I like the way my LFS has their biocube come on with the actinics first, then the daylights. It makes all the corals glow. But I also like the crisp, ridiculously bright metal halides they have over their coral tanks. Can I make a light fixture that does both? Another question- are metal halide bulbs and bi-xenon bulbs the same thing? I could probably get some HID bulbs for free-the type used in automobile headlights, but I don't know if these are the same or not. I would like both lights wired on separate circuits so I can switch the actinic on to "glow" the tank up. Any thoughts?
DIY Metal Halide/ actinic
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Xenon HID is an almost *BRAND NEW* thing for Marine Aquaria. Actually there are only a handful of serious DIY'ers even trying them. So far the info and performance looks promising, but still a long way off from practical for the average person. The biggest draw back is the need for Projectors and having them mounted a lot more than a few feet away for a decent light spread. Take a look on Reef Central's DIY forum. There's a few threads there.
So far as the rest of your post, sure it's possible. What are your tank spec's? Size, dimentions, what type of hood/open top, ect.
Getting the MH (or HQI which may work better for some applications) and the actinics to run on different circuits is pretty easy... Just don't wire the power cords together
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Chris
So far as the rest of your post, sure it's possible. What are your tank spec's? Size, dimentions, what type of hood/open top, ect.
Getting the MH (or HQI which may work better for some applications) and the actinics to run on different circuits is pretty easy... Just don't wire the power cords together
. Chris
I just have a 10 gal right now, but am looking to kick my wife's fish out of her 55 and into a 90 or 125 from craigslist-I would like to make a light for that too, but that's later on down the line. However, right now I have two 50/50 screw in compact fluorescents in a POS incandescent hood, and am looking to upgrade. The 50/50 light setups I could buy are reasonably priced (about $60), but they are usually just one huge bulb. I want the option to turn the actinic on by itself to make that glow that I was talking about, but I also want to fry the tank with a metal halide or similar.
Another thought- what about halogen lights?
Another thought- what about halogen lights?
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Unfortunately Halogens are little better than your basic incandecent light bulb. Their spectrum is all wrong for our applications.
A 10 gallon is going to be a little harder to do... Not impossible by any means but you are limited if you want some form of HID (MH or HQI). Personally if you are set on a HID/Fluor setup, I'd look at a 70 watt HQI retro kit, 2 T8 actinics (fluor's) and at that point you'll probably need to make a hood yourself. IF you can find T5's (preferably HO) that are short enough, getting the ballast *may* be difficult (not impossible though) but they would be the way to go. From what info I've seen some of the T5 "Actinics" actually have as much PAR output as the higher uM lamps (like 10,000K's and such).
So first though, what do you have in it right now/want in it later?
A 10 gallon is going to be a little harder to do... Not impossible by any means but you are limited if you want some form of HID (MH or HQI). Personally if you are set on a HID/Fluor setup, I'd look at a 70 watt HQI retro kit, 2 T8 actinics (fluor's) and at that point you'll probably need to make a hood yourself. IF you can find T5's (preferably HO) that are short enough, getting the ballast *may* be difficult (not impossible though) but they would be the way to go. From what info I've seen some of the T5 "Actinics" actually have as much PAR output as the higher uM lamps (like 10,000K's and such).
So first though, what do you have in it right now/want in it later?