Stircrazy and other lighting gurus

[Myka]

Oh ok...for some reason I was under the impression you only had two. When/If you switch to the HQI ballasts, you may have to go through a few bulbs before you find the color you want. If you go with Ushio 10K and keep the VHOs that you have the same, you will have a yellower light than you are used to. You will have to figure out a way to change that. Personally, I would use 4 T5s for actinic and put 2 AquaBlue+ type bulbs in and 2 True Actinics in. That would REALLY pull the Ushios whiter/bluer.

Check that website, and it will show you the PPFD (similar to PAR) of each bulb with the PFO HQI ballast. You will notice that when you go with a higher Kelvin you will lose PPFD very quickly.

[marie]

I really don't like the bluer look or even white. I like the bright sunny day look myself , what I don't like is having the colour red washed out.

If I could find a metal halide bulb that didn't make all my red colours look like dried blood I would toss my vhos in a minute In the mean time my vhos aren't actinics they are the uri 10ks which give the tank a nice pink colour

[Myka]

Ah, in that case you're like me! So I don't think ou have issues with the Ushio 10K, although I would bet you would want at least one of those VHOs to be actinic. The Ushio 10K is very yellow. You'll get hella PAR running those Ushio SE 10K on the PFO HQI ballast.

[fishytime]

Add a HOT5 retro fit kit and run a fiji purple bulb?

[midgetwaiter]

I like the pink too.

Even easier than switching to T5s would be to use URI / UVL 75.25 VHOs. They are 75% actinic and 25% 10k Tri Phosphor like the URI Aquasuns so you get a really nice pop on red colours but still get the actinic too. Very similar to to the Fiji Purple but still kind of unique.

I'm using the T5 75.25 with the Aquasun 10ks and I love them but it's a bit too much red. I'm going to try the 75.25 with some 12 Actinic Whites soon.

[marie]

So I have 2 of the needed 3 reflectors (they just so happen to plug right into the hamilton ballasts, no messing around with wiring) and I thought I would try them out tonight to see how bright they really are.

Does anyone know where I can get sunglasses for my poor fish.

[StirCrazy]

Ok, sorry I didn't see this sooner, but I just left India.

Ok so as you have been told yes you can upgrade and yes it is fairly easy.

the question I have is are you running and electronic ballast or a normal ballast, if it is electronic then you will get a small increase in output but you will get the other benifits of a larger more even foot print.

If it is a normal M80 ballast you will get all the benifits of the other plus a huge increase in light out put.

as for bulb use, any one is usble as they are all based off German bulbs, even the USHIO which has a probe starter in it still works on an pulse start ballast.

XM bulbs respong suprisingly well to HQI power supplies so they are a good choice in bulbs.

it is definatly not worth it to go to a 400 set up, you already have the ballast, so for the most part you would not gain any output from a 400 over the HQI as there is realy no good ballast for a 400 set up that is made for high output like a HQI. the 400 HQI's are not a HQI ballast and actualy decrease bulb life instead of increasing it as a good HQI setup will.

Steve