Home 400 Watt HQI Worklite have any useful spectrum

I have a 150 gallon 4 year old reef tank. I have about 500 watts of
VHO and a single 250 Watt HQI pendant. I have some very high light
requiring SPS which appear to grow, but tend to lose some of the
intensity of color over time. I am in the process of attempting to
upgrade my lighting, but in the meantime, I was wondering if a 400 watt
HQI worklite that I bought at Sears would have any useful spectrum for
my corals. I figure that shining this light through the side of the
tank will not hurt anything, but at the same time, I don't know if it
does any good either.

In Freshwater they advise againest putting light sources on the side of the
tank as it makes the fish think that side is 'up' and confuses them. FWIW
Dan


wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a 150 gallon 4 year old reef tank. I have about 500 watts of
VHO and a single 250 Watt HQI pendant. I have some very high light
requiring SPS which appear to grow, but tend to lose some of the
intensity of color over time. I am in the process of attempting to
upgrade my lighting, but in the meantime, I was wondering if a 400 watt
HQI worklite that I bought at Sears would have any useful spectrum for
my corals. I figure that shining this light through the side of the
tank will not hurt anything, but at the same time, I don't know if it
does any good either.

This HQI worklight, is it by chance a halogen shop light? If so it is a
pretty low color temp and is very ineffeciant. It puts out more heat
then it does light so I would not suggest using this at all, unless you
like extra heat and algea growth.

Kim


wrote:
I have a 150 gallon 4 year old reef tank. I have about 500 watts of
VHO and a single 250 Watt HQI pendant. I have some very high light
requiring SPS which appear to grow, but tend to lose some of the
intensity of color over time. I am in the process of attempting to
upgrade my lighting, but in the meantime, I was wondering if a 400 watt
HQI worklite that I bought at Sears would have any useful spectrum for
my corals. I figure that shining this light through the side of the
tank will not hurt anything, but at the same time, I don't know if it
does any good either.

I agree, a very low color temp, bout all he would get is heat and tons
of algae.

kim gross wrote:

This HQI worklight, is it by chance a halogen shop light? If so it is
a pretty low color temp and is very ineffeciant. It puts out more
heat then it does light so I would not suggest using this at all,
unless you like extra heat and algea growth.

Kim


wrote:

I have a 150 gallon 4 year old reef tank. I have about 500 watts of
VHO and a single 250 Watt HQI pendant. I have some very high light
requiring SPS which appear to grow, but tend to lose some of the
intensity of color over time. I am in the process of attempting to
upgrade my lighting, but in the meantime, I was wondering if a 400 watt
HQI worklite that I bought at Sears would have any useful spectrum for
my corals. I figure that shining this light through the side of the
tank will not hurt anything, but at the same time, I don't know if it
does any good either.


--
Ric Seyler