Lighting a tank with a Xenon bulb?

[GoFish]

Using the bulb to directly light a reef aquarium i agree would have issues of "usable" light and would most certainly "bleach" corals. I was thinking along the lines of using a Hamilton pendant reflector along with a colored diffuser panel covering the opening. I can't think of the name right now (maybe opaque?) but heres a picture of what im thinking of

A tinted non clear panel to act as a diffuser in whatever colors are possible, aqua blue, actinc, fiji purple etc. (not sure if these panels exist but thats the idea)

This was from a website selling replacement bulbs...

The ballast is needed to trigger and operate a D2S / D2R Xenon lamp fitted to a 12 volt electrical system. To trigger the lamp the ballast produces a high voltage of approx. 23,000 volt. At the same moment it adjusts the current flow through the lamp to 2.5 A and the maximum power of 70 watt. After triggering , during operation, the ballast adjusts the lamp power of 35+/- 1 watt. The lamp voltage is then between 67 and 112 volt.

35 watts sounds pretty efficient to me, as far as heat from the bulb and ballast, the system would be running on 12v's already, fans could be used easily enough where needed

Xenon headlight kits can be purchased for very cheap on ebay these days ($30 including bulbs and ballasts)

The odds of me attempting this project is quite unlikely as i'm happy with my current lighting, it's just one of the first things i thought of last year when starting out in the hobby. I keep thinking about it from time to time and wondering if anyone had actually attempted it. Perhaps i will be bored enough one day to try...

[mike31154]

Never hurts to throw an idea out there, that's often how progress happens. Seems like Xenon is very similar to MH with respect to ballast technology & the amount of heat produced compared to light. One has to wonder why there aren't any commercially available Xenon fixtures though.

Then of course there's Plasma. Seemed to be a blip on the radar for our hobby in recent years, but not much heard since. LED technology is nowhere near completion in developing & I have a funny feeling diode lighting is going to push everything else aside in the next few years, execpt for certain specialty applications where a certain lighting technology is a must.

[byee]

Originally Posted by Vancity

Using the bulb to directly light a reef aquarium i agree would have issues of "usable" light and would most certainly "bleach" corals. I was thinking along the lines of using a Hamilton pendant reflector along with a colored diffuser panel covering the opening. I can't think of the name right now (maybe opaque?) but heres a picture of what im thinking of

A tinted non clear panel to act as a diffuser in whatever colors are possible, aqua blue, actinc, fiji purple etc. (not sure if these panels exist but thats the idea)

This was from a website selling replacement bulbs...
35 watts sounds pretty efficient to me, as far as heat from the bulb and ballast, the system would be running on 12v's already, fans could be used easily enough where needed

Xenon headlight kits can be purchased for very cheap on ebay these days ($30 including bulbs and ballasts)

The odds of me attempting this project is quite unlikely as i'm happy with my current lighting, it's just one of the first things i thought of last year when starting out in the hobby. I keep thinking about it from time to time and wondering if anyone had actually attempted it. Perhaps i will be bored enough one day to try...

Xenon kits are pretty cheap on ebay. Alll you need to add is a high current 12V power supply to run it....say 10A.

Please keep in mind, the ballast lets of a high frequency noise.