Im thinking about rigging the larger version of the lumen bright so that it holds 2 mh bulbs. i would drill another hole and mount on the opposite end of the existing hole to place another bulb...For those of you that have them...(lee) would this work..ie would there be enough space for both bulbs..>?
2 bulbs in one lumen bright?
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Jaime:
I highly doubt this would work. The lumen bright centers the bulb, and with the design, if it isnt centered, it wont be effective. Furthermore, if there were foreign item in the reflector, it would absorb the light, rather than the refklector hitting it. To be honest, when I spoke to Mike with Reef Specialty, he said he was in discussions with CoralVue about creating a double bulb one, but I doubt the single could be retroed.
I highly doubt this would work. The lumen bright centers the bulb, and with the design, if it isnt centered, it wont be effective. Furthermore, if there were foreign item in the reflector, it would absorb the light, rather than the refklector hitting it. To be honest, when I spoke to Mike with Reef Specialty, he said he was in discussions with CoralVue about creating a double bulb one, but I doubt the single could be retroed.
I believe Jeremy is spot on with this one. The design is purely centered around the main bulb, with every bend precisely bent to angle the light into the tank. Adding another object and making it off centered would really alter the light pattern and would most likely work against you. I mean, you'd still get light into the tank, but at the percentage lost, I don't think it's worth modding them. The news of the dbl reflector is new to me, tho I really don't see the need for it. I'd imagine the build up of heat would cause some issues and not to mention you're blocking quite a bit of light if bulbs are ran side by side w/o any type of reflective material between them to redirect the light. Doesn't mean that it can't be done...I just don;t think it'd be as effective. Not to mention, how I think it would be done would make these things very large. Jaime, why are you considering doing this? Is it for more PAR? perhaps the thought of more light penetration? I'd also be afraid of burning the corals with too much of a directed light if something like this was done....however w/o proper testing, thats just purely speculation.
technically yes you will loose some efficiency when the bulb isnt centered. But in practice, it doenst really make that big a differance.
Ive seen it done in luminarcs before with pretty good results. If your just looking to increase your par levels then yes it will work...BUT if your planning to do 2 175's or two 250's I wouldnt bother. Simply upgrading to 400's is more worth while. Likewise if you already are running 400's then a dual 400 unit may be worth it. I would look into the par levels you can do with a 1000w before going on though. Depending on the bulb/balasts combo it might be worth it, it might not.
Ive seen it done in luminarcs before with pretty good results. If your just looking to increase your par levels then yes it will work...BUT if your planning to do 2 175's or two 250's I wouldnt bother. Simply upgrading to 400's is more worth while. Likewise if you already are running 400's then a dual 400 unit may be worth it. I would look into the par levels you can do with a 1000w before going on though. Depending on the bulb/balasts combo it might be worth it, it might not.
Granted my knowledge on 1k bulbs is a little lack, but from the few I've seen, and the PAR numbers associated, I wasn't throughly impressed. Yes bulb and ballast has a huge deal with this, thats just an obvious statement. Perhaps we can get a test of the 1K bulb vs 2x400. That should be interesting.
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The bulb life will be reduced notably also, as the latent heat inside the reflector will likely double. Overall, I dont see why someone would do this. The reflectors were designed to reflect one bulb. Sure, two will make a higher output, but why not just buy another reflector? With two bulbs in one reflector, each bulb will be at a reduced efficacy.
Rereading the priginal post, I HIGHLY doubt there would be enough room if you woanted the bulbs tip to tip, also. But, to each, their own.
Rereading the priginal post, I HIGHLY doubt there would be enough room if you woanted the bulbs tip to tip, also. But, to each, their own.
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I agree. I'm not aying these are insurmountable issue, but I just dont understand why someone would take all these steps.Bleedingthought;190470 wrote: I definitely won't fit tip to tip, that's for sure. I was thinking side by side.
You could always cool the reflector.
