w with ALL T5 HO 54w bulb's ?

#2 What do I use to convert from a SE to a DE bulb for reflector's. I know I can get the bases & ballast but what about reflectors

The reason I need to know is for my 96"L x 22"W x 18"D tank setup. I really don't want to rip out the lighting in the 155 Bow just yet, so if I could find a good alternate lighting that would work cheap enough for the short term that would be perfect.

those yellow work lights use DE Halogen, they do not have a ballast that is required to run/ignite Metal Halide bulbs.

Ya good point just thought of the as well but was not 100% sure.

Still asking??

Are you looking to go with all t5's? At 8' long on the tank you need to double up the 54's to get full coverage so you're looking at a lot of t5's, like if you want 6 wide that's 12 lamps, and 8 wide is 16. If you're OK with that there are some nice units available but prepare yourself for the sticker shock.

As for switching SE to DE I think you're generally looking at a whole new pendent. Also depending on what existing ballast you have you may be looking at all new everything (light, reflector/pendent, ballast).

As for the T5 HO I was thinking of going with 8 - 10 bulbs per side and using Glo retro kits but that would mean I would have to find 7 more kit's.

As for the MH I have 3 - 250w IceCap ballast in the 155. They claim that they will run every type of lighting up to 250w.

So I guess this means I am still on the fence. The main reason I want to go away from the SE MH is so that my canopy is not so high. Would like to keep it in the 12"-14" mark.