HOT!!!

It burns if I touch the glass of the fixture, in the metal work of the
fixture it is hot, but I can touch it,

My cheap fixture dissipates the heat amazingly well.
it have more surface for dissipation than most expensive fixtures, like the
heat sink of most computer chips...
but...
it can increase my water temperature ... In the winter (27º-28ºc ) my
heater is allways off..("daytime"), that is a good thing (electricity
savings), BUT....In the
summer, I get some problems...

In the hottiest days of the summer it can reach 29-30ºc (again "daytime"),
allmoust all my plants were chosen on the temperature factor ...
that is why I have an open aquarium...
....and because I want to see some flowers...

water evaporation keeps my water cool enough even for glossostigma...even
in the summer.

the perfect temperature for my aquarium is about 27ºC, I have discus... they
tolerate and I am allmoust sure that they prefer this temperature .

I bought (last week) 2 (5000 Kelvin) 150 W MH bulbs for 46 euros (1 euro =
1US$) each,
on a Germany online shop....
http://www.aquaristikshop.com/

the cheappiest bulb MH that I found on an portuguese aquarium shop was about
150 US$...

I had to resort to non aquarium lamps (4200 k) for allmoust a year...(25
euros for those lamps here in Portugal) and my plants did amazingly well..


I made a new topic with newer photos...(with my newer MH bulbs)
I think I did improve something...

Regards!
António Vitor

"350X_Rider" wrote in message
...
Here the ballast for a MH is nearly $90USD, and a 175W bulb is $110USD...
the housing itself is only $39 or so....

OUTrageous.....

but you can't beat the light output...

Antonio, how hot do yours get???


"António Vitor" wrote in message
...
yap for outdoor...
cheap!!!

but of course for metal halide....
100US$
(Here in portugal some fixtures could reach 1000 US$ !!!! )


"350X_Rider" wrote in message
...

Just out of curiosity, where did you grab your MH fixtures? They
look
like
outdoor Mercury Vapor lights.

I believe they are.... I could be wrong.... but a construction friend
has
them over his tank... and that's what they are, and how he got
them....