On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 09:57:00 -0500, "RedForeman ©®"
wrote:

MH are more expensive no doubt but it isn't necessary to fit them with
$50-$80 bulbs. You can go to a lighting store and buy $30 bulbs. A
MH bulb has a broader spectrum and lasts much longer than a
flourescent bulb and gives much better results. I've had both and can
say that there is no comparison especially if you want to bring out
the red in any plants (no pun intended). If you can afford them you
won't regret it.

My only experience with MH is a friend who's a contractor, and a fellow
aquariast, who's been pricing MH ballasts, bulbs, etc, and he's found
several MH bulbs that look the same, but different intensity. For
construction they use the $35 bulb, for fish tanks, he suggested the $65
bulb.. the more expensive one, DOES have a wider spectrum, and more
intensity. The cheap bulbs are orange, or yellow and not a good effect at
all, and you'd be very upset when you got home to see the color...

The only reason I suggested PCF is that for the $$ sake, you _can_ do the
same with PCF that you can do with MH, but it will cost more. If money
isn't an option, then we're just shooting the breeeze about fish for
nothing.... :-)

If money is a concern then the cheapest way is to build a hood out of
pine,buying waterproof end caps, HO ballasts ( not the expensive
IceCap brand just plain ballasts) and use 12 gage speaker wire to wire
it,throw a Triton reflector on top and you're in business without
spending too much money. It works-I ran a setup like that for a couple
years before I switched to MH. As far MH bulbs go I've run cheap ones
for_years_.The last set of Corallife bulbs I ran came with the
fixtures close to 10 years ago. So yes you can run them and get_good_
results. Would I like the $60 ones? Yes but I can't see spending $120
to bulb my fixtures when I can do it for $60. BTW the cheap bulbs are
not orange or yellow you might be thinking of sodium vapor bulbs.
Take a look at the pic I posted on alt.binaries.aquaria