DIY halide setup

[PPBlimpy]

Found these fixtures locally for $10 each. Going to check them out tomorrow.

They currently house halogen bulbs and ballast.

I am thinking about picking up 5 of them and start collecting what I need to put them over 2 tanks. My 300g shallow 96X30X24 TALL currently has mixed LEDs and want to upgrade but I miss the old halides and always have the pull to go back to them.

And also setting up a 45g frag tank 48 x 24 x9 tall and need lighting for it so I will probably start with one.

I am hoping the socket is the same.
Will need to locate ballast and bulbs.
Looking at aquabright 175w 14k


Tank is lps/softie.

What do you all think

 

[Rocks reef]

I think they would work as long as you have compatible ballasts.

 

[PPBlimpy]

I think they would work as long as you have compatible ballasts.

Looking at ballast options now. May go standard tappable industrial units. Finding electronic for 175 or 250 is expensive. 400w electronics can be found on amazon for cheap because they are still used in hydroponics.

I can get ballast, mount and mogul socket for $65 on amazon.

Would be into it each light for $145. Not a horrible way to light the frag tank and make sure I like the outcome before I decide to put 4 above my 300g.

 

[Rocks reef]

They do sell selectable wattage ballasts that go between 250-400. I have seen some that have 175-400.

I think you got a solid deal on those! I wish I could find something like that around me.

 

[BeanAnimal]

@PaulErik

 

[Rocks reef]

Amazon.com

This one is 150-400. You may be better off in going with 250W halide bulbs since your big tank is 24" deep. On the shallow tank, you could always raise the light fixture higher. 175W bulbs may not have enough punch to get down to the bottom of the 24" tank.

 

[PPBlimpy]

Amazon.com

This one is 150-400. You may be better off in going with 250W halide bulbs since your big tank is 24" deep. On the shallow tank, you could always raise the light fixture higher. 175W bulbs may not have enough punch to get down to the bottom of the 24" tank.

You might be right, especially since I do not know how well these reflectors will work / distribute light.

the only real cost difference between 175 and 250 will come as a monthly bill. But probably still comparable then my plan of running 8 x 140w led k7 pros. and will help head my house in the winter . lol

I saw that one earlier but didn’t see it was selectable. Defiantly the way to go! Thank you

 

[Rocks reef]

The electric bill thing ...

8 x 140w LEDs = 1140 watts
4 x 250w halide = 1000 watts... or 1250 watts if you run 5 of them on the 8 foot tank. You won't see the 'savings'
of 110 watts a month between the two. You will, however, see better growth and color if you chose MH.

LEDs put out quite a bit of heat as well. I know when my arm gets close to my Kessils... also my Meridian. Feels about the same as my 250w reefbrite MH.

There's quite a bit of misleading information about MH vs. LED. Most people who hate on MH have never ran them, they are only repeating information they have read or heard.

 

[PPBlimpy]

Amazon.com

This one is 150-400. You may be better off in going with 250W halide bulbs since your big tank is 24" deep. On the shallow tank, you could always raise the light fixture higher. 175W bulbs may not have enough punch to get down to the bottom of the 24" tank.

The electric bill thing ...

8 x 140w LEDs = 1140 watts
4 x 250w halide = 1000 watts... or 1250 watts if you run 5 of them on the 8 foot tank. You won't see the 'savings'
of 110 watts a month between the two. You will, however, see better growth and color if you chose MH.

LEDs put out quite a bit of heat as well. I know when my arm gets close to my Kessils... also my Meridian. Feels about the same as my 250w reefbrite MH.

There's quite a bit of misleading information about MH vs. LED. Most people who hate on MH have never ran them, they are only repeating information they have read or heard.

Oh I loved my old halides. Never been happy with LED.

 

[Rocks reef]

Same. Don't get me wrong, they do make some great LEDs. However, they don't compare to T5 and they are no near a good MH halide setup. The marketing and certain companies being swayed to stop selling MH equipment is one of the main reasons MH is not as common.

 

[Minifoot77]

I have a couple ballast I won't be using.. ice cap i believe I can take pics when I get home 250w

 

[PPBlimpy]

I have a couple ballast I won't be using.. ice cap i believe I can take pics when I get home 250w

I would be interested

 

[PPBlimpy]

Same. Don't get me wrong, they do make some great LEDs. However, they don't compare to T5 and they are no near a good MH halide setup. The marketing and certain companies being swayed to stop selling MH equipment is one of the main reasons MH is not as common.

i have ran old 16" SB reeflight (black boxes), g4 radion xr30pros and noopsyche k7s. I replaced the radions with the noops, I think the noops and radions are comparable when it comes to power and growing corals, yes the radions app is nicer and has more bells. except noops are 1/4 the price

I actually really like the SBreeflights, they were stupid simple and everything thrived.

I will probably keep the noops on the 300 if his halide experiment works and use them to supplement and fine tune to compliment the halides. mostly running blue and lower power.

we will see

 

[BeanAnimal]

A watt is a watt. Where the heat goes differs, but for our purposes, it doesn’t matter. Visible light enters the tank. Metal halides heat the room primarily via near-IR radiation (which doesn't penetrate water), while LEDs dump waste heat into the room through their heatsinks.

An HQI halide runs around ~100 lumens per watt and produces a broad, continuous spectrum. Yes, some of that energy is outside the useful PUR range, but the spectral coverage is excellent. There are no gaps!

A modern reef LED fixture might include some white emitters capable of 150–200 lm/W, but most of the colored emitters (which dominate the output) -- royal blue, deep blue, violet -- operate at just 20–50 lm/W.


- MH wastes power in unneeded parts of the spectrum.
- LEDs waste power through low luminous efficiency, even reef dominant wavelengths.

In terms of total lumens per watt, MH wins.
In terms of PUR-focused output per watt, LEDs may be more targeted, but....

The real debate is whether LEDs are omitting critical spectral peaks that give MH an arguably clear edge in coral coloration and growth.

Make sense?

 

[PPBlimpy]

A watt is a watt. Where the heat goes differs, but for our purposes, it doesn’t matter. Visible light enters the tank. Metal halides heat the room primarily via near-IR radiation (which doesn't penetrate water), while LEDs dump waste heat into the room through their heatsinks.

An HQI halide runs around ~100 lumens per watt and produces a broad, continuous spectrum. Yes, some of that energy is outside the useful PUR range, but the spectral coverage is excellent. There are no gaps!

A modern reef LED fixture might include some white emitters capable of 150–200 lm/W, but most of the colored emitters (which dominate the output) -- royal blue, deep blue, violet -- operate at just 20–50 lm/W.


- MH wastes power in unneeded parts of the spectrum.
- LEDs waste power through low luminous efficiency, even reef dominant wavelengths.

In terms of total lumens per watt, MH wins.
In terms of PUR-focused output per watt, LEDs may be more targeted, but....

The real debate is whether LEDs are omitting critical spectral peaks that give MH an arguably clear edge in coral coloration and growth.

Make sense?

Yes it does. appreciate the details. I was out of the hobby 18 years. Shut down my big, 180 shallow 96x24x18 mixed reef tank in 2004. Went cold turkey, shut it down and sold everything and didn't keep up with the hobby after. I was 21 and had my second child on the way. anyways It had 4 x 14k 250w MH, 440w VHO actinic and T5s running on the tank. When I got back into this about 1.5 years ago everything was different and can't get away from how I miss the halides. I don't get the same feeling with LED.

Anyways I am rambling. looking forward to this experiment. appreciate the wisdom!

 

[BeanAnimal]

Bottom line - I don't think LED are any more efficient in our use case and I think they are arguably lacking in spectral balance. What you do get is the ability to control them. You can ramp them up and down, change the spectrum for different viewing hours, etc. Halides are ON or OFF :)

 

[PPBlimpy]

yep, I don't mind on and off. I like simple. Never bothered my fish. i used to ramp my old tank by having the 4 lights on separate analog timers. From left to right they would turn on 15 minutes after the previous, burn for 10hr each and shut down in the same order. Had dividers in between the lights to lessen light spill between them. By the time the first bulb was fully up to temp and burning hot the next was already coming up.

I was young and thought it was neat. Was not needed but that is how I had sun rise and sunset. Would actually probably do this again just for nostalgia

 

[BeanAnimal]

I built a linear actuator and block and tackle that lowered and raised the frame for sunrise and sunset. I never finished the code though. I also designed an arced track that would simulate the path of the sun. Never followed through though. Too many idea, not enough time are energy.

I don't care for LEDs that much, but they are easy to simulate sunrise and sunset -- which pleases me :)

 

[PPBlimpy]

one or two 400w MH moving on an arched track mounted 2+ ft above would be pretty cool.

supplement with T5 or something for longer viewing but have that intensity as the sun moves by.

 

[oreo54]

Bottom line - I don't think LED are any more efficient in our use case and I think they are arguably lacking in spectral balance. What you do get is the ability to control them. You can ramp them up and down, change the spectrum for different viewing hours, etc. Halides are ON or OFF :)

Current LEDs are way more efficient than mh's/t5.
HPS are a different story
If you go by lumens ( which is a pointless metric for blue centric lighting) white LEDs are exceeding 150 lumens/ watt.
Since that lumen rating is brought to you by the mW efficiency of their royal blue emitter well what can I say.
Even the lowest of the " good ones" at least equal mh's at 100L/W.
All approx.
Again though lumen rating is THE WORST metric to use to compare lights
It's biased to green and underreports blue/red photon counts.

In delivery efficiency ( reflector losses ect)
there is no contest
Don't understand it but in ANY OTHER use LEDs were " equal" at around 1w led = 2w t5 at the least.

The Quasar 630 Led 3.2 mmol/J by Cultilite is a full-spectrum 630W lamp with 3.2 µmol/J efficiency and Samsung diodes

Until 2014, the most effective horticultural LED fixtures were similarly effective as the most effective conventional fixture, the double-ended high-pressure sodium with an electronic ballast. Both had efficacies of around 1.7 μmol∙J⁻¹. The technology of LEDs has significantly advanced since then, as has the transparency and rigor of LED performance metrics specific to horticultural lighting.

That's their reason ( mostly, equal or greater efficacy, currently yea not so much in the past) to exist in the first place.
Add longevity ( proper design) and controllability well you get it.

Spectral balance ..open to interpretation and subject to actual proof

As to " color" ask yourself this " What is the real color"?
Is the mh color the same as in the ocean?
Bottom line color is also subjective.
And spectrum or intensity?