No protective glass on metal halide fixture?

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ouling

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I have 400X2 SE bulbs and thinking about taking off the glass on the unit. The bulbs are 9'' away from the water surface. However there is alot of water movement on the surface and once in a while a small splash will hit the glass. I want to know would it be safe to run the unit without the glass so i can get more light and UV in the tank.

Thanks for the help.

I know SE bulbs are a bit harder to break than DE bulbs because of the quartz glass sleeve. Cap bay got alot of salt splashes on their 1000w bulbs.
 
Yup- it's safe, as long as you don't get too much splash (and thus lower the temp of the bulb too much too fast). I don't keep a protective covering on my 1000w's, but they're ~10" up from the water.

Obviously, always, always keep the protective cover on the DE bulb pendants...
 
I run my 175W MH without any glass without problems. I've heard that the double-ended bulbs must be run with glass to provide UV protection. SE bulbs don't require that. True?
 
dkelly;56622 wrote: I run my 175W MH without any glass without problems. I've heard that the double-ended bulbs must be run with glass to provide UV protection. SE bulbs don't require that. True?
Click to expand...
Correct. SE bulbs and DE bulbs are the same thing, except the SE bulbs have the protective UV sleeve built on them.
 
I never kept any glass cover under my SE 250's. I lived on the edge having them 4" above the water but I never notice any salt creep or water spots on them.
 
The only drawback is that if slatwater does splash them, and it doesn't break the bulb, it probably will "etch" them, which is next to impossible to remove, and will also block some light transmission.
 
Exactly. When the salt gets cooked on them them it would be pretty hard to get off. I think acetone should do the job, or just 4 mol HCl will work also.
 
WOW!!!!! I have never seen any lights this bright in the 400w range!!!! The way I test the light effectiveness is to look directly at it for 2 seconds and count how many mins it hurts my eye. This one is still hurting my eyes!!! I just also took down both 20k and put on 14ks, let you tell you, it's much much much much brighter! I wonder how the Iwaskai 6500 is going to look on this thing.
 
ouling, thats probably a quick way to damage your cornea, i hope you havent done any permanent damage!
 
ouling;56642 wrote: WOW!!!!! I have never seen any lights this bright in the 400w range!!!! The way I test the light effectiveness is to look directly at it for 2 seconds and count how many mins it hurts my eye. This one is still hurting my eyes!!!
Click to expand...

:whut: :eek:
 
I hear if you lick the bulb when its on, that will tell you how well it works to.:)
 
Well ouling? We're waiting for you to lick the bulb and post about your experience................... Still waiting.................
 
Are you free tomorrow after 4pm or so? I'll be home all day working on the tank and stuff. Please come and help man, i'll have hot wings from my restaurant and alot of beer. Also you can get a few frags for the trip. Will pay if you own a truck and help me get a bigger sump, I can only fit a 100 gallon but like to get a 150.

Let me know!! I will remember this for the rest of my reefing life and will help you in return no problem!!!! I can supply you with a lifetime of free reef chemicals!
 
When I had worked back at Fish Store one of the 400 watt MH cracked the protective shell and bleached out the corals in that section and also gave an employee a bad sunburn. The bulb worked fine but it was hard to tell untill all of the lights were shut off.
 
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