lighting for dummies 101

[christyf5]

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]

[Troy F]

Christy you'll never need VHO no matter what you keep if you have the MH. You just need a couple of actinic bulbs to make it more appealing to the eye.

If those ballasts are specifically for the Iwasaki lamp then that is the only bulb you can run. It won't fire the others.

Reefmaster, can you seriously get 20000K lamps for $85? That is a great price, who manufactures them?

[Reefmaster]

hey troy. i just fried my eyeballs to find out what make that damn lamp is! i should just remember these things! it's a domestic, has corallife stamped on it, but i know they don't manufacture them. i think either hamilton or ge makes em. also it didn't have a corallife sleeve on it when i bought it either. i asked j&l if they wanted to buy em up and resell em but they didn't think they would move enough to make it worthwhile. oh well. the place that has em is albrite electric here in vic. they brought in a case at someones suggestion (hmm, don't think that was me... [img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img] , but not sure!) and just sell em pretty much at cost. shane

[Troy F]

Shane, could you post some ordering information on Albright, even a telephone # would be great. I'm kind of locked into Iwasaki because I bought the specific ballast but I'm sure there are a bunch of people that would be interested.

[FlameAngel]

Westcoast Lighting is PoCo is a great place for commerical lighting supplies. <- Advance supplier.

FlameAngel

[reefburnaby]

Hello,

Color shifts in VHOs are well documented by the OEM like GE and Sylvana. They even state the color shift in specs. Anyway....color shift is mainly for visual appeal.

Is this tank 4 feet long ? If so, you may find that the single MH may not be able to cover the entire tank with full intensity light. This can be good or bad...if you want parts of your tank to be lowly lit (i.e. mushrooms or some leathers), this can be a good thing. However, if you plan to keep SPS or anemones in your entire tank...than dual MH is the way to go.

Visit some tanks with all the setups mentioned above and see what you like. Take your time.

- Victor.

[Reefmaster]

i spoke too soon re the 400w 20K lamps. i just got off the phone with albrite (250-475-3131) and someone from vancouver bought up the remainder of the entire case. hmmm, sounds like j&l to me....
the guy is finding out if there are still any in van. other possibility is he can order in specialty bulbs if there were enough people interested.
shane

[Reefmaster]

latest update. guy from albrite called and said there are 5 in the vancouver store. look for em in the phone book. the ones in vic are reserved for me so don't anybody get any funny ideas! ;O)