*~*New DOW -- Reef Lighting*~*

[JB NY]

XM and coralvue are made in china. Ushio is made by BLV in Germany. None of the big US lighting companies, other than Venture, make MH lighting for our tanks.

HTH

[Maxx]

JB,
Thanks for the explanations...they help out quite a bit.
Mark, excellent point on the reflectors....a good reflector makes a huge difference.
Joe, do you think someone is going to be making one of those high PAR 20K bulbs anytime soon?
Nick

[TDEVIL]

Originally posted by JB NY
It's just a PC lamp. Not very bright for our applications.

sorry, i gave you the wrong link , this is still kinda the PC light, but is 1250 watts, which is a lot for PCs, HERE is the proper link, and i changed it in my other post

again, sorry, must have been a hunger thing, i prob should have had a Snickers

TD

[strat]

thansk jb.. good to know.

hey nick, what thread did you show us your anenomes in their 'gardens'?? i wanna ask ya some questions..

thanks again everyone

strat

[Maxx]

Originally posted by strat

hey nick, what thread did you show us your anenomes in their 'gardens'?? i wanna ask ya some questions..
strat

you mean when I removed the substrate and put my LTA in tupperware for a temporary home 'til I get some PVC capped off?
Here is the pic I think you were referring to....
Whatcha wanna know?
Nick

[Craig Manoukian]

Awesome Nick!

[strat]

thanks nick, that rocks. i was wondering how they are liking it?? are they adapting to the placement that you now control?? i walk my dog every night in front of our place in a new subdivision and they have pipes stickng outta the ground with pvc tops, and every night i think of your idea and dream bout my future tank so its workign good right?

thanks alot

strat

[strat]

to make it a lighting topic (wink,wink) how are they adapting to the lights now that you control their placement?? what an awesome idea....

[Maxx]

Strat,
Actually, everything in the tank looks better. Happier and healthier all across the board. One thing I noticed about the anemone....It doesnt like direct current, but is unhappy w/o some sort of current flowing by. It has only moved slightly w/in its tupperware flower box, and is quite happy w/ the lighting set up....20 gallon H tank w/ a 175w 10k AB MH.
I've just gotten things together to start up my new tank...wanting to get it up and running by mid/late April...we'll see...
I have dual 250 watt HQI/DE MH's for this tank. I got a great deal on the 10K AB DE bulb from Joe @ inreef.com so I bought 4 of those...(56$ a piece...couldnt pass that up...) but after reading JB's lengthy but incredibly informational thread @ RC on 250 watt bulbs and PAR, (plus the whole handy dandy pictures of his reef w/ the various bulbs running....) I'm kinda wishing I'd gotten the XM10k's instead......
BTW for those who havent seen it.....here is the thread....250 w SE bulbs compared.
http://www.cnidarianreef.com/ is JBNY's site where you can find out the different PAR measurements he got using various bulbs on various ballasts.....hit the link on the right side of the page.
And finally here is a site where one person made an interactive side by side comparison of the photo's that JBNY took so that others can see different bulbs side by side and choose for aesthetic value....
JBNY...sorry for throwing that up there...I figured you probably wouldnt being the low key, modest person that you are.....I hope I didnt offend, it certainly wasnt my intent.
If we're talking about lighting, your testing is very important and very relevant.
Along the aesthetics issue...JBNY, do you feel that aesthetics should be a determining factor in bulb choice? Is there one bulb you prefer above the rest? Why?
Thanks,
Nick

[Maxx]

BTW, the irony of asking about lighting aesthetic/feng shui in reef tanks when I have an anemone living in tupperware hasnt escaped me........
Just please try and keep the snickering to a minimum....
Nick

[Craig Manoukian]

I like the XM 250 10,00k bulbs the best. Good color and a PAR value of 612. I have XM 175s and I love the color.

[strat]

lol maxx, the whole tupperware thing

so i mentioned earlier that i have this uncle who works in the electrical wholesale business... i know what to ask him for as far as MH bulbs etc but im still not positive on the flourescent side. i would like to do the whole mh complemented with the actinic bulbs etc. so what would i need. im thinking of doing a 125 tank (sps) with two 250 watt MH. what kind of bulbs and sizes would i need for the VHO's. in order to explain it to him, what k are they, actinic, 50/50s, and daylight?? is there another name for that? and does the same thing apply for flourescent ballasts, magnetic, electric, etc?? or is there just one kind? thanks a bunch

strat

[Maxx]

ummm...okay......
several questions being asked at once here.....
Anybody else w/ a much better understanding of things feel free to jump in and clarify or correct me...
First off, what are the dimensions of this 125? I suspect you will need more than 2 250 watt MHs to get a good coverage of the tank.
There is yet another great thread over at RC which details all the different ballasts available for MH's. This thread also explains the differences and pro's and con's of various ballasts....Metal Halide Ballasts...
As far as flourescent ballasts....I have no freaking clue...maybe Probuilder or someone else like ReeferAddict can chime in and explain the differences....
I know that the bulbs that are most often used are URI VHO's.
URI makes several different styles, from the Actinic 03, Super Actinic white, 50-50's, (combination daylight/bluelight), and it really depends on what you want to do. I prefer the blue Actinic 03's personally, since they cause the greens and blues of tank inhabitants to "pop" alot more.
HTH
Nick

[strat]

than ks for the quick reply nick, i will check out that link later today, gotta do some stuff first. that info on the actinics helps too. thanks again


so much research...............



kris

[strat]

oh, i forgot, about the dimensions of the 125, im not sure, i dont have it yet. i have a 90 (FW) which is too small for me in my opinion. im thinking a 125-135 would be nice. a little more room for aqauscaping... anyways.........