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Unread 11/28/2001, 10:00 PM   #7
reefburnaby
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Posts: 44
Hi,

Bulb exploding ?

Okay...I guess it could happen. But the chances are...probably not. You have a higher chance of a HID (MH, MV, LPS) of blowing up since their operating temperature is much higher. I guess what I am say is that it is not that hot...not enough to boil water, crack glass...or the center brace for that matter.

The pins or electrodes blowing up...well, I guess that could happen too...eventually. It is no different from what Icecap does Most lamps are design to run for 10000 to 20000 hours. Most of the lifetime is reduced due to damaging effects of starting. This is where Icecap's special starting technique reduces the damaging effects. Since I am using a cheap ballast, we are going to see some damaged -- but this is expected for this type of ballast. Even if they last a year, at $3.50 CAD....I would not care. If it was a $20 actinic...okay...a little more costly.

Overdriving PCs ?

Yupe...you can try. I am doing that already for my 55W.... If you are interested in some cheap PC ballasts, you can check out www.fulham.com for details. Also, if you buy a ballast that is design to drive two PCs, but you only use one of the outputs....some ballasts will automatically overdrive the PC (by 20% to 40% the nominal output)

Why Do this (80W vs 4x30W)?

Well...why ? That is a pretty good question. Some corals require high intensity levels to thrive...something like sps or a fuji yellow leather. The light coming out of 4x30W is diffused over a larger area than a single 80W. Hence, 80W will create high light spots that allow some demanding corals to grow...while 4x30W would create an even lit reef.

The second reason is reflector design. It would be hard to design a compact refector that would redirect most of the light generated by 4x30W. A fairly optimum specular refector is in the shape of a M. You would need 4 reflectors for 4x30...while 80W would only need one. You could use the expensive URI tubes with internal reflectors....but if you could afford those...then why are you still using NO ? Why not MH ? Imagine trying to fit 6 to 8 reflectors under a 90 gal....it would be a mess But...good question.

End caps...Leviton Fluorescent Lampholder.

2X and 3x.
I believe 2x gives you 50W and 3x gives you 65W.

Ripple effect: You can only get the ripple effect if the light is directed at the water in one direction -- in other words, a point source. The fluorescent tube is closer to a line source...so you would not see it. Too bad though....

Hope that helps.
- Victor.


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