what I learned about MH....

[segraves1]

got my 250Watt 6500K Mogul MH in today.......learned a few things....


1) 250Watts over a 20gal tank is BRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! guess my zoanthids will grow like crazy.... :-D

2) putting un-heat treated glass right under a 250Watt bulb isn't the best idea....within 5 mins (after the bulb reached full brightness) I heard a sound like metal strips being dropped together and found the plate glass had cracked right down the center......OOOPPPPSSSSS.....


sooooooo.......I guess the next thing to do is get some tempered glass tomorrow......

[dakar]

Gotta love those Iwasaki bulbs Makes critters happy IMO/IME.

You'd be better off eliminating the glass between the tank and bulb completely... a lot of light will actually be reflected off the glass and never reach your tank. If need be use some layers of window screening (not the metal kind) to acclimate your tank to the new lighting. Three layers generally seems to work well... remove on layer each 7-10 days to prevent an algae/diatom outbreak.

[segraves1]

so I can get away without anything? my only worry was possible water getting splashed up (by a jumping fish) and hitting the bulb....

[dakar]

How high is the halide from the water surface? I run ours around 9-10" over the water and never had any trouble with splashing. If a fish is going to jump/splash that high.... you need a bigger tank :D But you really don't need any additional shielding, the outter envolopes of the halides are pretty tough. In the spring/summer you will likely need some fans in there to help keep temps down, mabe now as well.

The only problem stems from the "When you have a stupid head, the whole body tends to suffer" syndrome... we have more than a few battle wounds from those minature suns we run.

[segraves1]

hmmm.....mine is about 3" off the water....hmmm...guess I need to raise it (it is at the height the NO fluorescents were at.....).....

[dakar]

I'd definately raise them up, fire it for a couple hours and I bet your tank jumps 5-10 degrees fast!. But raising them will also allow for better light dispersion through the tank as well.