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Re: Metal Halide Lights
Dave,
Personally, I would use two 175 watt bulbs. You are correct in your
assumption that one bulb may possibly melt the center brace. It will also
cast a shadow and only give you 1.94 watts per gallon. Two bulbs will
eliminate that shadow and bring you up to 3.88 wpg. This puts you over the
mythical, magical 3 wpg. threshold. Two other issues you need to deal with
are: splashing may cause a bulb to shatter and inside an enclosed hood you
will need to deal with heat build up.
A fan will help with the latter. The first, your on your own.
Personally I like having the bulbs mounted over the tank. You do get used to
the amount of "spilled" light. I have three 175watt MH mounted about 12
inches over the top of my 180 gal. tank. I have a radican sword(?) that is
growing out of the tank and is sending out a flower spike weekly, it
seems.The amount of emersed grown plants from the spikes makes the top look
like a jungle and gives me a couple bucks at the monthly auction. Lisa also
has a couple orchid plants growing and a peace lilly from one of them stupid
betta vases is flowering.
Good luck,
Keith and Lisa
seeing clearly with 2000 watts of light in the family room
From: Dave Kotschi <dkotschi at mindspring_com>
Subject: Metal Halide Lights
I'm toying with the idea of putting metal halides over my 90 gallon
tank. I'd use an enclosed hood but I can't decide how many bulbs to
use. If I center one 175 watt bulb, I'm afraid the tank's center plastic
brace will either cause a shadow or melt. But a 175 on each end seems to
be way too much light. I don't want to use hanging fittings because of the
stray light issue. Any ideas?