lighting for dummies 101
Good grief! I had to print this out to make sense of it all [img]images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]
Ok so here is what I have so far from the guy that I am getting it from (and waiting rather impatiently to hear back from to make sure this is all going down):
"The hood includes sockets for two metal halide lamps, two fluorescents, a fan mounted in one end, and an acrylic UV protective glass. I have used VHO lamps in it. It is wired and ready to hook up to ballasts. Also I have the two 250 watt 6500k Iwasaki ballasts plus lamps. This is a specially balanced set that I ordered from Japan. The canopy could use a coat of paint, but it's worth it. "
Now I take it this is the hood that goes on the top of the tank and makes it look all pretty. (haha) So this is what I get from you guys. I should go out and get a cheap ballast from home depot and two NO actinics to get it started. For now that will keep everyone in my tank happy. (Not that I've started it yet). Later on if I go nuts with the LPS or SPS or whatever(haven't done much research on that and all I know is that I can't have them)or win a million dollars I should get myself an icecap ballast (still not sure why) a bigger tank, a house and a porsche [img]images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img] (sorry, I ad libbed that last bit *sigh*)
Reefmaster I like your way of thinking. Sell half and spend it on livestock. Won't that make like half of my tank lighted with the MH and half without though? I guess I could do softies to one side and SPS/LPS/whatever else on the other side. Nope I don't have a hood at the moment and I've been pricing things out and quite frankly I would have to build a hood (which really isn't a problem) and then put either VHO or MH lighting in. Either way its gonna cost me quite a bit and this seemed to be the cheaper way of at least getting the MH since I am getting the ballasts and bulbs for fairly cheap ($225) and the rest of the setup for $125 (sockets, hood, fan and such). I figure I can't do cheaper than $350 for everything and this way I don't really have to do VHO and I will be getting the MH bulbs included so I don't have to shell out $100+ for those. I figured the best I could do for lighting was $355 for VHO through J&L. This way I can have it all done for me. Muahahahaha. Ahem I mean, yay me!
Thanks for all the help everybody. I really need to get a book on this lighting stuff. Then again my dad is an electrician and probly has some idea on what this stuff is all about. This is more fun though. I'll let you know what I get into when I actually have the thing.
Christy [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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