Metal Halides - Whats The Difference ?

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michaelwgroves

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I need to purchase some metal Halides for my 900 litre tank.

Now, I can buy an nice Arcadia 3 series for about £800, or I could buy 3 Single Metal Halide units from my Electrical store for about £50 each and put Arcadia lamps in at about £25 each, total £225.
Now theres a big difference in price here, okay the arcadia comes with Suplimentory lighting and it has a nice caseing, but I've already got 2 58w T8's I can use, and my tank is built in, so you cant see the lights anyway.

So my questions is; is there any performance benefit buying an Arcadia unit over a cheaper unit?

Thanks
Michael
 
I doubt that there would be any performance benifit from buying the arcadia over the units from your electrical store.

The only difference would be that the arcadia has a better finish, different more expensive materials used etc.

As you can't see your lights this shouldn't be a problem - i say go for the units from your electrical store, much cheaper!
 
The place to go is a "Grow Store" or a Hydroponics joint. They'll explain it a lot better than I can :D .

But here goes. The difference is the bulbs as in the light spectrum and wattage. Some ballasts can't kick high enough so the light bulb is underpowered and not up to full brightness. Depending on what you have (live stock wise) you might look in to "High Pressure Sodium". The key is to keep the bulb cool (look in to lots of vents and fans :good: ). Also, if you're expecting a 5 quid 75 watt bulb to do miracle you better wait for the second coming of christ.

Most electrical places just sell retro fits with a small reflector (if at all). Now these will do fine under a canopy or made in to a pendulum. As long as it's shielded and aimed down to the tank otherwise you'll burn your retnas :lol: .

So I suppose it boils down to how handy or comfortable rigging your own?
 
is this for freshwater use?
 
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So long as the ballast is a metal haliude ballast then there will only be one possible difference, and that is the type of ballast.

The arcadia one is most likely to be an electronic ballast meaning it will run cooler and more efficiently. The shop one may be a magnetic one that is a little less efficient and runs hotter (but equally may be electronic itself).

Other than that, there is absolutely no problem with non aquarium MH lights. I used a couple on FW for a year and have taken one off, replaced the bulb with a 12k bulb from our sponsers Pet Pirates and am now growing a clam and some SPS in my reef.

The big advantage with mine is I have a remote ballast, meaning I keep the ballast in the cabinet next to the sump with the light (obviously) above the tank. This helps prevent overheating in all but the hottest part of summer when the two computer fans on the hood are turned on.

If you aren't going to see the lights then, to be honest, the flashy arcadia ones are nothing but a waste of money. My lights are ex shop stock. £70 for two 150W ballasts and light units. I now have one spare and one in use.
 

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