Home Depot Metal Halides?

[chrowski]

Hey all,
Home Depot sells metal halide fixtures + bulbs. Are these usable on fishtanks? and do you have to modify them in any way to make sure they don't harm the corals, or will the lights bleach the corals no matter what?

the lights i'm talking about can be found at

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@1768800656.1146084973@@@@&BV_EngineID=cceeaddhjdhghiicgelceffdfgidgnj.0&MID=9876
or just go to HD's website and do the search if the link doesn't work

thanks in advance for any imput!

 

[pvtschultz]

Typically the HD lamps are going to be VERY yellow (in the 3000K-5000K range and won't be very pleasing to look at. You could buy one for the ballast, socket, and possibly the reflector and DIY it to work over your tank. ANother approach is to get ballasts off of ebay, sockets from hellolights.com, and which ever lamp you want. You will need a reflector (I used Aluminum drier shaped tubing for low low cost), and something to mount the sockets to. My ballasts came out of an outdoor light unit that I picked up dirt cheap.

 

[bebitte70]

How much did the ballasts cost you on ebay? Standard or electronic?

 

[8BALL_99]

You can buy a 250watt Electronic ballast, Reflector and socket for about 150.00 On most websites.. Much better deal!

 

[pvtschultz]

I bought 2-175 outdoor lights for $75 shipped off ebay (magnetic M57 ballasts), then $15 for sockets, and $4 for the reflectors. If you have the money then go with real reflectors, but polished aluminum is almost polished aluminum and will reflect plenty of the light.

 

[jaze36]

You could go to "aqua universe" they have diy set ups cheaper than the HD and they come with aquarium bulbs.

 

[BeanAnimal]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7257496#post7257496 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pvtschultz
I bought 2-175 outdoor lights for $75 shipped off ebay (magnetic M57 ballasts), then $15 for sockets, and $4 for the reflectors. If you have the money then go with real reflectors, but polished aluminum is almost polished aluminum and will reflect plenty of the light.

It is as much the shape of the reflector. SO "reflecting plnety of light" and getting where you need it are two different things

 

[pvtschultz]

It is as much the shape of the reflector. SO "reflecting plnety of light" and getting where you need it are two different things

Without a doubt. I shaped it into a parabolic shape very similar to some that I designed to direct as much light as possible with the little means that I had. Some will use just plain flat reflectors which I personally feel do little to direct additional light towards the tank. It isn't terribly difficult to do, ya just need to sketch a shape with the lamp in the middle as a point source and remember that the light is going to be reflected symmetrically about a tangentially normal plane at each point. Hard to describe is words though. Luckily for me photonics is a significant portion of Mechanical Engineering so determining the shape for a decent reflector wasn't terribly difficult. Now that I actually have engineering pay, I'll be either purchasing good reflectors or going with natural sunlight via light-piping. Gotta conserve natural resources for the future .