New lights up and running.

[bkh24]

I finally made the jump to Metal halides. I have had some ballast laying around and instead of replacing my bulbs on my PC fixture I just built a canopy and put 2 250 watt 14k bulbs on my 55 gal. I got a nice start to a SPS collection thanks to spooda420. I'll post some pics of the frags as soon as they get to opening up nice all the time. I do like the shimmer alot but the amount of light does not seem that much different. The corals are all still adjusting though so it must be delivering a lot mof light. Ill try to post some pics toinght.

 

[trottman]

MH is not as bright as other lights.... it is not the brightness that makes them good, it is the type of light that they offer that is better than almost all other light besides the sun.

 

[bkh24]

here are some of the pics

IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70900mini-Tank_shots_03-20-06__26_.JPG [/IMG]

 

[DrBDC]

Partially true. They have the most lumens per watt. Are your mh's inreflectors or just a white painted canopy interior. What kind of reflector if there is one.
And what bulbs did you use. Some can produce twice as much PAR/ppfd as others.

 

[bkh24]

More pics

 

[bkh24]

There are reflectors inside. Just some polished aluminum like most kinds of reflectors. I am getting ready to add a peice of reflector to the back because I lose some light on the wall behind my tank. I am not unhappy with the light by any means just always thought it would look much brighter. As an electrician I did some lighting work for a while and could definatly see the difference in brightness between MH bulbs (between the diff wattages) . Well I have been meaning to post these pics for a week and a half guess better late than never.

 

[DrBDC]

Check out this article. Mark has the pfo parallell reflectors on his web site too. I think I'm going to order one myself. Not a lumenarc but if you look at this article it's close at the 6" mark.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/feature.htm

 

[spooda420]

looks good, lets see your handy work. the canopy and the mounting of the lights. light off ofcourse.

good luck with the frags.

 

[bkh24]

Not sure If I am going to "show off my canopy just yet. It still needs a few thing done to it.