# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Halide Bulbs...anyone using???



## scalare (Feb 18, 2003)

Just to see what success stories are out there, anyone using halides on there tank.... what type of bulb are you using? i am looking into Iwasakis for my tank and wondering if anyone else has used them and if they had success with them? thanks all!


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## scalare (Feb 18, 2003)

a big BUMP is in order.... lol


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## Jason Baliban (Feb 21, 2005)

I have never used them.....but I would love to. The single source of light gives you the ripple effect. I know that rohan uses them on his 180......he pics are really old....but it looks like his tank was growing like crazy.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/rohan.t/ 
I also know of a guy who uses a 175 on a 46 bowfront.....its in the AGA compitition....i forget the year. I emailed him once and he wrote back. Take a look and see if you can find it.
jB


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## ddaquaria (Nov 12, 2004)

When i used halides, i did use iwaski 6500 and hamilton 5000 together. 
I usually hung them high enough so that would cross in the center of the tank. If i remember correctly, i would get more emergent growth from my swords on the 6500 side of the tank.


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## scalare (Feb 18, 2003)

thanks Big D... you have any pics of your setup? and how high is high off of your tank? I am going to be about 15 inches. Any and all info from you would be fantastic! I am setting up a new tank (84x24x24 210 gallon) and looking for success stories.


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## imported_Creature (Feb 6, 2003)

If you haven't already read my posts, I'm the one that just started using the Coralife HQI pendants on my 24" deep 90 gallon tank. Success? You betcha! My tank is densely planted, more so than I've seen in most people's tanks. But the lights are only a part of the puzzle, as we all know. I have them centered at 20" apart over a 48" x 18" tank and 6-8 inches over the water surface. My lights cross a little lower in the tank, but the plants haven't reached that height yet and I have moderate light plants there. The good thing about pendants is that I can attach a guy line if I need to, to adjust the position of the light.


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## Drone82 (Mar 4, 2005)

I use a 6500K Iwaski in a 250W Metal Halide Prism Pendant. I have two 32W actinics installed for the PC bulbs. The tank is a 24" deep 42 gallon hexagon. The ballast is a magnetic, I've read they provide the best output, despite the fact that the electronic ballasts are much more expensive.

CO2 levels are 15-20 ppm. My plants grow great. My cambomba averages about a foot per week.

MH runs from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm daily, PC Actinics run from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm daily. The actinics kind of provide a "blue sky" backdrop making the appearance look very close to natural daylight.


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## ddaquaria (Nov 12, 2004)

> Originally posted by scalare:
> thanks Big D... you have any pics of your setup? and how high is high off of your tank? I am going to be about 15 inches. Any and all info from you would be fantastic! I am setting up a new tank (84x24x24 210 gallon) and looking for success stories.


Here is a group of pictures from the AGA that I entered back in 2002. http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2002.cgi?&op=showcase&category=0&vol=3&id=78

And here is my favorite tank that I had set up before I moved. http://www.plantedtank.net/donald120.html

I really liked having halides, but I have switched so PCs due to heat and the overall look in my fmaily room.


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## scalare (Feb 18, 2003)

Big D: It was your tank that i saw back then that inspired me to one day go Halide! NO joke! I can't wait now! you stated you used a "coral bag"in one of your eheim canisters--was that just some aragonite to keep up the alkalinity? thanks!


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## ddaquaria (Nov 12, 2004)

> Originally posted by scalare:
> you stated you used a "coral bag"in one of your eheim canisters--was that just some aragonite to keep up the alkalinity? thanks!


I used it to buffer the KH since I use straight RO with on/off use of RO/Right. With the setups that I currently have, I actually put coral into the lower part of the substrate. So far, i can't really tell if one is better route is better than the other.


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## eddielgonzales (Apr 23, 2005)

I am curently using a 400w hamilton tech halide 6500k. It puts out a whiter apperance . The iwaski is more yellow.My tank is a 150g planted and will soon have 16 discus .Iam running the halide along with 4 36inch 6500k t8 s on an ice cap electronic ballast. the t8s 12hrs and halides 6hers. the plants love it


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## scalare (Feb 18, 2003)

Thanks Eddie, glad to know about the hamiltons, i wasn't fully sure if they supplied 65k or not. the whiter appearance is definitely what i am shooting for!


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