Xenon lighting?

[dodo99]

Has anyone read anything about Xenon lights? If they would be appropriate for reef tanks... I don't know much about them, and wanted to know if their light output was good or harmfull to inverts etc.

 

[Anonymous]

It is used in high tech applications, such as medical lighting. PerkinElmer's Cermax is one such example. It is a lot more expensive than metal halide, and there is not really a justification for the xenon in reef application unless you happened to find one really cheap from a liquidation shop that sells used industrial equipment, and has no other use for it.

There is a large range of wattage and spectral output, but most of them put out 5% UV, 50%IR, and 45% visible. There is a major peak near the high 400nm range, so the color is not that bad for reef.

There are a few application in high end automotive, and they can be fine for smaller setups. But again, there are MH for that, and no real advantage that I can see with Xenon.

Note that I am talking about Xenon discharge lamp (HID), not the incandescent bulb (tungsten wire one like this :arrow: :idea: ) that is filled with Xenon gas that you can get for a few bucks per bulb.

 

[dodo99]

I see. Thanks. The ones I found on a quick search was those cheap ones. A few bucks for 20w or so. It just got me thinkin'... I'm still debating going for a 30" 2x65w PC lighting for my 29gal, or shell out more and go for a 175w MH pendant. Cheap Xenon wattage sounded interesting, assuming the light properties were appropriate.

yay@pipe-dreams

 

[mattstewart]

just do the MH, if you buy PC, you'll just want to get the MH later. Might as well do it now.