Mercury Vapor Bulb questions

kcmo lawman

kcmo lawman

Just a SimpleMan
Dec 10, 2004
241
0
0
54
Kansas City, Mo
Here is my situation. I currently have a 58g tank that has been up and running for almost a year now and have just gotten into corals and such. I have one single ended 175w MH 20k hamilton tech brand new bulb over the tank but it doesn't seem to be too bright. I have another ballest, reflector, and socket, but the only other bulb I have is a 175w Mercury Vapor bulb. Will this bulb work for added light on a short term basis without any harmful effects to my tank?

The only corals in my tank so far are a small frag of zoas, a single red mushroom, a candycane coral, and a small kenya tree. Other than that I have the usual cleanup crew of snails, and crabs, I have a red filament flasher wrasse, a perc. clown, a yellow clown goby, and a brittle starfish. I don't want to do any harm to my tank but at the same time I would really like to increase the lighting and be able to use my other setup without buying another new bulb as money is tight due to the holiday season.

Thanks for the help
 
Normalls, it sounds like mercury vapor would work out well for a reef setup, as they would put out a very white color light. However, for several different reasons, it sounds the like the vast majority sold are "color corrected" to give them more of a soft white color temperature, what you would expect out of an incandescent bulb. This light spectrum would illuminate the tank, but wouldn't really provide usable light to the corals.
 
It will provide more light certainly! Will it be the color you need? Maybe not. Will it hurt anything? That's a tough question. Normally a tank is a microcosm of competition. It's rather like a Black Friday 90% off sale all the time! What is thriving in your tank today are the living things that like the very specific conditions you have now. This includes dissolved minerals, temperature, specific gravity, neighbors, and very importantly the light. Specifically the amount of specific wavelengths in the spectrum of your present MH bulb at this point in its life.

Now show up with an additional lamp that has a markedly different spectrum and you will definitely shift the balance in your tank. Now some back alley relegated organism may now have the quantity and spectrum that it can thrive on. It will express itself by moving to the foreground in the competition.

Hence if you are the exploratory type of aquarium owner give it a try. Watch closely to see if what comes to the fore is good, or um.. not so good.

Other issues are; what if something you really like comes to the fore. Now you may be stuck with needing two types of illumination or face a die back of whatever it is you liked. This coming to the fore may also reduce what you have now! This may not be acceptable to you.
Ultimately you need to be the one who tries it and watches closely or waits for a MH bulb. Maybe Santa can bring you one. Just make sure you let Santa's helpers know the precise model number and store to get it at.

An entirely separate issue with ALL bulbs of any kind is that the light output starts to decline after several months and will creep downward until only about 70% of the original light is being provided. It does this slowly enough that you will never be able to see it happening. If you feel you tank isn't as bright as you thought it was... It probably isn't, and a new bulb will brighten things up dramatically.

You should also realize that adding a second unit will be adding a tremendous amount of heat to the water, and room, if you don't make adjustments to, say, the hood, etc.
 
Thank you for the replies. I tried it, left it on for about an hour...the temp of the tank was fine, but it was VERY yellow so I decided to wait until I can either get another 175w 20k bulb, or upgrade to a 400w 20k system. I appreciate all of the replies and help very, very much.


Thank you to all of you.
 
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