MH lighting

[stevot123]

I am thinking about doing a reef only 12 gal nano cube and was looking at putting MH lights on it. I have seen some at varies web sites for around 150-200(ie. drsfosterandsmith.com. I also some MH lighting at the home depot that looked like it would do the job too. They had theirs around 40 and put out 300-500 watts. What is the difference in the lights/ would it be okay to use those MH lights? I am only really familiar with t5s as that is all I have had.

Thx Steven

 

[crew]

i would say the home depot variety would not be ok because the light is displaced with their reflectors so its an ambient light.. i suppose if you took it apart you would be ok though

 

[stacy22]

The MH from Home Depot are a k value that does not adequately support coral growth. I think if you went that route you would regret it.

Better to get MH that are designed for reef use. Keep checking here because there are great buys on equipment just about all the time.

 

[ryanh487]

The light from home depot is also a halogen fixture, NOT a metal halide fixture. if you want to turn your tank into hot algae stew, literally, then go for it. even the "metal halide" fixtures they sell are very under-driven by the ballasts, have terrible reflectors, wrong spectrum bulbs in sizes not common in the aquarium industry, and will not work for aquarium use.

you CAN make your own HQI pendant with a brinks 300w halogen security light, a 70w metal halide ballast, and a 70w HQI bulb. the bulb fits in the same socket as the halogen fixture, you can easily wire the ballast to the fixture, and then you have a working metal halide pendant. check out the DIY section of nano-reef.com for more detailed instructions. if you already have a ballast or use a ballast from ballastwise.com, and get a cheaper bulb, you can build it for less than $100.

 

[stevot123]

Thx for the help. I was sure that there had to be a difference in the lights and I am glad that you knew what it was because i had not a clue. I will keep my eyes peeled for a good deal coming up on the forum. BTW what wattage would you recommend for a 12 gal nano?

 

[ryanh487]

that greatly depends on what you are wanting to keep in it. a 70w hqi fixture with a good bulb should be able to keep pretty much anything, though you may want to keep higher light corals at the top. a 150w hqi with proper active cooling of the fixture will allow you to keep anything without question, minus non-photosynthetic corals of course. it will also be able to move to a larger tank with you, so that's one thing to keep in mind.