250watt metal halide advice.

[wastememphis]

I'm just going to give you links to the things I'm going to buy/plan to buy... could you tell me what else I would need to buy to make them work togeather, like sockets or wires or something!!! Thanks.

Reflectors:

http://hellolights.com/methalparref.html
these are the reflectors i would get to direct the light down toard the water, i would need two of them.

Ballast:

http://marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=IC3161
this is the icecap ballast made to run one 250watt bulb, i would need two of these to run both of my bulbs.

Bulbs:

http://hellolights.com/250wxm10000k.html
this is the XM 250 watt 10,000K bulb I plan on getting, i would need two.

I'm not sure what to do about chords to hook up the ballast into an outlet or into the reflectors if you could help? Thanks! There might be links to prodcuts on those sites.

p.s. I would want to get attnics to supplement the halides, but i'm looking at those now, so far its 500watts over a 65gallon tank, then whatever watts of attnics i get, so it'll be like 10watts per gallon, please give imput on the products or advice on this thanks. (or what kind of attnics i should use to supplement the halides)

[mogurnda]

The only thing you will need for the lights will be cords to get the power from the ballasts to the sockets. Any substantial 3-wire cord will do, and I think the IceCap ballast comes with a connector set. How about contacting HelloLights and finding out what they recommend?

I am wondering whether there will be room for the reflectors over the tank.

As far as actinics, how were you planning to fit the bulbs and reflectors in there with the halides? How much room will you have to work with in the hood?

[wastememphis]

I'm not sure, i'd be building the hood to accomidate it, as long as i have the 18" width, and the spider reflectors were... 13" wide i think i might have room for 1" bulbs on either side... it'll be tight, but i saw pics of a tank which was the same size with same reflectors/three vho bulbs which seemed wild... but it worked well for him, i don't see a need for three attnics but i'd need two, i don't want to get the 20000k lighting.

[mogurnda]

One advantage of VHOs is that you can get bulbs with internal reflectors, which would save you some space. I managed to get two 48" T5s with reflectors in my 48X18 hood, so that can work also.

[wastememphis]

are vho ballasts expensive? like more than $60?? I've seen the icecap ballasts but they are just as much as a hailde ballast... whats the difference between the t-5,-12 the watts of the bulb? Becuase there were some t12's which were 96watts each, I was thinking that I'd need brighter attnics to get a buler color with such bright 250watt bulbs over a 3' tank.

[mogurnda]

The ballast for any high output fluorescent is relatively expensive.

The T5, T8, T12 designation is just the diameter of the bulb. T5 is 5/12, T8 is 8/12 and so on. Old-fashioned NO bulbs are T12s (ie 1"), as are VHOs. T5's are more expensive, but you get more light per watt, because the bulbs are more efficient and the smaller diameter allows for more efficient reflectors. In the industrial reviews I have read (haven't seen any for the fish world), T5s rival halides for lighting efficiency.

With my 250 watt halides, two 52 watt T5 actinics do a prettydecent job, and I suspect two 110 watt VHOs would as well.

[wastememphis]

They sell HO ballats at my lfs, are those just for t5's? It's 49.99, i believe its called EZ-Ballast. Which bulbs did you say come with reflectors?

[mogurnda]

I am not sure what the HO ballasts at your LFS are good for. There should be information about the wattage and number of bulbs the ballast can run somewhere on the label.

There's an example of VHO bulbs with internal reflectors here. (http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=48BVHO&Category_Code=URIblue)

Sorry this took a while. It's sometimes hard to do more than a quick reply when I'm at work.