Dual Metal Halide and VHO setup installed

[Stasher]

Ok...lost the thread on my new lights. Here it is again :)

PFO dual MH with dual VHO retrofit setup. Venture 250w 14k bulbs and URI 110w superactinic bulbs. Cooling fans, new heavy duty powerstrip and digital timers were installed as well.

Here are the pictures....

http://ist234.sasktelwebsite.net/light1.JPG

http://ist234.sasktelwebsite.net/light2.JPG

http://ist234.sasktelwebsite.net/light3.JPG

[Stasher]

Here are the ballasts and timers.
I have the Actinics on at 9am and off at 11pm...14hrs
I have the Halides on at 11am and off at 9pm....10hrs
The first fan turns on the actinics and the second fan comes on with the MH. This way the fans arent on when the lights are off.

http://ist234.sasktelwebsite.net/ballast.JPG

http://ist234.sasktelwebsite.net/timer.JPG

[Invigor]

:uzi:

Nice setup :D Is it that blue in person with the 14k and actinics?

congrats on gettin the nice lights right away without wasting money on everything in between!

Thats pretty much the identical setup I'm doing only dif is my tank is smaller :( I wonder if I made my canopy too short. I have 9" from the canopy to the water..should be lots..I hope.

and are those 2 24" reflectors side by side?

[Stasher]

Yes they are side by side 24" reflectors.
My canopy is about 12" from the inside to the surface of the water, I would not want to be any lower as the reflector is like 6" tall and I definately don't want the bulbs any closer, they sit about 8" from the water.
The lights are not that blue in person, it is the auto setting on my camera doing that. IMO the light is absolutely perfect, I would not change a thing.

Thanks for the compliment John:fish2:

[Fishy!]

What is something like that worth these day?

[Invigor]

$930 to your door.

[Stasher]

Exactly.... :)

[Skooner Jr.]

PM me on where you got that set-up from. It looks like something I would be interested in. Why did you go 14000k? I'm really new at this and was thinking 10000k. Will I be limited if I go 10k.

Thanks

[Bayside Corals]

Skooner,
10,000K will give you more PAR, vs the 14,000K. The 14,000K gives you more blue which makes your corals glow a little more. I have 10,000k with actinic's and I like the look. You would not be limited if you went with 10,000K.

Colby
________
Harriet (http://www.girlcamfriend.com/cam/Harriet/)

[Stasher]

I purchased the setup from JL's. Very happy with the package. With this setup you need to make yourself a canopy like I did because this is a retrofit setup and between building the canopy and setting up the fans, reflectors and lights you will need to be somewhat handy. You may want to go the glass top route with a nice complete light hood, there are some hamilton ones available from CMAS and JL's sells the Coralife fixture that has gotten some good reviews. I went with the 14k bulb so my light was away from yellow spectrum of lower k lights. My particular bulb is actually a 10k bulb but its spectrum output falls closer to 14k, I absolutely love it.

[Skooner Jr.]

Do you need a chiller with that light setup? I'm trying to figure out (well at least within a couple thousand :icon_eek: ) on a start-up cost for my tank. If I don't need a chiller that would be great. Would 175w MH's be ok or could i get away with 250w and no chiller.

[shawn lipon]

Heat in your tank comes from many sourses not just lights.If you run powerheads,skimmer pumps,return pumps and halides .I run 250 hqi's on my tank the lights made no difference in temp but i have a large unlit sump/ref 120g.If you keep the lights high enough with good fans etc it shouldnt raise temp by more than 1-2 degrees.fan over sump can help with heat but causes evaporation.summer temp may raise too.