Re: NANFA-L-- Metal Halides?


Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Metal Halides?
From: Todd D. Crail (tcrail-in-UTNet.UToledo.Edu)
Date: Thu Dec 16 2004 - 08:44:20 CST


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dean A. Markley" <damarkley-in-earthlink.net>
> OK, regarding the metal halide lights below? Can someone shed some light
(good pun, eh?) on these for me? Are these complete units or can I just get
metal halide lamps for in my housings? At present I have the old standard
48" fluorecsent tubes. I am thinking that my sunnies would look better
under different lights. Any suggestions?

Hi Dean,

I doubt they'll work with your existing equipment. They're fairly big
fixtures. There's a lot of different ways to go about it... some companies
provide housings and stuff, but that's $$$. What I usually do is buy a PFO
ballast and mogul set, and then get a cheap reflector so I don't burn my
arms by bumping the lights (they're hot). A "retro" fit setup, as it's
refered too. You can get all this equipment-in-your local lighting supply,
but the color of the lights will be kinda crappy. The ballasts made for the
Aquarium trade are geared to run lights-in-specific color temperatures.

As well, there's bulbs with special resistors and such that contour the
color of the light into the same desireable color temperature.

I think you'll find this page the most helpful:

http://www.pfolighting.com/AqDefault.aspx

Watt for watt, you can't get anything that has the Photosynthetic Output of
halide lighting. This can be a plus or a problem though because you drive
production of the system leaps and bounds forward. I like it because I can
feed a heck of a lot more, and use plants to off set the nutrient flow. But
some people might not be keen on the bumps and bruises that happen while
you're figuring out how to balance things. Actually feeding too little (or
fertilizing too little) can be just as big a mess, if not a bigger one, than
over doing it :) I'd really research it before making an investment. Of
course, we can step through it all here.

Hope this helps..
Todd

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org . Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/archive/nanfa/guidelines.html. To subscribe,
/ unsubscribe, or get help, visit the NANFA email list home page and
/ archive-in-http://www.nanfa.org/archive/nanfa/.



: Sat Jan 01 2005 - 12:41:57 CST