Metal Halide Lighting

[kylealastairlove]

was just researching metal halide lighting, where can i get bulbs from ? and would i be able to screw them into a normal bulb socket in the hood of my tank ?
as i would like to try out a wider range of plants in my tank instead of really low tech stuff

any info on this kind of lighting would help me greatly

 

[lljdma06]

was just researching metal halide lighting, where can i get bulbs from ? and would i be able to screw them into a normal bulb socket in the hood of my tank ?
as i would like to try out a wider range of plants in my tank instead of really low tech stuff

any info on this kind of lighting would help me greatly

Metal halides won't fit into a standard bulb socket. Unless you are thinking a halogen bulb?

L

 

[kylealastairlove]

well i was looking into metal halide but i wont be able to have those just yet, not so sure on halogen bulbs. i just wanted to know what i could do to increase the variety of plants i could grow because at the moment im just growing easy ish plants like crypts, swords, cabomba and anubias and you get my frift all kind of easy to look after i was looking for a bit more of a challenge and wanted to grow some more eyecatching colourfull plants but didnt know how i would go about this ?

 

[kylealastairlove]

well put it like this, maybe it will be a bit of a clearer question.

if you go on this link, you'll find a list of some of the plants i want to keep. some of them have more requirements than others, as you can see im going for a south east asian theme http/www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/asiabiotope/asia.html

i have a 64 litre interpret fishpod with 2 15w white bulbs that came with the tank when it was brought.

is there any lighting you could suggest that i could use to help me grow these plants and keep them healthy ?
by the way the lighting system in the hood of my tank is a bit awkward so i can only use bulbs of a certain size

 

[Joanne_]

Hi kylealastairlove,

Just to let you know, if you ever do go to metal halide in the future, you won't just be able to buy the bulbs and screw them in to run off the mains power, unless they are self-ballasted, which is rare.

You will also have to purchase control gear / a ballast to operate the bulb.

When you say you have 2 x 15w bulbs, are they just compact fluorescent with an ES or E27 base (it should be written on the base of the bulb) ?

 

[SO19Firearms]

If you don't already have them MH seems a bit antiquated to be researching?

 

[kylealastairlove]

hello joanne thanks i just found out about the whole ballast thing
im not too sure about what exactly they are on the base of the bulb it says: 2002/95/EC i dont know if that helps or not, i dont know an awful lot about the lighting or the electrical side to the hobby lol