I just bought some metal halides for my tank and was wondering if anyone here has ever had any experience with the dupla brand of lighting? The unit is brand new but I will be buying new bulbs for it and was wondering if anyone knows what type of bulbs it takes? Will rs7 double ended bulbs work as they are really cheap on fishstreet compared to locally.

It is a Dupla Electra Combi 2 x 150 Watt MH + 2 x 24 Watt PL just got to drive to Dunedin to pick it up now :happy1:

Also this should be enough lighting for my 450ltr tank now right?

It is a Dupla Electra Combi 2 x 150 Watt MH + 2 x 24 Watt PL just got to drive to Dunedin to pick it up now :happy1:

Also this should be enough lighting for my 450ltr tank now right?

Is it a reef tank? That will be good for a reef tank. Heaps for a FW planted tank.

Nope for planted FW tank, its 60cm deep though and T5HO's just aren't doing the job of penetrating to the bottom.

With my 3 150w MH I could only have them on for 3 hours during the day. The rest of the time was the T5HO. It's just the balance I found to work for my tank with my dosing of ferts and co2. You will have to find that balance as every tank is different .

If it is too much at least I will have them on hand for when I do eventually try my hand at a reef tank I guess, would just like to have a go at some carpeting plants like glosso or HC.

Just watch out for the heat, so I'd start using them only when you're home and can monitor the temp unless you have a chiller or something.

I found they could heat my 5ft about 6-7deg (3x 150w MH) over a photoperiod.

I wonder if anyone does the dichroic type reflectors from MH lights? They are the type the 50w halogens have, where the reflector looks like a coated glass you can almost see through. It reflects light, but much of the infrared wavelength passed through it... thus keeping the object you are lighting cooler.

dont worry about the heat you are in invercargill :rotf: . if theres too much light lift them up a bit ( if hanging them) will be mean on a planted tank you will love the shimmer lines . mount it at least a foot off the water level or any glass lids in case it gets warm down there :digH: . the glass covering the bulbs is just ordinary toughened glass dichroic would be nice never seen it on a mh though

Cool, cheers spoon.

I was actually going to ask if it is still ok to keep using the glass lids on the top of the tank, don't really want to have it open as I have a 3 year old demon spawn running around the house.

Cool, cheers spoon.

I was actually going to ask if it is still ok to keep using the glass lids on the top of the tank, don't really want to have it open as I have a 3 year old demon spawn running around the house.

If you have good airflow and some airspace leaving the glass on should be fine, as long as the glass doesn't get too hot you'll only need to worry about them holding heat in the tank.

Glass does make a nice bang when it's overheated and breaks though...

Well went and picked them up from Duniden on Friday and I was pleasantly surprised, all of the bulbs are brand new and it works perfectly, now I just need to figure out some way to suspend it 30-40cm above the tank as the only thing it is missing is the hanging kit, I just emailed the company in Australia that sells these to see if they can source me one. The light runs really silent considering that the ballasts are built into each end of the actual light which I was kind of skeptical of with heat etc. but after letting it run for 6 hours with all lights on it was still reasonably cold even in the 31c temp we had that day!

Anyone know how to tell what k rating MH bulbs have? The 2 pl tubes are actinic blue so am wondering if the MH bulbs are for corals/marine aswell? Saying that the PL tubes do have markings which I take to mean they are at 7200k which I am not sure is even possible being blue light?

Can't complain when they only cost me $49.

Here is a pic of the unit;

Anyone know how to tell what k rating MH bulbs have?

It's not printed on the bulb somewhere?

It's not printed on the bulb somewhere?

This is what is printed on the bulb;

221704

HIT-DE 150dw

UV-PROTECTED

F-142446

Germany

Also are RX7 and RS7 bulb types the same or has fishstreet.com just got it wrong with these bulb types?

https://www.fish-street.com/150w_6700k_ ... ory_id=107

Probably somewhere in the 6000k range. Looks like those ones are the cheapy included lamps with a bunch of misc cheap units.

you get fc2 and rs7 type in 150wMHDE they type pictured and the most common is rs7 if you are unsure of the k rating just get cheap bulbs off ebay theres plenty out there suitable for ahh hmm "plant" growth as for the actinics they will be benefical to plants and may balance the pinky or yellowy light of a hort bulb out to a nicer white to look at