$75 metal halide retrofit

[sobe1]

Does anyone have the $75 metal halide retrofit from Aquatic Lighting Systems. I was thinking of purchasing it but first I wanted some feed back on the system from people who already have it. I would realy appreciate your opinion on this. thanx

[johnrags1234]

Its not worth your money. It comes with a 4300k bulb. It wont just be yellow, it will be greenish red! It wont provide good growth either.......hold algae.

IIf you are loooking for a good, cheap light I would get an advanced core and coil ballast, and a Pet Supply Liquidater 10k bulb. You can have the 250w set up for lesss than $100. Thats a good deal! I know hellolights.com as well as some hydroponic supply houses carry bare ballasts.


John

[sobe1]

hey John
I wasn't going to get it with the 4000k bulb. I was going to upgrade it to a 14000k or 10000k bulb.

[johnrags1234]

Still, it will cost more than you can get it from other places...


John

[dendronepthya]

That was the first MH system I ever purchased when I was an undergraduate. To be nice, I'll say that it works. It is the least elegant solution I can think of for your tank. You will see much more benefit if you saved some money and bought a more polished product.

[sobe1]

thanxs for your input on the lighting system guys. Maybe I'll look around somemore, to see what my other choices are.

[str8kickn1]

hey johnrags1234, you said that you can purchase a 250w setup for less then $100...can you send me a list of what I can get for that cheap...im looking for a 175w setup, I havent seen any prices that cheap yet...not even for used..

[mattboy]

I've been researching this lately, because I'm about to set up a new system with 2X 250W mh. Here's what I came up with, FWIW:

1. Hellolights has a ballast/reflector/socket DIY set up for $77. you buy the $47 bare ballast and the $30 reflector/socket on sale. They also have good prices on bulbs. ($89 250W ushio)

2. PFO retro kit from premium; $437 w/ushio 10000Ks for a dual set-up. When you do the math, this works out to be around $50-60 more expensive, if you allow for $50 or so in costs for building the boxes for the ballasts, cords, plugs, etc. That's just an estimate.

3. Shipping costs are not taken into consideration; but maybe should be!

4. It looks like, for my purposes, the PFO reflector may be better than the hellolights one, which looks like a spiderlight knock off; maybe it is a spiderlight.

HTH- Matt