are these mhs?

[jpointer311]

i just bought a tank set up and this was in the hood- i didnt look at it until i got home, i have the tank for sale but if i decide to keep it what is left to make them work or are they enought for a 90 gal? are they worth anything incomplete or should i finish them? i also have a brand new 175w bulb as well. they also have 8 small fans built into the hood- is the enough to cool this lighting set up..thanks all

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff503/jpointer311/20110515141002.jpg

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff503/jpointer311/20110515141021.jpg

[RotaryGeek]

Yeah those are metal halide. Those are pretty good lights. Even if its only a 150w, you can keep some pretty good corals under those.

[James77]

They are halides, the reflectors are decent, but there are better ones. They are alot better than my first halide setup on my 90 :). Did it come with ballasts? 175w will work fine for a 90 gallon

[jpointer311]

no ballast:mad2: but i dont know if i am going to keep this setup... i am thinking power consumption... the bulbs say mb250 on them???? the new bulb is a 175w

[Wolfmann81]

no ballast:mad2: but i dont know if i am going to keep this setup... i am thinking power consumption... the bulbs say mb250 on them???? the new bulb is a 175w

jpointer - it kind of depends on what you want in the tank. If you want to keep SPS or clams on the new tank (even can foresee it in the future) then you may want to consider keeping the halides (you dno't have to though).. If not, then get a retrofit T5 setup which could work well. Unfortunately no ballasts, so you still have some $$ to invest before you have functional halides if that is the direction you go.

The fans would work well for their purpose. Depending on your climate/house temperature - a chiller is way more important for temperate control than canopy fans. If you go with T5's, it is certainly easier to control the temperature (from experience!), especially if you live in an area where it gets 80 degrees++ often.. Of course a chiller is an easy $500+++

[sheorchid1]

I paid $600+ for my metal halide light from Current. It lasted a year and then I had to replace a ballast, and of course the bulbs were $50.00 each. The next year the other ballast broke and of course I needed bulbs yearly. I got sick of that so I bought the $400 LED reef capable light from Foster and Smith. It is lifetime bulbs and I love it. My corals are doing excellent and it has been 8 months.

[Wolfmann81]

I paid $600+ for my metal halide light from Current. It lasted a year and then I had to replace a ballast, and of course the bulbs were $50.00 each. The next year the other ballast broke and of course I needed bulbs yearly. I got sick of that so I bought the $400 LED reef capable light from Foster and Smith. It is lifetime bulbs and I love it. My corals are doing excellent and it has been 8 months.

Both have advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is that LED's are EXPENSIVE (not sure how an LED set-up is $400) and they are somewhat unproven (hasn't been around very long). That being said, LED's very-much-so interest me, but I will wait until the price continues to drop like a rock (such as when plasma TV's first came out at $10k a pop!). Halides run hot, and the bulbs are replaced every 12-18 months (versus 50,000 hours on an LED bulb). When LED's for a big tank becomes affordable and the technology has been around longer, I can definitely see myself moving to LED's (would save me $$ on running my chiller also b/c of the amount of heat a MH produces versus LED's (another LED advantage).

Not sure what you meant by getting a $600 metal halide light. Is that the ballast, reflector, bulb, etc?? Perhaps multiple ballasts, bulbs, wiring, etc? That seems like a LOT of $$ for any single halide set-up. Yes, generally bulbs are $50-$100 depending on what you get. I have bought Hamilton Technology 14k's (I have 2x250W MH and a 400W) for about $70 on Reefgeek every 12-18 months.. I am always happy with what they have provided to me for the last 6+ years or so.

[gweston]

Halides work great, but the name brand bulb pricing is a racket. Far overpriced for what they are worth... but it is a somewhat captive market and they know it. But then again nothing is cheap in this hobby. My 175w and reflector is similar to yours. I have a single over a 30gal tank.

Check out Plusrite (search the forums). There are varying opinions, but so far you can't be beat for the price point. Think $20-$25 per bulb. They manufacture bulbs for the name brand companies (in China), so you are effectively getting the same thing without the name label. The co that makes Plusrite claims they invented the 150w DE bulb spec. If that matters. I have been trying out the 175w mogul bulb for the past ~6 weeks or so. Works great. The 20k bulb tones down to a nice 14k ocean blue/white after about a week. It is quite blue at first though. I have 250wDE's on my new hood to go onto a new upcoming tank. The 20k bulb is a nice blue/white and looks great with T5 blue+/purple supplements (ATI's). But I have yet to really burn them in over a tank to get a good feel for them just yet.

info:
175w is on an old magnetic PFO ballast.
The 250's are on new lumatec 250wHQI switchable electronic ballasts.

I suspect the elec ballasts drive them a tad whiter than mag ballasts for their K rating.