Metal halide question

[Madman960]

Last summer I purchased a hydro kit off Craiglist. Came with all kinds of stuff. Including a dual 150 watt mh setup. It came with 4, 14,000k bulbs for growing coral. Every few months I go on Amazon and look for plant bulbs. Today I found some 150 watt 6500k bulbs. If memory serves, those should be about perfect for veg. Is this correct? If so, I would like to run a side by side comparison with the 300 watt total mh lights and my 1500 watt LED that pulls 300 watts from the wall.

Pros and cons please? Or if it's been done can someone point me in the right direction? I will likely still try the experiment. I have been having tremendous success with my led.

Thanks.

Madman

 

[DrPhoton]

Standard neutral temperature halide bulbs are sufficient for vegetation. Halide discharge typically produce around 1.2-1.4umols per watt. Your LED is probably equivalent to a 300w MH light. However there are large enough differences between bulb products that make any comparison difficult. If you buy cheap bulbs, you will likely end up with a sub par product. Stick with known brands such as sunmaster, philips, hortilux etc.

Have a look at my articles for more information.

 

[Madman960]

DD,

Your articles are above and beyond basics. I would not know how to apply that knowledge to my benefit.

Here is what they put on Amazon. These are 150 watt double ended bulbs. 6500k is the lowest rate I have found for the MH double ended 150 watt bulbs. The 14000k coral bulbs are $41 each and came with 2 new ones. I only paid $80-$100 for the entire setup.

You are purchasing ONE Piece of the 150W 150 Watt,6500K 120V XM DE HQI Metal Halide Bulb , 6,500K Coral Reef Bulb Will Work on a HQI Metal Halide Ballast, Pulse-Start Ballast or Electronic Ballast 10,000 Hour Long Life Lamp 6 Month Warranty Includes Free Gloves for Handling Features: 6,500 Kelvin Color Temperature The Best Combination of Color and PAR Excellent With or Without Actinic Supplementation Operate on a HQI Metal Halide Ballast, Pulse-Start Ballast or Electronic Ballast Excellent Choice for Reef Tanks 12" to 48" in Depth Our 150 Watt, 20,000K Aquatic Metal Halide Lamps are great for bringing out the coloration of fish and corals in any aquarium, while providing excellent intensity for growth, featuring the best combination of color balance and Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) quality available for aquarium and reef system lighting. *Operate on a HQI Metal Halide Ballast, Pulse-Start Ballast or Electronic Ballast Specifications: Wattage: 150W Color Spectrum: 6500k (Kelvin) CRI: 90 Luminous Flux (LM) 17000 Base Type: HQI Double-Ended RX7s Bulb Shape: T7 Life expectancy: 10,000hrs Ballast Information Ansi Code: M80 M81 M102 M137 Operates on a HQI Metal halide ballast, Pulse-start ballast, Electronic ballast Length: 5.35" GENERAL BURN IN TIME FOR SEASONING YOUR LAMP Recommended time for lamp seasoning is 100 hours this is the recommended time per IESNA standard LM 54 91. Seasoning of the lamp will allow time related changes in the colorimetric, and/or electrical characteristics to become stable. The greatest rate of change in the operating characteristics of a MH lamp generally occur during the first hours of operation. Buy Wholesale from the Importer. We stand behind our products and Guarantee Same day Shipment and 100% Buyer Satisfaction.

I check every couple months for bulbs and this is the first time I found any. I only check Amazon.

Thanks for the response.

Madman

 

[DrPhoton]

Thats fine madman

6500k is standard and best, higher values waste energy in the blue and UV spectrum. They may be useful as a finishing bulb, but not ideal for main vegetation. Double ended is less beneficial with halide discharge, they are more beneficial with sodium discharge technology. But they still offer slight performance increases.

Without knowing your LED i woukd say that metal halide is better. If anything the LED could be as good as, but not likely better.