MH Question

[Redfish]

Option #3

spend $125.00 on a hood.

Buy a 250 M58 dual ballast from a cheap source $125.00
Buy two el cheapo refectors (see below) $80.00
Buy two decent MH bulbs $108.00
Buy a two bulb VHO retrofit $150.00

Total $588.00

Sounds like a deal but here are the problems. You ain't gonna fit the two reflectors and VHOs under a 75 hood in any type of efficient manner. You are going to have to jury rig it which will cost you a lot of light efficiency and most likely coloration from the VHOs. Save up a little extra cash and do it right

This is how most people do it. I don't like it.

[Redfish]

Note: In option #2 if you go with the VHOs from the beginning, they really only cost you about $90.00 because you will only need $60.00 bulbs instead of $80.00 bulbs.

[megelBeagle]

Option #2

After spending $125.00 on a hood.

Add One PFO dual 250 HQI Ballast $210.00
Add Two PFO HQI Pendents $188.00
Add two Radium Bulbs (or any pleasing 14k-20k) $160.00

Total Price $683.00

Add the VHO or T5 later for accent. A lot of folks here will poop on this option, only because they have never seen it or had it. It looks fine. You will run your MH longer. At the end of the road, you will have a much better lighting system that is easier to mount, leaves much more room for VHO and T5 additions, gives you many many more future options, and puts more light in the tank more efficiently.

It will cost you an additional $150.00 to add two VHO's later (Workhorse ballasts).

I ran this for a long time and it worked great. My only problem was that with MH as only light source, you cannot just flip a switch at odd times to turn on lights. They have to warm up and cool down before restarting.

I think that's the way I'm going to go. Thanks for all the input. I'll let you know how it goes.