Is This An Ok Metal Halide Fitting For My Tank?

[craigybaby37]

brought my self this nice 150watt metal halide fitting yesterday. its ment for a back garden but i dont see what diff it will make if used for a fish tank?? but i could be wrong though??

Brand new cost me £48.48 inc vat which i think is a bargain.......only problem is the bulb is only 11250k so i have ordered a new 20000k bulb from ebay and hopefully it will make things look a little more blue and white as atm its very very yellow.

going to make an acrylic/perspex lid for it over the weekend so the fish wont jump out.

anyway heres a pic of the light above the tank. bare in mind its not on as ime still using T5 lights.

http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/cra...ks051107009.jpg

 

[1entra]

What are the dimensions of your tank? How big is it?

 

[craigybaby37]

tank dimensions are 800mm wide 300mm deep and 400mm tall. And the part of the light that houses the bulb is 200mm x 200mm (thats not the overall size of the unit just the area the light comes from)

 

[SkiFletch]

Are you sure it was a metal halide light, and not either halogen or mercury vapor?

 

[craigybaby37]

100% sure its a metal halide. brought a new 20000k bulb for it today so i now have some nice white light in the tank. but ime stuck with deciding if i should use my t5 lamps aswell once i have my new perspex lid made up.

i see in the arcadia units u can buy that they use metal halide lamps and also T5's in the same hood so dont see why i cant do the same??? I have 1 daylight bllue lamp and 1 moon blue lamp.

 

[pengy666]

The metal halide will melt a perspex lid would it not?

This is a bit of a dangerous game if you havent got the right equipment for "cheap" metal halides!

Skifletch ribbed me saying "every time...."

But again I will warn you too!

It could be a false economy if you dont check its setup right!!

See this link here and read it thouroughly and again until you understand perfectly what is what

Metal halides on the cheap for cheapskates JUST KIDDING!!!

If only it was that easy!

 

[SkiFletch]

The metal halide will melt a perspex lid would it not?

If the perspex is too close to the halide, absoloutely. Even if not, if it's solid perspex, the heat of the halide coupled with the lack of evaporation will be HELL in the summer to keep cool

 

[craigybaby37]

wel the lamp is about 12" above the lid which i read will be ok??? plus lfs said so aswell

as for heat building up i am planning on a series of ventilation holes and i have designed the lid to have a sliding trap door so i can always leave this open just a little bit (not enough for any fish to escape though)

 

[pengy666]

You will be suprised at what a "Little" gap a fish can jump out of! I know of one getting through a 2 inch gap and obviuosly died overnight on the floor!!

 

[craigybaby37]

yea i can imagine a fish jumping out of a 2" hole quite easily. i was thinking alone the lines of 8 mm holes every so often but will need to drill a fair few holes i imagine......and no to many so it weekens the lid......should work ok i hope.

Today i took back the fitting i was using as i wasnt happy with the way the light was projected over the tank.......so instead i brough a halogen light for £4.17p and its brand new i couldnt believe how cheap it was. and now i have adapted it to fit a metal halide bulb. can post some pics up if anyone is interested. And then to power the bulb i had to buy an external gearbox (starter ballest etc inside this) for £29.99.

so if all goes ok and according to plan i should have a good enough metal halide lamp for £52