ya, i hear that mercury vapor is unusable spectrum, kinda green, i have one
that was using as a supplement to the 2 40w NO's, but now i just have 4-40w
NO's. Lumens in my opinion would be best way to rate, not watts.
especially when your talking about comparing different spectrums and
different sources. its basically lumens per watt when your talking
efficiency and economy and its all about MAX lumens in the proper spectrum
for those of you where money in not the main aspect in choosing. Lumens is
definetly the most important, and that it is in the proper spectrums. and
once again, Lumens per watt is only to measure efficiency, dont worry about
this, worry most about LUMENS, then decide wether your willing to pay the
price for the electric bill according to the watts.
wolfhedd

p.s. all metyal haluides and mercury vapors and high pressure sodiums from
home deopt and lowes are the improper spectrum for good coral growth, you
will need special coral lights, theres almost no way around this unless you
will settle for NO's, then if so, you can go to lowes and homedepot and but
the 10 dollar 4 feet fixtures, then go to the fish store and buy the bulbs.

wolfhedd


"Larry W" wrote in message
...
My 55 gal is about 7 years old now. I run 2 - 40w Actinic florescent
bulbs as well as 2 - 175W Mercury vapor bulbs. The spectrum of the MV
bulbs
are very close to a 6500k MH bulb, although they are not near as efficient
but much cheaper.
I bought 2 outdoor fixtures from Wal-Mart/Lows for about $19, stripped
the ballast and bulbs and mounted in my home made hood. Over the years I
have tried Iwaski 6500's which run on a MV ballast. 250W 6500k and 5500k
Metal Halide (which look the best ) However a 6500k MH cost about $60 or
more and a MV cost $10 and lasts about the same. I use the coated MV bulbs
which look better. I have tried soft corals and hard corals and have met
with moderate success with all. However I have found out that soft corals
grow the best, like shrooms, polops and leathers.



"Chauncey Gardener" wrote in
message
news:020820031042000786%Chancey_Gardener@removethi s.graffiti.net...
In article , Dave Johnson
wrote:

As another posted indicated, it's all about lumens (lux) Thinking
in
terms
of watts/gallon can get you a very broad spectrum of info, but the
actual
amount of usable light delivered is different based on delivery of
those
watts.

I'm not an expert, but- won't lumens be just an approximation of the
usable light for a reef? I thought the lumen was a measure of
available light only in the spectrum visible to the human eye.

Maybe looking at lumens is the best approximation available of how
useful a particular bulb will be in a reef situation--?



If you decide to buy lights online, check out www.hellolights.com I
got
my Ice Cap from Jeff at www.exoticfish.com (join their free club, the
ballasts

Also, www.ahsupply.com has the best prices I've seen on 10,000K PCs
(55w)- and their service is commendable.

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