Halogen bulbs on my refugium

[MediaOne]

I just picked up two of these 150 watt units from Home depot (Canada). They are enclosed in metal and have glass in front of the bulbs. Is this going to be too hot and too much light?

The refugium is 50 gallons. They say they are for outdoor use and I have them installed and everything... but I am worried they might get too hot.

They don't have the LOA 65 watt units up here in Can.

Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

hi.
The 150 watt halogen bulb give off less light than LOA 55W. Other differences are that you are paying 3 time as much in electricity, and they are very good in heating your water to 150 degree F.

 

[MediaOne]

How is it that the 150 watt gives off less light than the 65 watt LOA? I have never heard that before.

I am worried about heating up the water too much, maybe I can just run one of them on the 55 gallon? That would probably be enough eh.

 

[monkeyboy]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by MediaOne:
<strong>How is it that the 150 watt gives off less light than the 65 watt LOA? I have never heard that before.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Halogen lamps are very inefficient, much of that 150w goes to heat production. Flourescent lamps do a much better job of keeping the heat down than halogens. That's why we spend the big bucks on halides rather than buying enough 60w GE incandescant lamps to get the same wattage. Not all watts are created equal

 

[MediaOne]

Haha, you guys don't seem to get my question.

I am aware that we use flourescent lighting in place of halogens because of the light output per watt. I understand that a 150w halogen is going to run hotter than a 55w or any flourescent bulb. My question is, again, how is it that a 55w LOA halogen gives off more light than a 150w? I know the 150w will give off more heat, but how does it give off less light and just more heat?

 

[esmithiii]

Jeff,

If I had you at my house, I would give you a quick demonstration. My kitchen has one fixture with 2 40 flourescent bulbs, and another with 4 60 incandescent bulbs. Thats 80W on one fixture (flourescent) and 240 watts on the other. Which do you think is brighter? The 80 W of flourescent. Hands down. The technology is dramatically different. One type passes current through a fillament, which glows and gives off light. The other excites molecules of gas in a tube, which all give off light.

Ernie

 

[esmithiii]

I just got your question... sorry I am dense... LOA is actually a flourescent fixture.

E

 

[pez]

Clearly MH and FL lamps are far more efficient at producing light over incandescent and halogen lamps. Which is why a 150w halogen light probably produces less total light than a 65 watt FL lamp.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned here is color temperature. Halogen lamps are about 4500K. Just want to make sure you are ok with that.

As for the heat, they will probably bake your tank pretty good. But it does depend on the distance from the tank. The surroundings will get pretty hot though, and you will be spending far more $$ to use them than FL lamps.

-Tom