MH DIY build advice

[williampaul]

I went to a local reef stoor today and was dicussing what i could but in my new 75 gallon tank with my lighting and flow. i currently have a haitian reef anemone and last night he was acting funny. i was forsure he was dead. well this morning i woke up and he was fine. the man at the reef store told me that my lighting wasnt enough for what i wanted to do with my tank which is soft corals and fish.
back to what i was saying.
i have a 36 twin tube compact and a 48" tank. he said that MH is the best. and he said that i would pay out the wazoo for it (around $800). im a budget reefer. so i took it apon myself to research and the lights that i found are 250w MH bulbs from lowes. my question is, are these bulbs good or are there special bulbs for reefs? and if so where can i get ballast and fixtures for them. i have the skills for welding so can make the housings for the lights themself. can someone help.
sorry for the long post.

 

[scaast]

I don't think they are the same. I built a DIY 250w HQI fixture on the "cheap"...around $150 for ballast, bulb, hood. I got my stuff at hellolights.com The corals in my tank really came to life when I started using the metal halide lighting. I use a 20k XM bulb...the beautiful blue tint really makes the corals glow...and grow!! good luck.

 

[williampaul]

how did you get all that for 150?

 

[dragonforce]

Ballast

http://cgi.ebay.com/250-watt-MH-Gro...ryZ42225QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Bulb

http://cgi.ebay.com/ReefMax-175w-25...ryZ46314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Reflector and Socket

http://cgi.ebay.com/14-Metal-Halide...ryZ46314QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem


Then buy a heavy duty extension chord, and PM me when you get all the equipment in and I will tell you how to wire it up, it's really easy.

 

[williampaul]

so can i use the bulbs from lowes or not. it seems to be the better deal and how can bulbs be different

 

[williampaul]

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-400-watt-ME...W0QQitemZ180068083966QQihZ008QQcategoryZ42225
would this work??

 

[jeffgp]

i got my PFO with 4 10K bulbs for $200.00
just check your local board and the for sale forum .. thats where i found mine

 

[cotter4601]

What about ballasts that I can get at the a electrical store? They are like 40 bucks for a 250watt. Is that reflector ok to use even if there is no glass cover? I assume the bulbs would explode if they got splashed?