Hydroponic Lights
- Thread starter Luca
- Start date
yep hydro lighting is basicly metal halide.i have seen a few custom cf/mh setups i've seen a few high pressure sodium lamps,but those are real high consumption lights,but the majority are mh.
i think i could be an effective way to light a tank,it's all dependant of prices.there are a few stores localy and their prices vary greatly,so check around.hydroponics stores can have all kinds of neat things for your tank,they just don't sell them for fish.
i think i could be an effective way to light a tank,it's all dependant of prices.there are a few stores localy and their prices vary greatly,so check around.hydroponics stores can have all kinds of neat things for your tank,they just don't sell them for fish.
Hey CFM, thanks for the additional info. I'm stoked that I am able to use them, I have 160W of lighting with 4 aquarium bulbs which cost me $350NZ ($225US roughly). Just having a leisurely browse on my local hydroponic's website finds 400W kitsets starting at $195NZ ($120 US). There's also cool stuff like light spreaders and adjust-a-shades woooohoooooooo 
They also have high pressure sodium lamps, are they better than MH?
Cheers
They also have high pressure sodium lamps, are they better than MH?
Cheers
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I believe MH are a lot better than high-pressure sodium. I have heard people say the sodium lights aren't good for plants. A lot of marine people use MH for their tanks. Our local hydroponics store sometimes has used MH fixtures for sale, too.
From what I understand, heat can be a problem with MH, so unless you do a pendant fixture, you will need some kind of fan system.
From what I understand, heat can be a problem with MH, so unless you do a pendant fixture, you will need some kind of fan system.
I don't understand how HPS could not be good for growing plants because isn't the purpose of MH and HPS to grow plants?
My local actually has more HPS than MH. On the product descriptions, for one of the HPS lights it contains the statement: This light unit is ideal for those gardeners that have a growing area of up to 1 square metre and want a lamp that will provide optimum results in all stages of plant growth.
But then the metal halide ones all say: This light unit is ideal for a mother plant or for bringing up cuttings. Which kind of doesn't sound as good as the HPS "optimum results in all stages..."
My local actually has more HPS than MH. On the product descriptions, for one of the HPS lights it contains the statement: This light unit is ideal for those gardeners that have a growing area of up to 1 square metre and want a lamp that will provide optimum results in all stages of plant growth.
But then the metal halide ones all say: This light unit is ideal for a mother plant or for bringing up cuttings. Which kind of doesn't sound as good as the HPS "optimum results in all stages..."
hps doesn't generaly have as high of a kelvin rating,mh comes in at 10,000k whereas hps is usualy rated at 3-5500k,also the electricty used is tremendous,hps is really impractical more than unuseable,unless you where devoting it to a fishroom.i haven't played with any of these things in years,so technology may have changed,so i coulb be wrong though.if your really interested,go ask you dealer to fire and hps up and see if you would be comforable with one of those in your house
10 000K would be really blue wouldn't it? The low 3000K is red/yellow apparently. I don't want my freshwater tank to look marine with a high blue sheen. I've also heard (and witnessed) that a blue light (maybe the one i saw was a specialised marine bulb) can cause a lot of algae. The 15 gal tank i saw was absolutely covered in black beard and other algae running a normal and a blue fluroescent.
Just for information, the research I've done since indicates HPS is best for flowering and MH is best for vegetative stages of plant growth (the sort we're interested in for aquariums).
So essentially, it appears MH is the way to go because they provide the full spectrum of light that is ideal for our purposes. I am just wondering if it will be a daylight kind of shine or a blue-light kind of shine.
Cheers
Just for information, the research I've done since indicates HPS is best for flowering and MH is best for vegetative stages of plant growth (the sort we're interested in for aquariums).
So essentially, it appears MH is the way to go because they provide the full spectrum of light that is ideal for our purposes. I am just wondering if it will be a daylight kind of shine or a blue-light kind of shine.
Cheers
^^^ There are different Kelvin ratings of MH bulbs. From what I have seen they range from 5500K to 10000K. The Kelvin rating is nothing to be worried about. It does not effect the type of plant growth as it is not an indication of the spectral output of the bulb. Kelvin as far as lighting goes is just a way of telling what color the light looks like to the human eye.