Anyone retro a Hamilton from MOGUL to Double Ended bulbs?

[Doo]

I want to change my hamilton from 2 MOGUL bulbs to 2 Double ended Bulbs.

Has anyone done this - what equipment did you use and do you have any pictures :)



Thanks

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I think its possible but will your ballast handle the new DE lights?

[Doo]

No - I don't think it will work - I was looking at replacing it with an electronic ballast - not sure where to find one unless I go with something like this:

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/sl-mhbg252/Sunlight+Supply+Galaxy+Electronic+Metal+Halide+Bal last+%282+x+250+Watt%29.html

It would be nice to have it all fit in the original box that came with the Hamilton fixture. I would rather replace than add...

[Edmonton newbie]

seems like a lot of work changing your single to double ended bulbs being your a diy kinda guy have you looked into making a led instead?

[Doo]

I want to stick with the MH - Hamilton fixtures are good fixtures - i am not sure if I was doing something wrong with the way I had it...

I used 2 brand new coralife 14K bulbs (very blue) and I had a 4 or 5mm glass cover over the fixture - not sure what the problem was but my corals started to die with in 8 weeks...

My tank is 24" deep (top to bottom) and I am thinking that the Mogul bulbs were not strong enough...

Any thoughts?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

IME, Coralife bulbs are not very good. It's why they are so cheap compared to other bulbs.

Anthony

[Chin_Lee]

Its very unlikely your corals are dying because of single ended moguls. Single ended were used exclusively for YEARS by reefers and most people have switched to DE mainly because of space. I still believe (and IME) that SE moguls are brighter and have bigger light spread than DE mostly because their reflectors are bigger.

[Doo]

Interesting comments - what is the recommendation on the type of bulbs i should go with?

I don't want to go too blue - the coralife bulbs were way too blue...

[Chin_Lee]

personally i like the phoenix bulbs 14K DE. not too blue but blue enough.