I went to Menards last week and saw ton's of different types of strip lights you can buy for cheap. Is there any way you could buy one of those and put VHO/T5/etc. bulbs in it. Are they wired up differently or not the same wattage or something. Because that would save me a hell of alot of money. Or is it a waste of time. Have you ever done it?
Could you use those lights you see at any hardware store?
- Thread starter jellyous
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Mrs.kbmdale
New member
and no you can't hook up vho t5 etc to them.
listen_to_slaye
New member
yes you can use them for fish only, but even live rock would require lights with a different spectrum to that of general fluros
LoneStar45
New member
If you are looking to take the cheap way to a reef tank, your probably better off draining your water out and getting an Iguana. With that said, reefing is expensive. You can find deals on used equipment. The necessary equipment neeeds to be of quality and fitted for your purpose. If its not, you will never acheive the desired what youve set out to do and it will cause you headaches and heartbreak.
sttroyiii
Premium Member
Once you get out of the realm of incandescent lights, ballasts are used. Each ballast is matched to the type of bulb/wattage that is used. You cant swap a 250watt metal halide bulb for a 250watt high pressure sodium bulb. The ballasts put out a different voltage for every situation. With that said, I dont see why you cant take a 250watt light setup from HD and use the correct spectrum bulb. Has anyone tried that in particular? Another example would be retrofit a t5 fixture to an aquarium, and then put the correct spectrum bulbs in it. Would that work? The bulb's coating is what changes the spectrum right?
A ballast from HD might work reasonable well. I haven't priced them, but if the bulb type matches, it might work. A good ballast can make a big difference in light output and spectrum, though, so I wouldn't count on it working that well.
I think most of the T5 setups for the aquarium are HO versions, and they're not the same as standard output bulbs. So the HD ballast for them wouldn't do well unless it's HO as well. It'd light the bulb, but it wouldn't produce much light. I'm not all that familiar with the T5 systems, though, so if you like those bulbs, some research might be in order.
sttroyiii
Premium Member
Bertoni:
Youre right, I should have stated that T5s wont work with NO florescent. I was thinking mainly of MH lights. I think that most HD lights we are discussing have magnetic ballasts in them as well, but I could be wrong. An electronic ballast would def. be much better for an aquarium setup.
I answered my question about the spectrum being dependent on the ballast:
"The color of a metal halide lamp depends on what metals are used in the metal halides (usually iodides) and how much halide vaporizes. Lower color temperatures in the 3000 to 3500 Kelvin range indicate orange-yellowish shades of white, and the vapor in these lamps is rich in sodium but also has smaller traces of scandium and sometimes thallium. Most metal halide lamps contain sodium and scandium halides and have a color temperature near 4100 Kelvin (basically plain white). Some have less sodium and more scandium, and sometimes also other more blue-glowing metals like indium, and therefore have a more blue color. I have seen some metal halide lamps that seemed to have more indium than any other metal in halide form, and these were more blue in color. I have heard of metal halide lamps with color temperatures as high as 20,000 Kelvin - and this is not hard to do even with an arc temperature well below 5500 Kelvin.
Indium-rich metal halide lamps are sometimes used to illuminate aquariums that have live coral, since coral needs deep-blue wavelengths for proper health."
http://members.misty.com/don/dschtech.html (almost bottom of page)
So there you go, you should be able to use any hardware store metal halide light fixtures. Buying the proper spectrum bulb will probably help with algae or possibly coral growth. I can tell you from experience that regular plants dont require special spectrum bulbs to grow and there are still 'grow' bulbs out there. Im not sure if corals are different. There are several threads about people using regular NO florescent, so I know those will work. I think you will have problems finding hardware store ballasts for PC and T5 setups. Its still possible though if you found a ballast rated for the current and voltage the PC or T5 bulbs require.
Youre right, I should have stated that T5s wont work with NO florescent. I was thinking mainly of MH lights. I think that most HD lights we are discussing have magnetic ballasts in them as well, but I could be wrong. An electronic ballast would def. be much better for an aquarium setup.
I answered my question about the spectrum being dependent on the ballast:
"The color of a metal halide lamp depends on what metals are used in the metal halides (usually iodides) and how much halide vaporizes. Lower color temperatures in the 3000 to 3500 Kelvin range indicate orange-yellowish shades of white, and the vapor in these lamps is rich in sodium but also has smaller traces of scandium and sometimes thallium. Most metal halide lamps contain sodium and scandium halides and have a color temperature near 4100 Kelvin (basically plain white). Some have less sodium and more scandium, and sometimes also other more blue-glowing metals like indium, and therefore have a more blue color. I have seen some metal halide lamps that seemed to have more indium than any other metal in halide form, and these were more blue in color. I have heard of metal halide lamps with color temperatures as high as 20,000 Kelvin - and this is not hard to do even with an arc temperature well below 5500 Kelvin.
Indium-rich metal halide lamps are sometimes used to illuminate aquariums that have live coral, since coral needs deep-blue wavelengths for proper health."
http://members.misty.com/don/dschtech.html (almost bottom of page)
So there you go, you should be able to use any hardware store metal halide light fixtures. Buying the proper spectrum bulb will probably help with algae or possibly coral growth. I can tell you from experience that regular plants dont require special spectrum bulbs to grow and there are still 'grow' bulbs out there. Im not sure if corals are different. There are several threads about people using regular NO florescent, so I know those will work. I think you will have problems finding hardware store ballasts for PC and T5 setups. Its still possible though if you found a ballast rated for the current and voltage the PC or T5 bulbs require.
I think that corals might not grow as well under lower-temperature bulbs, as well. Mostly, people don't seem to like the looks of them, so how well the corals do isn't that important. Any bulb 6500 K and above should be reasonable to try, IMO. Unfortunately, the manufacturer's claims as to the Kelvin CCT of bulbs are not necessarily accurate.
markandkristen
Active member
actually you can use reg. bulbs on a vho ballast it will push them to 80 watts a piece i did it for a while on my tank. and things grew fine it was like 320 watts of power though. thier is a thread on google that proves this as well. in fact she got just as good results as she did with vho.
if i was running 4 bulbs i would order 2 actinic from hello lights about 30 dollars shipped and 2 bulbs from homedepot. true daylight bulbs i got them for like 7 dollars for two.
here is the bulb f40t 12/dx it also says alto on it made by phillips.
the base ring is green on mine.
or if you cant afford ( that was my dilema at the time ) buy 4 of those phillips. everyone of my softies opened up fine. the tank was a little yellow. but it cost me like 14 buck for the bulbs
if i was running 4 bulbs i would order 2 actinic from hello lights about 30 dollars shipped and 2 bulbs from homedepot. true daylight bulbs i got them for like 7 dollars for two.
here is the bulb f40t 12/dx it also says alto on it made by phillips.
the base ring is green on mine.
or if you cant afford ( that was my dilema at the time ) buy 4 of those phillips. everyone of my softies opened up fine. the tank was a little yellow. but it cost me like 14 buck for the bulbs
Thanks for all of the advice everyone, I actually am buying two 150W metal halides from a friend for only $300 although they do need new bulbs. But it is alot cheaper than brand new price. I am setting up a new tank today, from a 29 to a 75. It's going to be a great day. thanks again everyone
sttroyiii
Premium Member
Im am just a little confused, as I havent been around here long enough. Were regular (T12) bulbs used in the VHO ballast? (Is a VHO ballast made for T5s?) Or were they T5 bulbs? IIRC, T8 is the smallest size you can buy at HD, so they must have been the large size. That is very interesting.
An electrician friend and I hooked up a lamp to a 277v power supply to see how long a standard 60w incandescent bulb would last. It held for a good ten minutes before the filament broke. That bulb was old, and had been in the lamp for a while. When we tried doing it again with a brand new bulb, the filament would break right away. It seemed like it had to be tempered, or aged to hold the voltage for a while. It was very bright indeed for those 10 minutes though. How long did the bulbs last while their output was doubled? I would be scared they would bust into the aquarium. We did our 'experiment' with a glass door between us and the lamp.
sidd129
New member
What brand of mh is it. For $300.00 you can get a decent light. For my tank I bought a normal strip light and put coralife bulbs in it. One 50/50 and one actinic 03. Then later I bought an "Ocean Light HQI Metal Halide Pendant Lights". It cost $269.99. On sale now at fosters and smith. The point is I only have mh on half of my tank untill I can afford to light the other half. I'd rather do part at a time than half [profanity] the whole thing. How tall is your tank??? I'm still a newby too.
Edit: New bulbls are even included with the mh.
Edit: New bulbls are even included with the mh.
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Thanks for the advice, I am unsure of what company made those MH but they retail new for around that same price each. The 75 gallon I am unsure on how tall that is. I am getting two of them though for $300 including the reflectors and ballast, with old bulbs that have a little life still in them.
