MH for 125

[clancaster23]

I got a hit on Craigslist, a metal halide 36" light that would go great on my tank. They say it's a "Sea World" brand which I haven't heard of but I have pics so it's real. It's a dual T5 with two 39 watt T5's, one on each end. They say it's not too old either, maybe six months. They want $125 for it. Would you pay that or talk them down some?

 

[Cathic]

Without doing some research on the brand I couldn't tell you one way or the other. I would do some googling, see what new fixtures of that brand are selling for, then make a decision on whether its a good buy. Personally you need the take into consideration the cost of replacing the bulbs, checking the ballast, etc etc. Some people will try to sell you crap on CL, if you can believe that =D.

 

[clancaster23]

Yeah, I have dealt off of CL many times and you do get the occasional oddball so I'm definitely going to be cautious. I offered them $75. Don't think I'll be going any higher than that considering, like you said, I'll have to replace bulbs soon on it. I believe a new one like that runs $220 new.

 

[Bifferwine]

I think $100 would be a fair price. If you can get it for $75, good for you!

 

[clancaster23]

Ok, just picked it up for $80. Everything works the way it should. One thing I noticed is it has power compact bulbs for the actinic lighting. From what I have read the halide is a 250 watt then the two PC bulbs are 96 watts, one on each side of the light. Now I have read that T5's are better than PC bulbs but considering that they are just the actinics, would my existing T5 light still be better for coral growth (four 39 watt bulb T5 set)?

And one more question, who sells the best MH and PC bulbs, reefgeek still the best stuff?

 

[Bifferwine]

Since the PC bulbs are just actinics, they don't really matter. It's the MH that's important, that is going to determine how strong the light is. What you got is better than the T5s.

 

[clancaster23]

Exactly what I want to hear, thanks ;)

I'll just mention that the MH bulb that's in it is a 10k bulb. I'm assuming that I want the brightness to come from the MH bulb and the actinics will determine the tint or color so I'm now looking for some recommendations on ewhat kind of bulbs to get to get that nice bright color but with a decent blue hue to it.