[QUOTE]
Originally posted by glxtrix
[B]Heh, thanks man. yeah they are the Iwasakis, amazing bulbs IMA. I'll be getting new bulbs after thankgiving....hellolights will be having a sale
need that cuz these bulbs are expensive!! The third reflector should be coming in the mail on thursday
Hoefully sooner, I'll update a pic once installed. Here is another pic of the install from the orignal 2. I think I lied about the 6-8"....I forgot to measure over the weekend, but the reflector if I rmember right from when I build the stand and canopy, the bottom of the reflector is 7" from the tank...soooo I guess that would put the bulb anywhere at 12-15" off water??? I'll measure tonight to get exact numbers, I'm just spittin crap right now, lol. The bulbs are a lil more white and the right one a bit more yellow just due to age of the bulbs. They are almost at a year now and IMO they should have been chsnged out at 8mos. Due to their high PAR, they degenerate a lot faster. But I dont think I'll change from them any time soon. I use to have them over my 55, with regualr spider reflectors and never had a heat issue. Hopefully that will remain the the same with the addition of the 3rd
When the bulbs are new, they have a hyper white look to them, kinda like Xenon car lights....very crisp white with a nice hint of blue....stunning I might add! I'll be adding 2-48" URI Super actinics soon....that should make all my colors pop
Nothing like a VHO actinic! I cant wait to get the PAR reading from this thing, my clubs PAR meter is currently getting fixed, so hopefully after thanksgiving it'll be ready to go....should ahve the new bulbs by then so it'll be nice to see the numbers.
Hey glixtrix,
Tank looks great. If you are 7 inches off the water from the bottom of the reflector it should be 11 inches from the water. See what happens if you raise them another inch or two. You may be surprised to see some light on the sides that you never saw before. I have nearly the same dimensions as you and I am up 16 inches with the big ones. I can understand lowering them to 12-14 since they are 175w bulbs. I too looked at the 175w 14K Iwaski for my 30g cube when setting it up over a year ago. The par rating was equal to a lot of 250w bulbs. Looks like a pretty nice 175watter from your pics.
I am really questioning the need for VHO's. Do you really want to replace more bulbs which equals 220watts. I would just go with one more LumenBright and another 250w bulb and call it a day. In order to get anything but aesthetic light with the VHO's you need to be optimally 4 inches from the water with those VHO's. That looks like it will be pretty difficult with your canopy set up. I too thought I wanted VHO's over my tank but could not figure out how to get anythign but spider reflectors in and VHO's at the same time. I have seen VHO's hanging 10-12 inches above a tank and I ask why? You are not getting any usable light from them. Sure you can see them, but that is about it.
I did not think that a bulb could produce a true 50/50 10K/Actinic in a MH until I discovered the 12K Reeflux bulbs. These bulbs are all you need to get the color to pop in a tank. Take a look at the September TOTM and you will see what I am talking about. The most natural color I have ever seen from a bulb. And for photographing tanks I have never experienced such easy photo editing to get accurate color than I have with 12K Reeflux when shooting for the TOTM. Looks like swimming on a reef on a sunny day
If you are going to upgrade I would highly recommend 3 - 250w 12K Reeflux bulbs and bag the VHO's all together. Less bulbs to replace and your tank will be lit up like a Christmas tree.
