lighting...

[twistedimage92]

well i have been looking around like crazy for lighting for my bowfront. its 36" light fixture. i seen on ebay that there are 175 w metal halide bulbs for like 25 bucks. cant i just get this, take the crappy fluresent light out of my light now, get a socket and hook this bulb up in there?

there is a few different 192 w bulbs on ebay, what is a good set?

 

[CoolWaters]

well i have been looking around like crazy for lighting for my bowfront. its 36" light fixture. i seen on ebay that there are 175 w metal halide bulbs for like 25 bucks. cant i just get this, take the crappy fluresent light out of my light now, get a socket and hook this bulb up in there?

there is a few different 192 w bulbs on ebay, what is a good set?

u should really get a 250w light bulb since they are common. iv seen a lot of 70w 150w 250w and sometimes 400w.

 

[CoolWaters]

or u can do what i did but in a larger scale

the cost was like...

$14 for the power supply
$.75 per heatsink (i combined 4)
$5 per LED (about...)
wires free from friend.

so about $40 to get 4 high power LEDs up and going.
the shipping cost was like $20...altogether.

 

[twistedimage92]

how many of those would i need for a 46 gal tank?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

You need a ballast capable of firing a 175w bulb to make it work.

I'd never step into full LEDs unless it was over a Pico. Other tanks are just to big and deep for just having LEDs to acctually do anything IMO.

 

[CoolWaters]

it was researched that LEDs penetrate deeper waters then metal halides.

but Cichlid-Man is right...even i wouldnt try something like that...46g
cuz of the heat build up and many other factors.

the one that i posted is going on a 3g.

btw if u know what your doing then a 36g tank would need 75 high power LED lights around 3-5 watt per LED.

 

[TRe]

it was researched that LEDs penetrate deeper waters then metal halides.

do u have any idea how many leds are needed to penetrate deeper than halides? *crazysmil

 

[CoolWaters]

do u have any idea how many leds are needed to penetrate deeper than halides? *crazysmil

to beat a 250w metal halide a 250w of LEDs should do it.

so about 50-75 LEDs which cost about $200 or more.

all in all LEDs saves u money since metal halides lasts about what? 10,000 hours while LEDs goes 5 times that sometimes even longer.

70% maintenance after 50,000 hours is pretty impressive...*SUNSMILE*