Metal Halides/ Security Lights

[macpegg]

Is it possible to change security halide bulbs for the bulbs used for marine?

 

[Navarre]

Probably not. Most security lights i have looked into are Halogen Bulbs rather than Halide and this gives out the completely wrong spectrum.

 

[macpegg]

Just called a m8 who works for billingham aquatics, and has been fiddling around.. He bought a halide that would fit a security type unit from a different aquatic store, and bout a unit that would have the halide fit, im going round the lighting store, and then gonna purchase the bulb this weekend. ( 250W ). The unit is german and needs rewireing to work.. Once i have these i`ll keep ya posted. if this works would only cost me around £80.00 - unit £35-£40 the halide is around £36.00. makes & names etc.. i`ll check out once im there.

The lad who has done his setup with these, and bought 2.. He has a 7ftx3x3. and is magnificent. I`ll grab some pics of the tank, im sure if we could do this and it would work.. Many other reefers would like to benifet in saving some pennies..

 

[Aquascaper]

The ballast from the security light won't work as its designed to run a halogen bulb but the housing can be used. It's a standard fitting known as RX-7 and allows any double endded bulb to be fitted.

HTH

 

[john27]

Hi,
You can buy a 250w halide unit (for aquarium use) for £70.

john.

 

[Navarre]

Theballast used for these fittings will make the bulb work but it will give out the wrong spectrum. There was a thread on another very large forum about this a couple of years ago (buti cant find it now) The person tried thevery same thing and within 6 months of thesde fittings being used his entire selection of acros and montis were dying due to hi UV output.

My halides were not much more expensive than you have quoted... 2x150w halides @ £100 each (minus bulb) and my 400w Halide was £127 fitted with bulb. These are hydroponic units but the ballast is the correct one for the marine bulbs and thus wont make them give out the wrong spectrum.


Remember... Its easy to get a unit that will make halide bulbs function but its very VERY important that the corect ballast is used or this will make the bulb throw out the completely wrong spectrum and UV.

 

[macpegg]

""My halides were not much more expensive than you have quoted... 2x150w halides @ £100 each (minus bulb) and my 400w Halide was £127 fitted with bulb. These are hydroponic units but the ballast is the correct one for the marine bulbs and thus wont make them give out the wrong spectrum.""

Where did you purchase these from??

thx

 

[Matthew5664]

Navarre:

So what you r saying is if i go and buy a ballest, starter and bulb holeder from WF or CEF then a aquatic bulb from my LFS and wire it up the light given off is differen to the light given of if I had bought a aquatic ballest starter and bulb holder??

I can get my head around it, a ballest being a tranformer of sorts the starter is a capasiter of sorts and the bulb holder well, we all know what that is!

Why would the light colour/temp change from one make to another.

I can except that if the bulb was wrong then that would make a differance but the electric supply to that bulb???

Pull the other one!

 

[macpegg]

I thought aslong as the wattage of unit matched that of the bulb and was infact a bulb that could be bought from an aquatic store it would be fine?

 

[Navarre]

This is not the post im looking for (as i cant find it) but here is some important info about ballasts and how they work alongside Metal Halide bulbs.

*Quote taken from Ultimate Reef

250w example:

Probe start: ANSI: M58, core, capacitor
Pulse start: ANSI: M138, core, capacitor, ignitor
HQI: ANSI: M80, core, capacitor, ignitor
EYE: ANSI: H37, core, capacitor, actually a mercury vapor ballast
Electronic: ANSI: none, metal box with wires

probe start will run american bulbs with ignitors built into the bulbs like coralife and venture bulbs. some german and euro bulbs will run fine on these, but without an ignitor, the bulb struggles to light and bulb life may be decreased. also reliabilty goes down.

pulse start will run the german/euro bulbs (ushio, AB, radium, etc.) these bulbs don't have built in ignitors, so the ballast has the ignitor wired into the circuit. the ignitor provides the high voltages needed to fire the bulb. you can run probe start bulbs on these ballasts, but the two ignitors may try to fight each other and possibly cause a fire.

HQI ballasts are similar to pulse starts in their wiring and ability to run bulbs. the output is a little higher which is meant to run the double-ended bulbs (commonly called HQI bulbs). people run mogul bulbs on these and they run a little hotter and brighter because they are being overdriven. this in turn shortens the life of the bulbs.

EYE ballasts are mercury vapor ballasts. they are similar to a probe start ballast, but the only bulb you can run on these are Iwasaki 6500K bulbs (because these are actually MV bulbs, not MH bulbs like most think). the ballast will damage MH bulbs if you try to run one on it.

Electronic. ahhh, the great electronics. these will run any bulb at the rated wattage: probe start, pulse start, iwasakis, DE (double ended-HQI). if you think you might change your mind in the future, get an electronic. you can change bulbs to whatever you want and not have to worry about the ballast being the wrong type. electronics run cooler (a magnetic MH ballast will burn your hand if you touch the coil after it's been running for awhile). they also use less energy.

 

[Navarre]

Here are a few more quotes on the discussion.

*Again, the quotes are taken from Reef Central

The tips of a tricolor acro and an orange plate are very slowy turning white over the past month or so. They are 3" and 5" below the top of the water respectively. The only things I can think of that are causing this could be from adding carbon once a month, turning my skimmer off for a day twice a week, they are too close to the MH, or that bulbs are going bad and are starting to burn these select corals (they are ushio 250 bulbs and are 10 months old @ 10 hrs/day). I have around 30 different species of sps in my tank and these 2 seem to be the only ones affected.

i have seen this happen to a few uk reefers, and the problem was they had a mh fitting but it was a high pressure mercury ballast which meant the blv bulb had a increased uv and par output which caused the burning in the corals. but just in the tips.
so i would check the ballast.

Basically. Although a ballast may fire up a MH bulb, this doesnt mean it ignites it correctly and you may find this changes the light given off. Mercury vapor lights with the wrong bulbs can give off high levels of UV and kill sps corals. Make sure the correct ballasts are used for hte correct lights... Simply getting hte bulb to light isnt enough )

 

[Matthew5664]

So as long as the ballest is the correct one for MH bulbs and not MV bulbs

And

You haven't got an ignitor if the bulb has got one.

Then you'll be fine

Just choose carfuly!

The only change in the light output is from useing the wrong componants in the first place! the same would happen to any electrical equipment you did this to.

ie: 12v computer fan run off 240v mains doesn't work

Think all you need is a bit of common sense and a good electrical retaler to guide you,

 

[macpegg]

if i were to buy the following listed below, would i be ok?

http/www.fastlight.co.uk/shop/en-gb/p_285.html

Also: http/www.fastlight.co.uk/shop/en-gb/p_118.html

i know it looks horrible, but will be placed under the hood. (its a big hood by the way )

thx

 

[Matthew5664]

that would be fine

With a name light Reeflux think it's made for the job in hand

 

[macpegg]

just making sure.. good good.

i might have to get 2 lots, considering the size of the tank. still.. it would be cheaper.