Re: [APD] Lighting a nano with a 5300K halogen

[Bill Wichers <billw at waveform_net>]

> I wonder if these are the same bulbs the europeans and asians have
> been using for most of their halide lit tanks? I'm definitely taking a
> close look at them for the new emersed setup (needs a little heating
> anyway, saves on a component)

I don't know specifically what bulbs the asians/europeans have been using, 
but I doubt they are these.  HALOGEN lights ARE NOT METAL HALIDE (MH) 
lights. Much emphasis there with all those caps...

Halide lights are part of the HID family which includes mercury vapor, 
sodium vapor, and a few others (and technically even carbon arc lights). 
HID = High Intensity Discharge, which uses an *electric arc* not a 
*filament* for light emission. This is a very significant difference, and 
there is a lot of confusion about it -- I have even seen MH and halogen 
used interchangeably or even incorrectly in some aquarium books.

> What I really wonder about is what wattage is needed to grow with such
> a setup, halogens are more efficient than incandescant, but nowhere
> near as efficient as NO flourescent.

And MH lights are quite a bit more efficient than NO fluorescent. I wrote a 
post a month or two ago that details several major aquarium lights and 
explains the differences, it's in the archives if you want some more info.

Halogens are very inefficient compared to any fluorescent or HID light, 
which is why they are rarely used for agricultural purposes (which is 
really what an aquarium is :-). For your emersed setup, you'd be much 
better off using a small MH light than any halogen, unless you want to use 
a small halogen as an accent light with the bulk of the "real" lighting 
coming from some other (more efficient) source like a fluorescent.

Sorry if this sounded a bit like a rant, but I think it is important to 
keep the terminology straight so that everyone knows what being discussed, 
especially since MH and halogen seem to be so frequently misunderstood.

     -Bill


*****************************
Waveform Technology
UNIX Systems Administrator

_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants