Metal Halide for plants

[andywg]

I have found a way to possibly source some cheap MH ballasts, is it possible to purchase a bulb that will halp plants grow? Or would I just have a tank of very well lit dead plants?

 

[Colin_BC]

Metal hallides are VERY commonly used for growing land plants, but they are also used for aquatics. Cheap places to find them are industrial light suppliers. Street/stadium lights that appear a whitish blue when lit are generally MH.

Do the MH you're looking at have a remote ballast (ballast is located seperately from the lights) or is it enclosed with the lights? Ballasts get quite heavy and hot, depending on the wattage. What size tank is this for and what power bulbs/ballasts? Keep in mind the bulbs will lose efficiency over time much like fluoro's. HTH

Colin

 

[andywg]

The ballasts are seperate, I was mostly wondering whether it's possible to get good colour temp bulbs for aquatic plants...

 

[Silly me]

You do get MH bulbs in 2100K 4000K 5000K and 10 000K. I can also buy a balast for cheap.. +- 10$ but a 10 000K bulb cost about 79$. it will not help you to grow plants well under a 4000K bulbs. since 4000K lights it used a lot its a little bit cheaper

Metal Halide lighting systems
There are several varieties of Metal Halide bulbs that will all run off of a standard metal halide ballast. These are: standard MH bulbs, MS bulbs, and Daylight bulbs. Here are the differences:

Metal Halide -These bulbs are high in blue green spectrum (which is needed to promote vegetative growth), with some red/ orange spectrum (needed to promote flowering). These lights lamps are used primarily ro promote stocky, lush vegetative growth.

Metal Halide/ MS - These lamps emphasize the blue/ green spectrum to promote vegetative growth. If you have little or no sunlight available these are the systems to use. MS lamps contain a 30% boost over standard Metal Halide lamps in the red/orange spectrum for flowering, and more lumens per watt (light output) than standard Metal Halide lamps. These lights are used for vegetative growth and can be used with flowering plants as well.

Daylight bulbs- are very high in blue spectrum (4or 5 k output) and also high in red/yellow. This makes Daylight bulbs an excellent light source for propagation and for supplementing HPS lamps.

You MUST make sure to use the correct wattage of MH lamp in your MH ballast, ie: a 400 watt bulb for a 400 watt ballast.

so in short. the Metal Halide/ MS bulbs is the only one's sold for aquariums since the prise is so high on these tubes you really dont want to buy the wrong cheaper bulbs..