Calling MH experts

[Skibum]

I want to run a 6500K Iwasaki or Horticulture equivalent over my RS250. I wanted to get the best ballast/reflector for this purpose. Here is my list of equipment:

1. LumenBright Mini Metal Halide Reflector 16x16x9
2. IceCap 250 Watt Selectable Ballast
3. Hortilux Blue (6500k Iwasaki) SE bulb

All of the above wrapped in a custom suspended hood with G4 Radions on each side providing the blues. I'm most interested in the growth the 6500k MH provides.

@jda interested in your thoughts.

Thanks!

 

[Abhishek]

Well am no @jda and not sure if we agree on all fronts of metal halides . Just kidding man !!!

However to the OP , you sure you cannot get the growth out of 10K and want to shoot for 6500K Iwasaki ? In my limited 12-15 years experience , 10K Hamilton /Ushio , XM ,Reeflux ( last 2 only if you can find on eBay ) with blue supplementation would be pleasing enough and give you enough growth .

Am not sure if you have seen Iwasaki 6500 and it’s not very pretty ! lol

 

[MabuyaQ]

I am running MH myself but besides a growout tank where color isn't important, I would not use 6500K bulbs. Much harder to make all species look good.
10K is a lot easer to supplement (at least with T5) and get good colors from allmost all species.

 

[JoshH]

Well am no @jda and not sure if we agree on all fronts of metal halides . Just kidding man !!!

However to the OP , you sure you cannot get the growth out of 10K and want to shoot for 6500K Iwasaki ? In my limited 12-15 years experience , 10K Hamilton /Ushio , XM ,Reeflux ( last 2 only if you can find on eBay ) with blue supplementation would be pleasing enough and give you enough growth .

Am not sure if you have seen Iwasaki 6500 and it’s not very pretty ! lol

Reeflux is atleast still available here in Canada he might be able to order from here.

 

[CNDReef]

If you have a empty 5-10 gallon tank. Add some of your water change water , a piece of rock and place it outside in the sun. That’s the color of the 6500 iwsaki bulbs lol
I loved xm 10k but also had 4 vho actinics on a 4 foot tank

 

[JoshH]

I don't mean to piggy back on this thread but I'm wondering for those MH users do you think 2 150w 10k fixtures would be enough for a 60" x 30" w x 17" deep tank with just LPS and softies?

 

[Elegance Coral]

I think your plan will work fine. You'll be able to adjust the color with the radions, and you'll be putting out a crazy amount of PAR.

Just remember, when designing the hood, the cooler you can run the bulb and ballast, the longer they will last. I'd designing it as open as possible, and maybe add a fan or two. This is one reason why most people run the ballast outside the hood.

I ran a 5000K bulb and two 110W VHO actinics on my first tank back in the 80's. I did "upgrade" to the new 6500k bulb as soon as Hamilton started advertising them in FAMA magazine.

I recently helped someone upgrade their tank. In the process, we placed all his corals in a bin outside. Some of those corals looked better outside under the 6500K-ish Florida sun, than they did under the bluer aquarium lights. Some looked worse though.

HTH
Peace
EC

 

[Graffiti Spot]

The reflux 12k and Xm 10k bulbs were my favorites ever. They will work with blue leds but a 6500k is hard to get any blue leds to overpower the bulb. Even the 10k I had to use 4 t5 and 48 blue LEDs just to slightly make the tank bluer. Maybe try it and see though, if you like it go for it the 6500 can pull some amazing color on some of the harder to keep acros.

 

[Skibum]

I'm perhaps one of those weirdos who don't mind the look of the yellow ;-). The beauty of it is that I can always change bulbs ;-). I'm designing an open air canopy (no top) that's going to sit about 12 inches from the top. Ballasts will be located remotely.

 

[Hot2na]

If it were me -I'd get the iwasaki 6500k,run it with the appropriate MAGNETIC ballest (m80 I think) and run supplemental led blue light bars..like the ones from orphek..(customizable also)..

 

[Skibum]

If it were me -I'd get the iwasaki 6500k,run it with the appropriate MAGNETIC ballest (m80 I think) and run supplemental led blue light bars..like the ones from orphek..(customizable also)..

I have a magnetic Ballast attached to a Cebu Sun that I'm not running currently. I'm pretty sure it's magnetic, large, heavy, HOT. I wanted to see if I could do electronic as they're more efficient and cooler. I have a Radion XR30 Pro and XR15 Pro that I was going to use for the supplemental blues.

 

[3dvice]

I'm perhaps one of those weirdos who don't mind the look of the yellow ;-). The beauty of it is that I can always change bulbs ;-). I'm designing an open air canopy (no top) that's going to sit about 12 inches from the top. Ballasts will be located remotely.

If you were just going to run the tank really yellow I'd say go for it with the 6500k bulb. Since you're going to balance it out with the G4 Radions thought then the large spectral separation between the 6500k and blue point light sources is going to give you all kinds of weird blue/yellow shadows and won't look great. I'd either go with t5 for the blues as it's more diffused and will blend better with the MH or I'd go with a 10k MH bulb so it's a little closer to the final lighting temperature you're after.

 

[vanpire]

I don't mean to piggy back on this thread but I'm wondering for those MH users do you think 2 150w 10k fixtures would be enough for a 60" x 30" w x 17" deep tank with just LPS and softies?

Previously, I had a similar sized tank (60" x 30" x 24"), and I used 2 x XM 250W single ended to light it. Had great growth. Given that your tank is shallower, I expect 150W to be OK. I would use as large a reflector as you can get.

I am using 150W Phoenix DE with an HQI ballast (ballast is pretty old) on a much smaller frag tank 14" high, but I am not getting as much par as I would like though. It is still in the burn-in process so I hope par will improve.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I like the bar route. This way you can make sure every led is a blue color. The nice fixtures are just wasting the white light. I like the cheap versions from 21led. They stack leds back to back in the bar and use optics, also let you choose every led color and with a decent controller is cheap. One thing is it gets hot which makes them ware out quicker I am sure, but I just run them at 75% and it helps.
I also like the slightly yellow natural look.

 

[Skibum]

I like the bar route. This way you can make sure every led is a blue color. The nice fixtures are just wasting the white light. I like the cheap versions from 21led. They stack leds back to back in the bar and use optics, also let you choose every led color and with a decent controller is cheap. One thing is it gets hot which makes them ware out quicker I am sure, but I just run them at 75% and it helps.
I also like the slightly yellow natural look.

I'm really just after growth and color initially. Most likely I won't even run the MH 6500 beyond 7 hours. The rest will be lit with the Radions for 5 hours (12 hour photo period). I'm running the Radions currently with 4 T5 10k bulbs. While I'm getting really good growth with monti's stylos and some Acros, I feel I can do much better. I really like the old school aquariums where colonies are growing out of the water, it seems you don't see that much lately. My ultimate goal is really not to keep acros, but to grow them to such an extent that I can keep an orange spotted filefish ;-).

 

[Hot2na]

electronic not good. especially on hqi bulbs..if you want the TRUE color and spectrum use magenetic ,as hot and big as it is...

I have a magnetic Ballast attached to a Cebu Sun that I'm not running currently. I'm pretty sure it's magnetic, large, heavy, HOT. I wanted to see if I could do electronic as they're more efficient and cooler. I have a Radion XR30 Pro and XR15 Pro that I was going to use for the supplemental blues.

Check out the orphek,trust me...you can do an all 420nm bar or a blue sky bar that would look great with that bulb...

 

[Skibum]

well, already have the magnetic ballast ;-). The bulb is SE. As far as the strips go, they seem pretty reasonably priced.

 

[jda]

That combo will work well. That could be near 1000 PAR at 12" deep, so go slow when acclimating.

 

[3dvice]

Check out the orphek,trust me...you can do an all 420nm bar or a blue sky bar that would look great with that bulb...

Yeah the Orphek bars are excellent, probably the best on the market from both a build quality and spectrum standpoint.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

OP your lighting equipment looks good. Icecap is my favorite ballast, dead silent and due to them slightly under driving bulbs at the 250w setting its gives a bluer look but your not going for blue from the MH. I would agree with the many others that a 6500k bulb is not the best choice and it will be hard to get the Radions to show much blue without cranking up the blue channel. Doing so will result is crazy PAR, probably too much. 6500k bulbs are very yellow almost orangeish. A 10k bulb would be a better choice IMO. Growth will be about the same between the 6500k and 10k.