Anyone know a good source for metal halide aquarium spectrum lights? I did not see them at Jansen's (although I did not have time to ask the staff).

thanks

Jansens does has metal hallide lights they have been instock over a week, they also have the t5 luminar, that and the hallides (series 3) are both from arcadia and are very nice units . The metal halides are availible in tripple bulbs double or single the doubles and tripples have 2 blue actinics and timers built in. They come in 250w, 1400k and

150W 10000k bulbs.

See them at http://www.arcadia-uk.com/en/140pendant.html

Yeah I also know a few options for BLV 10000k and 14000K halides in 150 and 250 watt HQI double ended varitys.

Wasn't sure if you wanted just bulbs or a whole unit.

I have just purchased a double 250 watt pendant. And know some DIY options too if you want to save a few $.

Those arcadia units are VERY nice, but some of them are $5,000.00. Not sure of your budget but are outside of mine.

Let me know what you want as I should be able to help as just been through it all myself.

Cost me $880.00 brand new. Could DIY for $800 or DIY 150watt x2 for 600 or 2nd hand for a little less.

Pies

From memory the most expensive series 3 pendant is $2400 that is for a 3*250w 14000k unit with blue actincs and timers buillt in. There cheapest model 1*150w 10000k unit is around$699

HTH.

Oooowwww...Forget that, if I ever can afford a marine tank I'll just install a bunch of flourescent tubes above it. For $700 I could put a couple kilowatts of light over the tank(Ignoring space of course:))

Yeah but image you bulb replacement costs and running costs! 2000kw power 12hrs a day! OUCH.

Metal halides are all the rage in reefdom. I have 4x 80w (5ft) T5s on my tank at the momnet. 500 Watts of Halides in the garage will go on this weekend. Its funny when I tested the lights my garage was lit up like daylight x10. Hard to image it on a fish tank...

Don't be put off by the cost Ira. Do it! I have a feather duster worm, 2x clowns and lots of rock in my tank and its 10000x more interesting that my other 2 freshwater tanks. Hermit crabs, snails, worms, some coral (cheapies), calurpa. AWESOME!!!

At the moment I'm not just put off by the cost, I'm put off by the lack of suppliers in the Wellington area and the lack of income to support it. In addition to the $100ish/month just in salt, $600ish in equipment, etc.

I wouldn't put 2 KW of lighting over the tank though. Poor fish would go blind. Flourescent tubes are only a little dimmer, I think, than metal halides so I think 250 over my 200L would be far more than sufficient.

I too was put off by the cost. But I don't regret it at all.

Also I can assure you its not as expensive as you first think. Paying retail is bad, but there are other ways! Auckalnd reefkeeping is strong and there are lots of people who can import stuff or sell you 2nd hand.

Halide. You 'need' the power for coral in deeper tanls (over 400ml). BUt if you have a shallower tank it would be fine, although you could never keep any SPS corals (Acopora spp). But if you don;t want hard coral then its no drama, and you can add it later if you think you need it.

Fish and coral can be brought for a fraction of the retail cost if you know the right people. Also the Hutt per store will only put a small handeling fee (30%) on marine stuff including stock, so I think that represents great value as you will know if the fish are alive before paying for em! Talk to Graham.

I now know 5 people here in Wellington doing Marine + me. So there are some people around, hope to run into more.

SALT. Use ocean water. MUCH cheaper. MUCH. MUCH. I went to auckalnd and visited some people and have spoken to others. I have only met 1 person who using premix salt. EVERYONE else uses ocean water. I got mine from the south coast in 20l jerry cans. Forget premix salt, nothing is going to be better than REAL seawater.

I have also added some snails (of which I know 2 died, 1 by a hairy yellow crab I got on some rock i think), some hermit crabs (AWESOME!) and some shrimp. 2 shrimp died, 2 still alive (eventually they will get skimmed... All crabs still going including a monster i put in the sump.

Get into it. The more people who do it, the more likley that a shop will start to stock marines.

ALSO a little birdy told me Jansens are opening a store in Wellington this year. And they have the ULTIMATE marine selection.

And someone in Auckland has just brought a Lion Fish. SO they are around, if you REALLY want one and are patient (and a little dodgy).

do it!

Pies

Thanks for the comments. I bought a used 2 x 250w pendant from Jansens. Unfortunately, it blows my circuit breaker as soon as switched on. I think the initial surge is too much...I have ground fault interupter to safeguard against any shorts in the tank.

Anyone else have this problem? Looks like I will have to call the sparky.

Its called 'inrush current' and is semi-common for high drain appliances. I run all my tank stuff through a pair of UPS to avoid any drama as I have had circut breakers problems in the past.

I think you will find the metal halide lumen output per watt is similar to fluro's.

Fluro's cost a lot less to setup but you need a lot more of them to get the watts. Fluro's also have a much more even spread of light (more natural) than metal halide which tends to be a point source.

Overall fluro's are cheaper (by about half) and if you have the space to fit them they work great long term. Other advantages include replacing a few fluro's at a time so the light spectrum is not changed too quickly. A good fluro lasts nearly as long as a MH (the usefull life of a MH anyway).

Typical life of a fluro is 2000 hours compared to 3000 for a MH. The MH may actually keep working for 18000+ hours as stated in the datasheet but its spectrum will have changed drastically.

The surge on a MH is usually about 200% slowly diminishing to 100% over the first 3 minutes. This means a 250W MH will draw about 2A at startup. There maybe a single cycle at 20-30A from the powerfactor cap but it should not trip a breaker. If it is tripping the breaker due to overcurrent it is probably due to a faulty PF cap. If it is leakage to earth it could be salt build-up inside the lamp housing. Either way it looks like it needs maintenance. I'd take it back to where you got it and ask them to get it fixed. Hopefully you did not buy it without a warranty or as-is.

Fluro's just dont cut it in a reef tank unless you are only keeping soft coral. another alternative would be t5 fluros they are great for keeping hard coral if your tank is not very deep.

installing a "D" curve circuit breaker will avoid the tripping common in tanks.

personally a standard normal fuse ensures your fish keep living and your pumps dont empty the tank over the floor.