MH lighting on-line souce? Best Deals?

[RockyHeap]

I'm thinking of ditching my 400 watts of power compact bulbs over my 135 gallon 6 foot long plexiglass reef tank.

The present hood is only 5" tall, so I'd double that with another 6" of hood wood under the present to space them up to not melt or burn/deform the top of the tank.

Tank is 24" deep, I mostly keep softies but do have alot of Montipora and a few acro's.

Whats the best place for a retrofit kit for dual metal halides? I'm leaning towards Icecap ballasts as they seem to be the standard everyone else compares to, and they really aren't that much more than the cheaper clone electronic ballasts. I used to run 175 watt icecaps on other tanks and those ballasts seem bullet proof.

So I'm thinking of twin 250 watt, maybe 400's, but with the plexiglass top I'm AM worried about heat, as well as access to the tank due to the smallish plexiglass access holes to the reef through the top.

I've always ran Mogal sockets in the past, what is the advantage of dual end bulbs?

MarineDepot seems on the pricey side, who else has great deals mailorder for dual halides retrofit systems?


thanks!

 

[russellaqua]

I sell a variety of MH DIY parts on my site. They're drop shipped directly to you, so you don't pay shipping twice. With a 6 foot long tank I'd go with 3 bulbs. Each bulb really only effectively covers a 2 foot long stretch of tank. Heat will definitely be a concern with the plexi top. You might need to raise the lights, or go with a glass top. I don't think any amount of fans would keep the plexi from melting with the bulbs so close. There is no real advantage to double-ended bulbs. In fact, they sometimes come loose and because of the large amount of current can weld themselves into the socket. For that reason I prefer mogul bases. Double-ended bulbs also don't have any UV protection built in, so they have to be behind a special glass UV shield. You can see what I have for MH parts at:

http://www.shop.russellaquaculture.com/category.sc?categoryId=30

 

[RockyHeap]

THANKS Mark for your input. The tank has a solid piece of plexiglass about 14" wide in the middle of the tank, so I'm definately thinking of just 2 bulbs, and I don't need nuclear amounts of light levels.

I've got an old 250 watt tar ballast and bulb, maybe I'll check the lighting pattern it throws.

I just hate spending $120 on 4 new PC bulbs as mine are a year old, when I could put that money towards a MH lighting set-up.

Thanks again Mark, I'll check out your website, I'm definately looking at DIY and putting the parts together. Pre-assembled hoods can get so friggin' expensive it's not funny.

 

[mschrissygil]

Rocky, we just got a 48" Outer Orbit fixture 2x250HQI MH 4 54 watt T5s and 9 lunars for $300 on Ebay from currentusa(their Ebay screenname) They sell reconditioned lights with brand new bulbs for great prices. They have a couple of 72 inch fixtures on auction now. Hope this helps you

 

[RockyHeap]

yeah I saw those the other night, but for $500+ bucks, nah, plus my wife says she wants to keep the wood hood look instead of the lunar lander spacecraft hood with legs.

Good idea though! keep the web links coming!

Hellolights seems to have some of the better deals out there.

$129 for electronic ballast, reflector, socket, your choice of bulb for $60-75 more.

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=558

 

[chadmace]

yeah I saw those the other night, but for $500+ bucks, nah, plus my wife says she wants to keep the wood hood look instead of the lunar lander spacecraft hood with legs.

Good idea though! keep the web links coming!

Hellolights seems to have some of the better deals out there.

$129 for electronic ballast, reflector, socket, your choice of bulb for $60-75 more.

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=558

I have 3 of the 250s over my 125 and am very happy with them.