What Direction to mount my reflector? and Other questions

[asonitez]

I just recently purchased a Retro Lighting setup from another reefer dual 175 SE watt MH's with 4x 65 Watt Pc Atinics with individual reflectors.



My Question's are is how should I mount the Metal Halides? in the Canopy? I currently Did them the first way.

When reading online it seems that the reflectors I have are supposed to be mounted perpendicular (Second Pic) to my front of fish tank. However if i mount them like that then the side Actinics won't be able to fit on the sides any more. Another Problem I'm having is that my reflectors for the halides hits the side of the actinic reflectors. Should I cut my Metal Halide Reflectors to be Even with the Actinic Reflectors? Or Should I just Invest in 2 of these Reflectors from Marine Depot?

24" PFO Reflectors





Questions:

When Wiring my Metal Halides I Twisted the Wires together then put some Solder over it and then Heat Shrink Wrapped it. I did this to all of the wires that I joined together. I then covered the wire in Plumbers Water tight Tape.

When I FIRST plugged in my Metal Halide one side worked and the other side did not. I went ahead and used a Pair Of Pliers to Squeeze the lines together and after a spark it lit.

The person I got the bulbs from told me that the bulbs were (one Fairly new less than 2 months and one 4 months old) Both are supposed to be USHIO 10K's

When I blasted the bulbs 1 Looks a lot yellower than the other one.


Is this because:

The connection in the yellower one is bad?
The Crispier white/blue one is newer and therefore putting out the better light.

Two Different bulb Brands. Neither one broken in yet.

My Ballast is a PFO Magnetic Ballast. Its clean, In a Aluminum housing and does not make a sound. What could be wrong.
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[asonitez]

Anyone?

 

[mr_X]

if you see the light from the halides hitting the bottom of the tank evenly, i think you should be fine. i like diagram 2 to be honest with you.

as far as your ushio 10k's, i have ushio 14k in a 400 watt mogul lamp on my tank and it appears whitish yellow.
i would imagine the 10k's to have some yellow.
i don't think the different color lamps has anything to do with your wiring.

honestly, there is factor that you didn't mention, but i know you think about- how old are these bulbs really. if you had that information, the above questions could be answered more accurately.
it just seems like EVERYONE selling used bulbs only used them for 2 months :?

 

[Anonymous]

I like pointing the reflectors down.

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, I had a 350 that must built from laminated Starfire glass. The lamination tended to look hazy when the light from the 400w MH's hit the front panel too directly. I turned my reflectors and MH's so as to be perpendicular to the front of the glass. It helped. But it probably doesn't matter as much on std tanks. In any event, turning them perdicular to the front will tend to spread the light more evenly across the width of the tank.