# single 400w MH on 240



## lemcc (Dec 19, 2005)

A friend gave me 400w MH ballast and all
I want to use it on my 240gal 72x24x31
400watts is just about the amount of light I want 

? Can I spread it over the tank with a good reflector? 
I know the light wont be even 
But I don’t want it to look crazy either

Other problem in the middle of the tank is a 5/8 thick 12" wide brace so this may help by eliminating a hot spot or hurt blocking too much light


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## Jason Baliban (Feb 21, 2005)

I cant see you getting enough light spread with that one bulb. Its a shame cause you hate to not use free stuff. 

jB


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## NE (Dec 10, 2004)

> Other problem in the middle of the tank is a 5/8 thick 12" wide brace so this may help by eliminating a hot spot or hurt blocking too much light


As the light from a MH lamp comes from a very small point, the shadowing effect is very great.
I have 2x150WMH and two braces on my tank and despite the two lamps i still get a quite noticeable shadow from the braces.


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## jgc (Jan 30, 2006)

While totally ruining the "free" part, I think some horticulturilists have mounting lights on moving tracks - basically to get more out of a single light (why have 3 lights buring at one time, when you can have one burining 24x7 and moving over 3 places.

From an aquarium perspective, I know of at lieast one Large tank (1400 gallons or so), that uses a simular approach to incorporate the changing shaded areas into its aquascape. The tank in question has 12 400 watt mh bulbs, but "moves" the light by changing which ones are on.


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