Metal halide lighting

[Fishboy9227]

I am trying to do a retro for a 150 double ended metal halide. i already have the brackets to hold the bulb. I need to make some type of reflector and have it have a uv shield.

any ideas?

-Fishboy

 

[customcolor]

spend the money and buy one.....trust me. getting the angles right so the bulb shines like it should would be a pain unless your good at making a lumanarc

 

[46FiatYamaha]

If you are good with sheet metal and have the material and tools, it's not very hard. Otherwise, it would be easier to just buy them

 

[Tinkanator2000]

I agree with the suggestion to just buy a reflector

 

[spleify]

They are not very hard to build. Here is a good link for the instructions.

http://www.reefdiversity.com/DIYPage/DIY_HTML/DIY_ReflectorIndex.htm

Here is a link to my build:

Page 2 shows my first one

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1343381&perpage=25&pagenumber=2

And page 7 shows my second one. I would suggest going with the material I used on the second one.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1343381&perpage=25&pagenumber=7

HTH

Spleify

 

[runningstix]

it would turn ghetto-tastic pretty quick with hqi's. I would spend the money and buy them.

 

[spleify]

I disagree Steve, all you have to do is cut 2 small squares in the reflector, how hard is that???

 

[Fishboy9227]

Well are there any good reflectors for hqi bulbs under $50?

 

[runningstix]

hellolights $40.
http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1533

I would spend the extra $50 and get a lumenarc mini Youll get better light coverage.

 

[CoralCaps]

I have the Hellolights reflector as posted above. It does provide a pretty narrow region of light for my 250w.

It came along with my ballast so I went ahead and used it rather than rewiring my Hamilton fixture. If you are trying to cover a larger area, get something better.

 

[Fishboy9227]

My tank is only 30 inches long. Do you think it would cover that amount or close to it?

 

[Fishboy9227]

It is actually a viper 2 that the neck is broken on so im retroing it into a canopy. the deal is i broke the uv shield on it. so....its either buy a new uv shield for the viper and use the reflector its got or just get a whole new reflector. spending a hundred on a reflector is not really an option. im a poor college student

 

[customcolor]

you should beable to just get a sheet of glass cut at home depot. regular glass should work just fine.

 

[Fishboy9227]

I think it needs to be tempered glass to protect the tank from uv rays. its a double ended bulb.