Halides

[Turd Ferguson]

I’ve decided to go back to halides, this time a pendant light over a 40g cube. Years back when I last ran MH I had a much larger tank and was not concerned about too much light...my question is would 250w be too bright, possible negative affecting corals, or should I look at 150w DE ?

not concerned about heat, just wondering if with a small tank, the corals may find 250w (14k), too much ?

thanks

 

[Bpb]

Depends a lot on which reflector, what your livestock goals are, and how high you’ll be mounting.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Thanks, I’d probably start about 15-18 inches from the top, and lower a couple inches as the tank adjusts to the transition. Keeping mostly stonies.

 

[Bpb]

If you choose something like a Hamilton reflector or a reef brite, I don’t imagine you’d have any problems with 250 watt bulbs. The lumen bright mini reflector I think would be too focused for your application. They are to halides like black boxes are to leds in terms of light distribution characteristics. You’ll put 500 par down on the sandbed 36” away from the bulb....but travel even 1” outside the primary light cylinder and it’ll drop to 100 or less. They’re like laser beam type reflectors. Should you opt for one of those, I’d strongly recommend trying to see if they have a 150 watt option. I don’t know if they do. I’ve only seen them in 250/400 watt varieties. I’d really opt for one of the other options though. Far more manageable and even distribution of light.

 

[X-37B]

I ran a hamilton 150 over my 18" nano cube, 25 gal.
I run 2 250 watt de 14k MH over my 120 at 14" off the surface in a lumen bright mini.
The lumen brights are great for a 24x24 area.
I have never measured par but the light distribution is quite even imo.
Here is my 120 and the nano.

 

[X-37B]

I’ve decided to go back to halides, this time a pendant light over a 40g cube. Years back when I last ran MH I had a much larger tank and was not concerned about too much light...my question is would 250w be too bright, possible negative affecting corals, or should I look at 150w DE ?

not concerned about heat, just wondering if with a small tank, the corals may find 250w (14k), too much ?

thanks

Here is a good article on lumen brights.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-06/review/index.php

 

[Bpb]

Used lumen bright minis for a couple years with Hamilton 14k bulbs with reflectors 14” off the water I was getting 400-500 par under 24” water. Par at the surface was in excess of 1500. You can just simply save yourself a lot of wattage because that amount of par just isn’t necessary for anything unless you are keeping a spathulata and maxima clam dominated tank. I feel like where those reflectors would truly shine would be hung 24-36” over a shallow frag tank being able to dial them to 300-500 par throughout the coverage area and they’d be so high above the water, there would be zero heat addition

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Thanks for your input.

In Canada I can order 150W Hamilton fixture and icecap ballast and pheonix bulb for just under $500 Cnd. Years ago, with my 75G I ran a coralife fixture, x2 150W 10k DE bulbs (x2 PC actinic) and had good results and given the new tank is only 18.5” deep, perhaps 150w is best. I also won’t have to install fans or a chiller.

I was considering 250W only in the event of a tank upgrade As based on past experience, it’s gonna happen... but that could be a couple years away.

another concern is bulb availability, Any idea what supply is like for coming years? I’m wondering if I’m going to need to either stock up for the next few years to avoid scouring the internet for replacements. For example, BRS is selling bulbs clearance which gives me the impression 5ey may be hard to come by and my local fish stores have more less stated you can by MH, LED is the must use... but I really haven’t found anything of I’ve liked Compared to MH or MH T5 combo. I should have bought the last Giesemann Spectra from BRS when it was available, seems almost impossible to find one in Canada. when I left the hobby T5 were just starting to take off and I’ve the impression they are going the way of MH in favour of LEDs... currently using a x4 T5 that I bought at a store closing 8 years ago but thus far have not been impressed. The look is decent, but not as nice as a I recall MHs and the cost to replace the bulbs... which I need to almost immediately, and a x6 bulb ATo fixture is close to $800 not including bulbs. MH seems like a no brainer providing bulbs will still be available over the next few years.

 

[X-37B]

Thier are enough 250 watt 14k phoenix around right now.
I have enough for 3 years but I dont see them going away.
I just buy a couple every now and then for stock.
I have around 10 600 watt electronic ballasts from the hydro days.
I also have a few new ushio 600 watt
7k bulbs. They are white with a decent blue peak.
They grew plants well.
It would be interesting to see one on a reef tank.

 

[Bpb]

I think the moral of he availability story is: stock up. Never would fault someone for choosing MH. They work and look amazing. No I’m not saying they’ll be illegal next year. Just the simple fact that just about all of the go to bulbs from 10 years ago are unavailable now. It is just smart to stock up so you can continue to use them a while. I’m sure people really wish they had loaded up on Reeflux, XM, and AC bulbs when they could

 

[Jake atkinson]

I don't see the Radium bulbs or Hamilton bulbs going anywhere for a while. Radiums have been a gold standard for years for many people. I run the 250 and 400 Watt ones and never had an issue finding or buying them.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Thanks folks. I ordered 250w Hamilton with 14 Phoenix bulb and ice cap ballast.

Too bad I just bought x4 new 24” ATI T5s...but nothing beat MH IMO. And less expensive than a fancy LED fixture.

Will probably add T5s as a supplementary lighting

 

[jda]

Nowhere, anywhere, have speciality lighting been banned or made illegal... just general purpose lighting. Not in the US, not in the EU, not in Japan. Phoenix Electric stopped making their 14k bulbs in the early 2010s, then started again after they had a massive demand. There are more people using MH than you know. Hamilton, Radium (which is more than an aquarium light in Germay) and others never quit. Giesemann, Hamilton and ReefBrite have all developed new bulbs in the last few years.

Phoenix bulb on an IceCap is under driven. m80 is the spec ballast for that bulb.

Reeflux and AquaConnect bulbs were trash, IMO... each batch looked different from another. XM bulbs are missed.