MH questions

[brewercm]

Okay, now that I've gotten a canopy for my aquarium I'm starting to look at replacing my PC lighting with MH and a couple of VHO actinics. Here's the questions. I was wondering what type of ballast etc. would be the best for this? I've seen many on ebay that are retro kits with the MH and two VHO tubes. Are these any good/anybody have experience with them? Also I'm thinking two 110 watt VHO actinics and either two 175 or 250 MH 10k lights. Which would be a better recomendation.
The tank is a 75 gallon, just for further info that might help. I believe the tank is either 18 or 20 high if I remember correctly.

Thanks

[VGB]

175 watt MH are more limited in bulb selction than 250 watters.

I would select the bulb you you want to use then get the ballast that drives this bulb best.

[matt]

As Josh said, the icecaps ballasts are very versatile, but if you can get a good deal with magnetic ballasts like the PFO retros, don't pass it up. These ballasts can run most of the popular bulbs, and if you have VHO for actinic support, you probably won't need the high temp bulbs that need the HQI ballasts. The german 10k, (ushios) are available in 250W and 175W, but as of now, iwasaki doesn't make a 175. (I heard they're coming out with new bulbs designed to run on mh ballasts, maybe they'll do a 175)

Matt

[bprewit]

If you are good with electrical (pretty simple stuff) you can find magnetic ballasts at most electrical supply companys in almost and town. They need to have a power cord connected, mounted in a vented enclosure, and the MH socket wired but $60 for a 250W ballast isnt too bad I dont think. Thats what I went with and had no problems getting it wired up and running and im dumb as a rock!

Brent

[brewercm]

Thanks for the replies. I was attempting to reply to these last night but at home all I ever get is envalid session all the time. Really starting to tick me off. I was thinking about looking into a couple of electrical supply places and see what I can find. The wiring wouldn't be a problem. Just wasn't sure what specific ballast would be needed. Probably going to go with the 250 in a 10k german socket. They seem to be the most readily available.

Cliff

[matt]

I'm pretty sure that the best price on "raw" mh ballasts for aquarium bulbs is the hellolights deal. At least, when I was looking around the electrical supply places in S.A. they were all considerably more expensive than hellolights. That deal is something like $75 for a raw ballast, socket, and reflector. Tough to beat that, but when you add in the cost of wire, connectors, boxes for the ballasts, and the fact that the reflectors offered did not test as well as the PFO parallel reflectors, for me it made sense to just go with the PFO set up. I think it was something like $450 for a 2X 250 set up complete with ushios.

[nunamakt]

I'd like to add some MH lights to my 180gallon tank but I've never done MH and the terms are a bit murky. The tank is 6'x2'x2' and it has a custom canopy that's pretty high so it shouldn't be a problem to additional lighting to it. I have three 6' VHO bulbs (two white and one actinic) but I'm assuming I would get rid of the two whites if I had MH lights installed right?

How many and what size watt bulbs would I need ( 3 250w's)? I've never done MH and there seem to be a lot of different kinds. Is there a guide of what to use and when to use it?

I'd prefer European manufacturers since we are planning to move to Europe in the next 1-2 years. Which brands should I look for? I saw on this board about a "10k german socket" What is that?

What is a "PFO setup"?

What's the difference between a ballast and a socket?

Sorry for the newbie questions but I'm not a lighting exert but I'd like some decent illumination in my tank for some corals.

Since we planning on moving in the next 2 years, should I wait until we move before I start adding MH lights??

Thanks

[matt]

Nunamakt:

I'll try to briefly give you my 2 cents.

For a 180, most reefkeepers would use 3 bulbs, either 250W "double ended" or 400W "mogule" These refer to the type of socket the bulb plugs into; the mogule bulb just screw into the socket like a regular light bulb. The double ended bulbs clip into sockets at both ends of the bulb. This is the european style, and require a different ballast, which is the power supply, typically a big box that you plug the lights fixtures into, then plug into the wall. If you're moving to europe, you could take these fixtures with you, because the D.E. bulbs were originally designed to run on 220W AC power. The ballast might not work, but some of these have switchable A.C. requirements. You could contact sunlight supply or PFO, two leading brands of aquarium lighting, about that.

The 250W D.E. bulbs are comparable in intensity to the 400W mogule base bulbs.

Keep in mind, this is intense light for keeping the most light demanding corals like acropora, etc.. and tridacna clams. Many people use less light for average aquariums.

HTH
Matt

[TexasState]

I kept mostly soft and LPS corals. I prefer 175Watts. The bulb for 175Watts are cheaper to buy to replace yearly. I kept mostly soft and LPS corals.

[brewercm]

This is the setup that I was looking at on ebay. Anybody have any feedback on this system?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?viewItem&item=2339067406&category=3212