sunpod 20" 150w HQI 14000k

[Pico1]

I just got mine today in the mail. I bought 2 of these for my 55 gallon. When I first turned the first fixture on the fan came on and the led lights were working great but the halide wouldn't start so I left it on for 5 minutes to see if that would help, still no light. Then I took off the glass and made sure it was firmly in place and wiggeled it arount a bit (only touching the ends) and put the glass back on. Tried again, still no light. Then I adjusted the light once more and it lit. I put it over the tank to get a quick preview of wht it will look like and it looked dimmer than my 130 watt compact flourescent. I still haven't opened the second fixture. Will the HQI bulb get brighter after it's break in period? I will post pics later tonight. Even though it looked dim the shadows and shimmer lines looked cool.

 

[fragaholic]

Even tho its a 14k it still should be pretty bright, more so than your pc's. They do take a few minutes to warm to full intensity too. Go ahead and turn on the second one, let them burn for 10 minutes and compare em. good luck!

 

[Pico1]

oh ok, I only had them on for a minute or so. I will try that and hopefully get pics up later tonight. Thanks fragaholic.

 

[SLOreefer]

it takes up to 10 minutes to get to full intensity. one minute and it is barely starting to warm up....this hobby is all about patience

 

[Pico1]

I know all about patience, I just have never used metal halides before and am clueless on how they run and how they should run.

 

[Pico1]

The box it came in

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Where I cut a rectangle out of my canopy for the light

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The actual light

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And the lights on my tank (It looks way better in person and yes I am taking out the fake corals soon now that it will be a reef and not a FOWLR)

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The stock light burns well and turns on quickly after i turn it on. I will update as my experence with this fixture grows

 

[H20Sidhe]

Ooooh, Aaah!

 

[fragaholic]

Nice and bright, looks killer!

 

[Pico1]

thanks but it looks much much better in person. I just can't wait to get rid of those fake corals. I will post a pic w/the lights on in the room tomorrow so you can get a better idea of what the lights look like above the tank (the look of a canopy with the height of a pendant)

 

[Pico1]

took out all the fake stuff...

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[H20Sidhe]

Are the bulbs in your two fixtures different? In that last full tank pic, the right side of the tank (left side of photo) looks more purple, and the other side looks more blue-green. But then again, so does the wall behind the tank. In the night time shot the tank color looks uniform.

Very nice set up!

 

[Pico1]

There both the same bulbs, stock 14000K. When I look at it the left side looks brighter to me but I think that may be from the shadows the right side rocks are creating.

 

[robertloop]

Nice... You're going to love the halides. Is it me, or do the fish seem to like the halide light too?

BTW.... I had a blub like that one time... Everynow and then I would have to give the bulb a tap to get it to fire. The problem went away after the bulb broke in. It has to do with a bi-metallic spring inside the bulb not making good contact to the "start" pin. YOu will notice that if you turn the halides off they will not re-fire untill after they have cooled for a few........ The bi-metallic spring cools and bends back unitill it touches the start pin.

 

[Pico1]

interesting. thanks.