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RE: lighting large tanks







>This is a big tank (and will be a lot
of fun), but to hassle with the
>ballasts and fixtures for 16 48" bulbs?
You may want to consider buying or
>building a hood and mount 4 or
6(=better 3watts/gal),  96w power
compacts.
>Even better, go with an open top tank
using 4 175w MH pendants.  There are
>a lot of places to find what you are
looking for on the web.

These sound like good suggestions to me.
You can also use 8' 800 series T8 lamps
with an electronic ballast but you will
have to build your own hood which has to
be factored into the cost. I think 6 8'
lamps would be a bit less light than the
6 96 watt PCs. These lamps are way
cheaper than PCs so using 8 instead of 6
is no big deal. The lamps are widely
available at electrical supply houses
and the ballast can be ordered from the
same place. To be sure of getting the
right ballast though you must research
the part number yourself as most counter
people will sell you the wrong ballast.
I learned this the hard way. The Advance
Transformer site is down right now so I
do not know what they have available but
you can have a lot of fun at
http://www.sylvania.com/ballast/cat/inde
x.htm Click on PIBs then select 59PLUS
(8' high light output lamp ballast) from
the drop down menu then select system
comparisons. Any of the systems will
work for you but check out the input
watts and the system efficacy on the
various systems. You will need about
45000 lumens of 800 series lamp light so
you can judge for yourself. The one I
would pick is QT2X59PLUS  with FO96/800
lamp (8' T8) 155 watts input giving
14040 lumens for 91 lumens per watt. You
can also make all kinds of other
comparisons by selecting 32PLUS (4' T8
high light output lamp ballast) or
whatever instead of 59PLUS.

Wayne