Am I crazy for thinking MH + t5 ?

Queen City Corals
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pdxmonkeyboy said:
hey there,
I just ordered a 72" x 36" x 24" rimless tank so I'm trying to decide which fixture would work best. I am mostly SPS and i am not a fan of tons of rock work.

I also do NOT like the disco ball look of many of the LED I have viewed.

i have a giesemann aurora on my 48x24 but it is not going to have enough oomph to light a 3 foot wide tank.

sooo.. i have been looking at the 60" giesemann MH and t5 fixtures. i am just really nervous about going with MH as man they can be hot and I keep thinking.. maybe I should be chasing the latest LED technology??

I wasn't really thinking MH until I watched a BRS video lately and man they light was sooo even and so powerful. One phrase stuck with me for sure.. "no amount of phone apps, programming choices or complex light cycles is going to grow coral"

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

System will be 300 gallon display.. 130 gallon fuge/sump in basement. thank you!!
Click to expand...

3 each Kessil AP700s mounted perpendicular to the tank. No disco or hot spot and they light a 24x36 area perfectly. That would be my choice. Good luck
 
BoomCorals said:
I had radions for quite a while, SPS grew like weeds for me and they were always healthy and happy. Same can be said about the SB Reef Lights I had, and so far in the short month I've had them, the Kessils too.
Click to expand...
Good to hear. I'm starting an experiment on another thread where I'm attempting to show that G4Pro Radions at 20k with a defuser will grow a Red Planet (or several) as well as a Radium at similar par values and photo period. I'm a MH/T5 enthusiast but in fact I currently run Radiums and Hydras and am seeing some interesting results that are suggesting that the problems I have ran into with LEDs is largely related to hot spots and nutrients. Regardless of the results Ill always run Radiums on my SPS tank - (that was killed by Irma but is forcing me to pickup the pace on my 525 build) - I simply love the look.
 
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jda said:
It is just more power. 150W HQI could cover that same 2x4 area at 5" deep with less than half of the wattage and probably get 300 PAR everywhere... 250W 14K Phoenix on M80 gets me 275-325 PAR in the sandbed on a 24 inch deep tank and 500+ up top (on an Apogee 510 without any correction factor). At 5 inches deep, that would probably be closer to 600 on the meter and with the 1.32 correction factor that is more like 800 under the reflector and maybe 650-700 to the sides.

If you end up not liking the power or heat, just remember that you choose to go with way more than you needed to, so include this in your review or recommendation - if everybody used right-sized Metal Halides, nearly nobody would have switched to other light sources. Also put in your recommendations that you did not drive the Radiums to spec if you go 250W. I know that this sounds doochie, but it will help other people to make decisions in the future... just like any light source, the fine details make all of the difference and people who used Odyssea T5 and don't mention that can affect decisions for people looking at ATI and the experience will not even be close to the same.
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I'm not going to blame a light for choosing the wrong thing. :) I always provide as much information as possible when posting reviews and PAR numbers so that people can understand the exact configuration used.

Jeremy Luke said:
That is so very true for the Luxcore ballast. For mine I realized it is best just to start from maximum counter clockwise and then count clicks to ensure I had the selection that I wanted. For Boomcorals though, he was using the Hamilton electronic ballast and I do not think there's a dial on those.. could be wrong though
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Correct, no dial on the hamilton one.
 
Centerline said:
I'm voting for a Corelvue Luxcore!
The "Selecta Watt" ballast work pretty good. I have a set of the 250/400s that have been running for about 3 years now with no problems.
Click to expand...
Right on!
Thanks,
Grandis.
 
Velcro said:
It's still not quite the same as a true m80 ballast. If i remember correctly the m80 drives the radium at it's spec of like 330 watts and the 250HQI is in the 275 watt range.
Click to expand...
Please let me know where did you find that info?
The reason I'm asking is because many people say different numbers...
I thought the 250HQI was 280W.
Thanks,
Grandis.
 
Deltec
On a related note, does anyone know what happened to the Reef Brite Apex controlled dimmable ballasts? Google didn't yield much results outside of the articles talking about them before they came out.
 
Chewy.com
Ok so the old hamilton is being boxed up and sent back. Today I installed the new giesemann fixture. Remember that I am using 400W radiums with 400w luxcore ballasts, running them on the 400w super lumens selector. My T5 bulbs don't arrive until tomorrow, so for now the fixture is only running the halides.

And all I can say is WOW what a difference. These lights are bright and fantastic. I am getting 200-250 par in the far corners and 300-400 almost everywhere else. And this is with the fixture a full 18.5" above the water! This is exactly what I was looking for. And for comparison, remember that on the hamilton I was getting 300 PAR at 7" below the fixture, no matter where I put the seneye. Well, 7" below this fixture I get 1400 PAR which is what I'd expect for a properly working halide. While I realize this is 400w vs 250w, I'd expect a 250w to still put out 1000 PAR at that level. So for clarity, it's very evident something was wrong with the Hamilton fixture and it was not working correctly.

This giesemann is a fantastic fixture, and my wife said she likes the look a lot better too. (happy wife happy life :p ) I noticed the giesemann has no active cooling so I'm wondering if I should add a fan or two? Although it has a lot of holes for venting above/below.

IMG_2981.JPG
 
BoomCorals said:
Ok so the old hamilton is being boxed up and sent back. Today I installed the new giesemann fixture. Remember that I am using 400W radiums with 400w luxcore ballasts, running them on the 400w super lumens selector. My T5 bulbs don't arrive until tomorrow, so for now the fixture is only running the halides.

And all I can say is WOW what a difference. These lights are bright and fantastic. I am getting 200-250 par in the far corners and 300-400 almost everywhere else. And this is with the fixture a full 18.5" above the water! This is exactly what I was looking for. And for comparison, remember that on the hamilton I was getting 300 PAR at 7" below the fixture, no matter where I put the seneye. Well, 7" below this fixture I get 1400 PAR which is what I'd expect for a properly working halide. While I realize this is 400w vs 250w, I'd expect a 250w to still put out 1000 PAR at that level. So for clarity, it's very evident something was wrong with the Hamilton fixture and it was not working correctly.

This giesemann is a fantastic fixture, and my wife said she likes the look a lot better too. (happy wife happy life :p ) I noticed the giesemann has no active cooling so I'm wondering if I should add a fan or two? Although it has a lot of holes for venting above/below.

IMG_2981.JPG
Click to expand...

That fixture looks great. My wife definitely likes ours. The Giesemann does not have active cooling but I don't think you'll need it.
 
Them sps's will be all grown up in no time
BoomCorals said:
Ok so the old hamilton is being boxed up and sent back. Today I installed the new giesemann fixture. Remember that I am using 400W radiums with 400w luxcore ballasts, running them on the 400w super lumens selector. My T5 bulbs don't arrive until tomorrow, so for now the fixture is only running the halides.

And all I can say is WOW what a difference. These lights are bright and fantastic. I am getting 200-250 par in the far corners and 300-400 almost everywhere else. And this is with the fixture a full 18.5" above the water! This is exactly what I was looking for. And for comparison, remember that on the hamilton I was getting 300 PAR at 7" below the fixture, no matter where I put the seneye. Well, 7" below this fixture I get 1400 PAR which is what I'd expect for a properly working halide. While I realize this is 400w vs 250w, I'd expect a 250w to still put out 1000 PAR at that level. So for clarity, it's very evident something was wrong with the Hamilton fixture and it was not working correctly.

This giesemann is a fantastic fixture, and my wife said she likes the look a lot better too. (happy wife happy life :p ) I noticed the giesemann has no active cooling so I'm wondering if I should add a fan or two? Although it has a lot of holes for venting above/below.

IMG_2981.JPG
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
BoomCorals said:
It's actually 300w

https://premiumaquatics.com/articles/radium
Click to expand...

Thanks very much!!

BoomCorals said:
Ok so the old hamilton is being boxed up and sent back. Today I installed the new giesemann fixture. Remember that I am using 400W radiums with 400w luxcore ballasts, running them on the 400w super lumens selector. My T5 bulbs don't arrive until tomorrow, so for now the fixture is only running the halides.

And all I can say is WOW what a difference. These lights are bright and fantastic. I am getting 200-250 par in the far corners and 300-400 almost everywhere else. And this is with the fixture a full 18.5" above the water! This is exactly what I was looking for. And for comparison, remember that on the hamilton I was getting 300 PAR at 7" below the fixture, no matter where I put the seneye. Well, 7" below this fixture I get 1400 PAR which is what I'd expect for a properly working halide. While I realize this is 400w vs 250w, I'd expect a 250w to still put out 1000 PAR at that level. So for clarity, it's very evident something was wrong with the Hamilton fixture and it was not working correctly.

This giesemann is a fantastic fixture, and my wife said she likes the look a lot better too. (happy wife happy life :p ) I noticed the giesemann has no active cooling so I'm wondering if I should add a fan or two? Although it has a lot of holes for venting above/below.

IMG_2981.JPG
Click to expand...

Very, very, very nice! I'm happy for you!!
What T5s are you going to use?
Yup, happy wife happy life!!!;)

Grandis.
 
Velcro said:
Let's have a contest, whoever gets closest guess of PAR increase from the T5. Winner gets a free stick???!!!

I guess a par increase of 75 in the tank after T5.
Click to expand...
I pass... I don't have a PAR meter and I'm not allowed to keep sticks anyways.
LOL!
Grandis.
 
Who is going to give the stick? LOL!
Picture of the frag, please...
Grandis.
 

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