lighting, mh=nano cube

[Tim Marvin]

Here are some acro frags in the cube under PC's

[Brett Wilson]

I have a 150W Iwasaki 50KK. it is not an HQI though, it is a single ended metal halide bulb. I like it I have it running on my 20g nano if you want to see it sometime.

[lax]

Tim - you have a 30 cube with 2x96 quads = 6.4 w/gal, that's almost 2 most w/gal than me with the 32w retro coming in the mail, maybe=csl=gone

Whoa there Turbo - that'd be great if i could check it out, does it look kinda blue, but more white?

I think that I have ultimately made the decision that I am going to do 150 de. The next task is to figure out what to get, system and which one, or piece it together, and what color bulb a 10k or 13k. Also, i'm planning on doin an e-ballast. With doin mh I will definately get a better spectrum range and par than pc, and I dont need pc with it either unless I want the sunrise/set effect. There is enough blue and purple spectrum in there that i dont need actinic supplement; and there will also be more red there too, i'm sure that pc wont have. And it is debated that the green spectrum actually helps photosynthesis.

whateva, feel free to come back and tell me that i'm wrong, we can discuss this better tomorrow when we are at the meeting.

[Tim Marvin]

Sunlight supply reflector, 250w DE/HQI, xm bulb, and IceCap mh250 ballast.

[lax]

I took your idea and ran with it and checked around for prices on all of the parts, and found that it would cost the same, doing a 150 or 250. It would also be the price as getting a system, but I get what I want instead of crap. And then I saw 'El Box' and was like I can build that with aluminum stock and do a better job at it and save money. I guess that I just needed someone else to convince me to piece it together. Thanks

Nathan

[matt]

Why don't you get one of those 175W bell pendants? The ones that the bulb mounts vertically in, I mean. They're usually available pretty cheap; lots of people don't like them for bigger tanks because the light spread is lousy, and you get less light out of the same bulb. I think they come in medium base bulbs, too, like 70 or 150W. In your case, you don't want the big light spread, and you'll still get plenty of light out of a single 175W. I bet you can find one used for $100 or so.

[lax]

b/c the par and ppfd on the 150 de is like twice as much as the 175 and de 10k bulbs cover more of the spectrum range than mogule. you get what you pay for and i'd kick myself if i knew that i could have gotten somethin better. and yep this semester i will be recovering money spent on aquaria, but thats ok with me.