Calling Dakar for Help with Lighting (or whoever else can help :) )

**Fatman** · 11-17-2006, 12:26 PM

Dakar had those awsome plans for the HQI 75 watt for his nano, I "borrowed' them and used them for my girlfriends nano too, and it worked out great!

Now I was wondering if I can place a 250watt bulb with the respected ballast for it and will it still run?

**dakar** · 11-18-2006, 09:29 AM

Thought my ears were burning up ..... and if you drop a 250w HQI bulb on that M98 ballast it will do the same thing.... BURN UP!

The ballast and bulbs must be rated for the same wattage, all sorts of bad things can/will happen. Now if you modifiy the pendant to accept a 250w HQI holder (I *THINK* it will just barely fit, I know a 150 will with a litte effort, I'd have to go dig out a 250 bulb and my pendant fixture to get some measurements), none the less if you can get it in there safely and power it with the appropriate ballast it would work, Though heat would likely become a serious issue with anything over over 150w without some sort of mechanical cooling. The design I used will drilling holes in a pattern covering what became the top of the pendant just allowed heat to escape by convection, but IMP that would not be enough for the heat generated by a 250. Pretty sure that makes sense...

**dakar** · 11-18-2006, 09:31 AM

Oh and BTW glad to hear that little 70w pendant on the cheap worked out for you.... it served my 10g nano very well indeed.

Let me (us) know what you are up to now, and maybe I can throw you a rope and get you hooked up.

**perpetual98** · 11-18-2006, 11:06 AM

IMHO anything over 150W HQI should go into a professionaly made enclosure just because of heat/fire issues. That's not saying that it's not possible, but I wouldn't risk my house burning down over saving $50 or so on a fixture.

**Fatman** · 11-18-2006, 11:13 PM

I guess .... if I add a fan and do everything clean I dont see why it would not be just as good if not better?

I got the 90 gallon together and running, and he was only able to give me one 250W MH, so only half the tank is lit. So need to start getting it together for another one.

**dakar** · 11-19-2006, 07:23 AM

Originally Posted by Fatman

I guess .... if I add a fan and do everything clean I dont see why it would not be just as good if not better?

Not necessarily, like Eric mentioned that's a LOT of heat to try and manage in such a small enclosure, now there are other enclosure type setups that are quite a bit larger that can be found at HD/Lowes and such that would be far better suited to it. The reason I chose that light was because the 70w HQI tube would fit in without any modification.

Originally Posted by Fatman

I got the 90 gallon together and running, and he was only able to give me one 250W MH, so only half the tank is lit. So need to start getting it together for another one.

Let's see some pics!