Old + New: Small Low Wattage Metal Halide to supplement LEDs?

[RMc]

I'm looking for low wattage halides to supplement LED's.

Needs:
40-75W Metal Halide
10k-14k spectrum
Compact Design

Concerns:
I've read that lower wattage halides are horribly inefficient. I'm worried that I'd be introducing more heat than benefit.

Does anyone know of any products that might fit the bill?

 

[ro_nicu]

last time i looked the small ones were indeed horrible efficiency wise, to the point of not being worth looking at.you might as well just supplement your LEDs with some more.

 

[evan.lundberg4]

I'm looking for low wattage halides to supplement LED's.

Needs:
40-75W Metal Halide
10k-14k spectrum
Compact Design

Concerns:
I've read that lower wattage halides are horribly inefficient. I'm worried that I'd be introducing more heat than benefit.

Does anyone know of any products that might fit the bill?

The best way I've seen to supplement LEDs is to add a couple T5 HO bulbs. Personally I would just add more LEDs as I've had good luck with them but that's just me. If you want to supplement you can easily retrofit a couple T5's, especially if you have a hood on your tank. All you need is the weatherproof sockets which you can get on eBay, bulbs, a ballast and a cord of some sort to plug it in.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[RMc]

That might be the way to go - I love LED's, but I've been obsessed with improving the spectrum and it seems like it would be easier to do with a halide or a T5 and keep the LED setup simple.

Any ideas on what the ideal T5 bulb would be to supplement LED's (heavy cyan/UV/deep red?)

 

[ro_nicu]

or you could make an extra string of led with those colors, all 3 are available in 700ma emitters and could be daisy chained.