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asonitez

Sleeps With Fishes
Location
New Jersey
Rating - 100%
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Ok So my lighting system finally arrived in the mail WOOT!..... its BRIGHT! I mean I understand now WHY its necessary to have a light like that for the corals. Moving on. I understand that MH lights have a certain nuances about them.

The BALLAST that I have came with my lighting system

2X 65 watt Blue Actitinics (Could Probably be better my current-sea 50/50 acitinic light is brighter IMO.)

1X 250 watt MH (Pretty Effin Bright)
4X HyperBlue/Aqua Moonlights (Absolutely Beautiful)


My light model is the Odyssea 24" fixture that I had to tweak a bit to get it to sit correctly on my Bow front tank. I'm glad I didn't get the 30" fixture.. It wouldn't have fit.

Anyway... My Ballast when I turned it on for the first time made lots of clicking sounds and the bulb fired after a few seconds but kept flickering for at least 2 minutes slightly before it settled out. I let the light run for a few minutes before turning it off. Upon turning the light back on again the damn thing took like at least 3-5 minutes it seemed before it sparked up and started to light. Is this normal for MH bulbs???? do you guys think I probably need a new ballast? How about the Acitinic bulbs. Should I replace them with better ones?

Now I can have any coral I want. I'm so happy. To make things even better when i purchased some live rock from my LFS for my sump the one that sold me the cucumber that killed happyending, mr krabs, and himself he gave me a frag with 3 orange polyps on it. I think they are zoo's but i have not identified them yet.


should i run the 250 watt + 2 blue acitinics full blast??? what kind of lighting system should I have? I just got a timer today that I can put everything on its own timer including the moonlights 250 watt MH and the blue acitinics.
 

fungia

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
it is normal, metal halide systems need to charge a capicitor to fire up a bulb. if you turn it on again too fast it takes time for the cap to have enough power to fire up. bulbs also flicker for a few minutes and then they settle down and burn bright.

what tank size do you have? 250 plus actinics is very good for 30-50 gallon if it is not too wide.
 

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