a very very strange lighting idea

[monsterberry]

hi guys
im back agen yes agen well as most of yous no i have loads of fish but im no expert on reef lighting all i no is leds, t5s and metal halids are used and are very afficent at lighting the aquarium for corals but what really pess me off is the price of metal halids and the price of t5s when you start getting into bigger fixtures and more of them well im not a person for spending 700 800 houndred on lighting but if the worst comes to the worst ill get them off ebay for much cheaper but i was feeding my tegu today and had a superb idea SPOT LIGHTS ive come up with this simple paint plan of what i was thinking of doing using 150 watt spot light bulbs now ive added it up and all together their would be around 15 houndred watts of light

its really pritty simple and i was thinking with some cooling fans to extract warm air would this work as lighting for a reef

thanks and sorry if it sounds stupid

 

[chefjamesscott]

What I wonder is what the spectrum of light is that you would yield with that.

I am no expert, but I think the bulbs that are used for normal fixtures are set up to emit certain qualities that a spot light bulb can not. I think it is about more than the wattage of the light involved, I think it is about what the light involved does.

Will see what others more experienced have to say

 

[Heathd]

With the right spectrum you could do softies up to LPS, but not sps.

However, the heat (even with the fans) and corresponding power bill would be outrageous.

 

[nonstophoops]

With the right spectrum you could do softies up to LPS, but not sps.

However, the heat (even with the fans) and corresponding power bill would be outrageous.

I second that. Bills probably would be crazy. The electric bills are really what is more expensive than the fixture itself that you would buy.

I think the kelvin rating of those bulbs would have to be very high if possible. You could probably get up to 6700 kelvin for them. That would be enough to grow corals as that is approximately the rating of the sun. The problem is the look would be very yellow and you wouldn't have good color in the corals at all.

 

[monsterberry]

thanks for the replys right so it would prob be a wast of time and money then as i dont want a yellow look ok can yous give me any ideas on lighting that could be done on the cheap i dont want to go down the route of t5s and metal halid if possible as they really are quite expensive when it comes to lighting a 8ftx1ftx1ft ive orderd the tank but just trying to figure out a cheap lighting plan i can easily make a canopy and reflector but does any one have any ideas on what the actual fixture is in a metal halid as i would be happy to wire my own lighting

thanks

 

[FLESHY]

You can buy different bulbs to not get the yellow look. I think by the time you build all this though you will be out more than if you got some nice pendants and some 400w halides.