You can quickly provide your marine inhabitants with a tropical environment inside your aquarium, without having to purchase expensive ornaments, by installing the 150 Watt 10000K Metal Halide Bulb - XM
Pet Store. Provided that you own the appropriate fixture for this special lamp, you will be pleased to see that this will do more than just illuminate the contents of your glass case. Unlike other brands, this has a double-ended design, which enables you to set this up more securely without using cables or suction cups. This is definitely a great substitute for minute bulbs, which are less powerful in terms of the brightness that it will radiate.
This lamp can emit a white beam, which is suitable for the creation of a daylight cycle within the tank, allowing your fish to bask in the radiance of this make-shift sun. If you want to provide your inhabitants with a 24-hour cycle to encourage them to breed and propagate, then you will be pleased to know that you can use blue phosphors to get a nighttime effect. This is quite durable, and it is designed to tolerate humid and wet environments. It doesn’t need a reflector because its light will already be spread evenly once it is switched on.
The 150 Watt 10000K Metal Halide Bulb - XM is truly a great equipment, which will bring out the best features of your
marine inhabitants.
The XM double-ended metal halide bulb offers good coloration and intensity. The crisp-white color will illuminate your tank nicely. It is very similar to an Ushio10,000K bulb but slightly more yellow. Actinic supplementation may be used to create a bluer look. This bulb will work with standard magnetic ballast, magnetic pulse-start ballast, magnetic HQI ballast or electronic IceCap ballasts. It must also be housed inside a pendant. It cannot be used with simply a reflector in an open application as UV rays emitted by the bulb must first be filtered with a UV-proof lens. An excellent choice for reef tanks up to 22" deep. on how the different Kelvin ratings appear and more information on metal halide bulbs.
Common questions/problems concerning metal halide lamps:
- Metal halide lamps of the same kind are different colors?
Metal halide lamps operate by passing an electric arc through an arc tube that excites particles in the arc tube. When the metal particles reach an excited state they emit energy in the form of visible light. It takes 100 hours of operation before the metal particles stabilize and become a consistent color. All metal halides require 100 hours of operation before color and light output stabilize. All metal halides inherently have a slight color variation between individual lamps. - The metal halide lamp fires and then either burns dull or the arc extinguishes?
Usually the ballast and lamp are not receiving enough power. Metal halides pull a high current. Usually the problem is either there is too great a load on the circuit or the extension cords are of a small wire size and can`t handle the power needed by the ballast. Use only heavy duty extension cords and try running a ballast off a circuit from another part of the house. - Do I need a cover shield between the lamp and the aquarium?
Metal halide lamps produce a large amount of UV and also have a potential of exploding. The single ended metal halide lamps have an outer jacket which eliminates most of the UV. However, they have an inherent risk of exploding and UL requires metal halide lamps to be enclosed. On double ended lamps there is no UV shield. Double ended lamps must have a glass shield or major eye injuries including blindness may occur. - Can I operate a ballast and lamp together which are designed for different wattages?
Each wattage lamp and ballast are designed together for optimal performance and safety. If you over drive the lamp it may explode and shorten the life of the ballast and lamps. If you under drive the lamp it will also shorten the life of both components and also may explode. Do not mix different type wattages of lamps and ballasts.
NOTE: Double ended bulbs should always be used with the UV shield (supplied with most pendants). You and your corals can suffer from excess UV radiation otherwise. The bulb should be handled carefully as well since it has no outer glass casing. Using soft gloves is a good idea to keep finger prints off bulb. This is during installation and replacement.
