HaNs Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Any ideas where to get the gear from here in nz for a decent price? After a 50w for my 38L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 That low power you're better with something else. Like flouros. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted September 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 That low power you're better with something else. Like flouros. I have 300mm x 100mm to fit a light in my 38L Running co2 and a 14w light at the mo and yes i can deal with the heat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Sounds like enough room to fit a handful of compact flourescents. And anyway, I don't think metal halides smaller than 70watts exist. Smaller than 150 watts you wouldn't really have much selection of color temps anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted September 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q= ... arch&meta= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockerpeller Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 i thought when it comes to ballasts you can overpower a bulb ie 70W ballast + 50W bulb. Well i was told i could run a 70w bulb on a 150w ballast, and that was from a certed electrician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 I know nothing about these at all but I would assume the wattage of the ballasts would be a maximum power type rating.. Ie a 150W one can do anything upto and including a 150W bulb, if a bulb or whatever doesn't need to draw current and use power it wont so it wont do any damage to it to run a smaller one... lol could be wrong though but thats how im thinking about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted September 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Ira may know If you run a 150w bulb off a 70w ballast the result is a burned out ballast I have a stuffed up ballast here for a 150w, it only works for 5secs when its cold and makes a noise all the time. I may use some parts out of it for my 38L as its not worth getting it looked at and fixed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 dude no point running halides on a planted 38L, even if only 70Watts... Any plants you could possibly want will all survive under T5's or PC's and you don't have to worry bout water temp getting out of control on such a small tank in summer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Yeah, that's true. Even if it's a marine that much power would probably be overkill. The furthest anything's going to be from the lights is only going to be like 9 inches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 I know nothing about these at all but I would assume the wattage of the ballasts would be a maximum power type rating.. If you run a 150w bulb off a 70w ballast the result is a burned out ballast Yeah, that's my understanding. The ballast anyway is just a transformer, converts the 240vac to, if I remember right, somewhere around 100volts that metal halides run off of. MHs are probably very rarely used with different wattage bulbs than their ballasts because they have different sockets. I'd imagine there's a bit of leeway, you might be able to run a pair of 150 watters off a 250w ballast. But, I don't know if they'd start reliably. I've run three 10 watt fluoro tubes off a 40 watt ballast before. But they didn't all start consistently. Most of the time you'd only get two of them starting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Like most things in life, it is all about balance. Too much light can throw the balance as much as not enough. You can get 6500K energy savers that don't use much power or give out as much heat. Heat is wasted energy and therefore money when providing lighting. You want heat on the bottom of the tank, not the top. I bought a 6500K bulb from the wharehouse which was 23 watts but equivalent to 110 watts incandescent and it was only a few bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted September 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Like most things in life, it is all about balance. Too much light can throw the balance as much as not enough. You can get 6500K energy savers that don't use much power or give out as much heat. Heat is wasted energy and therefore money when providing lighting. You want heat on the bottom of the tank, not the top. I bought a 6500K bulb from the wharehouse which was 23 watts but equivalent to 110 watts incandescent and it was only a few bucks. Iv struggled to find a 6500k energy saver here in Taupo May go have another search today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Bunnings usually has them, Mitre 10, warehouse.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Smith Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 For a tank that small you could use 12V tungsten. See this link. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/2-vt15 ... l?start=15 I use these and despite the low colour temperature (3500 to 5000K) my fish and plants thrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I use a combination of growlux and soft white tubes successfully on some tanks. I am not sure what rating soft white is but I think growlux is around 3200K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richms Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 Loads of cars have 35w metal halides in their headlights, I know you can get up to 8000K for them. Perhaps that's a starting point for you to look at? Would need a grunty 12v supply for the ballast, but it gets you hot re strike which is hard to find on a mains powered ballast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaNs Posted October 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 Loads of cars have 35w metal halides in their headlights, I know you can get up to 8000K for them. Perhaps that's a starting point for you to look at? Would need a grunty 12v supply for the ballast, but it gets you hot re strike which is hard to find on a mains powered ballast. Computer power supply would work Im just going to use power saver lights. Ill do full build pics on my site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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