albano1402
New Member
I have been running into issues selecting a metal halide 250w SE mogul bulb for my reef tank. I had changed from LED's back to MH due to coloration issues on my SPS.
Here are my tank details:
120 gal 30 inch deep tank
Pair of 250w HQI M80 Hamilton ballast
Pair of Lumenbrite reflectors
I initially wanted to do 20k Radium bulbs since my primary goal was coloration. Don't get me wrong, growth was important too, but not as important as getting my SPS to color up again.
I had purchased Radiums some bulb issues with them not starting up all the time on Icecap ballasts. I have read about burn in time on new bulbs and firing issues on non-m80 ballasts, so I figured just go and purchase M80 ballasts and I should have a good pairing of bulb/ballasts. I purchased the bulbs from a LRS and they were able to get the bulbs replaced. In the meantime, they gave me an XM 10K or 15K bulb as a loaner until my new radiums came in. When I first put the XM bulb in, I immediately noticed two things:
1. It was way yellow for my tastes.
2. It was super bright. -(I liked the brightness, but not the yellow color as much)
So in that time, I got the new Radium bulbs in and once I put on the M80 ballasts, they worked and then stopped working. I did put one Radium on one side to compare the brightness to the XM and the Radium on the M80 ballast. The Radium was nowhere near the brightness of the XM. It was not very bright at all.
Note: XM's where in for a week and growth was noticeable.
After a few days, the Radium bulbs stopped working. I got completely frustrated with the fact I was on my 4th bulbs of Radium and had bulb issues. I attribute it to bulb issues since the XM worked on all the ballast just fine-(m80 and icecap).
I was happy with the 20K color and the SPS started to color up nicely over that time, but once they went out again, I was forced to order new bulbs and put the XM's back in.
I ordered Ushiro 20K bulbs from BRS. I got the bulbs in the mail and one was broken. BRS was out of additional bulbs and agreed to refund. (thanks BRS for awesome customer service)
I put the one Ushiro 20K bulb in and noticed it was nowhere near the brightness of the XM. It was not very bright at all like the Radium.
The one thing I noticed was in th3 3 weeks of the XM bulb being in was the growth on the XM's are very noticeable in a short period of time the first time I had them in for a week. When the MH's are on, the sps kind look like crap, but I supplement with LED's for my blue after the MH's go out and the color pop is incredible after the MH's are off.
Here is what I noticed:
Coloration on sps although didn't appear as great with the XM bulb on, did in fact happen while getting good growth and was noticeable when LED's where on alone.
I run MH's while I am gone at work and LED in the evening for viewing. After seeing the growth from the lower kelvin, I was possibly leaning towards doing an iswaki 6500k to get more growth if the coloration will still be there when I view with LED's. I was excited about the recent growth.
I want a bulb that is going to be brighter than the Radium or Ushiro 20k on the M80's.
I don't want to keep purchasing bulbs until I find the right one if I can avoid it.
Finally to my question:
For folks that have used iswaki 6500k, was growth much more noticeable than a 10k/14k bulb and was the coloration when viewed under blue spectrum lighting still colorful/present or was it washed out overall?
Based on my above findings, is there a bulb that will give good growth, be brighter than the radium, and still give good coloration on an m80 ballast?
What bulbs other than 250w Radium SE have folks had that were bright, good growth, and overall good coloration?
Just looking for advice from this respected community.
Here are my tank details:
120 gal 30 inch deep tank
Pair of 250w HQI M80 Hamilton ballast
Pair of Lumenbrite reflectors
I initially wanted to do 20k Radium bulbs since my primary goal was coloration. Don't get me wrong, growth was important too, but not as important as getting my SPS to color up again.
I had purchased Radiums some bulb issues with them not starting up all the time on Icecap ballasts. I have read about burn in time on new bulbs and firing issues on non-m80 ballasts, so I figured just go and purchase M80 ballasts and I should have a good pairing of bulb/ballasts. I purchased the bulbs from a LRS and they were able to get the bulbs replaced. In the meantime, they gave me an XM 10K or 15K bulb as a loaner until my new radiums came in. When I first put the XM bulb in, I immediately noticed two things:
1. It was way yellow for my tastes.
2. It was super bright. -(I liked the brightness, but not the yellow color as much)
So in that time, I got the new Radium bulbs in and once I put on the M80 ballasts, they worked and then stopped working. I did put one Radium on one side to compare the brightness to the XM and the Radium on the M80 ballast. The Radium was nowhere near the brightness of the XM. It was not very bright at all.
Note: XM's where in for a week and growth was noticeable.
After a few days, the Radium bulbs stopped working. I got completely frustrated with the fact I was on my 4th bulbs of Radium and had bulb issues. I attribute it to bulb issues since the XM worked on all the ballast just fine-(m80 and icecap).
I was happy with the 20K color and the SPS started to color up nicely over that time, but once they went out again, I was forced to order new bulbs and put the XM's back in.
I ordered Ushiro 20K bulbs from BRS. I got the bulbs in the mail and one was broken. BRS was out of additional bulbs and agreed to refund. (thanks BRS for awesome customer service)
I put the one Ushiro 20K bulb in and noticed it was nowhere near the brightness of the XM. It was not very bright at all like the Radium.
The one thing I noticed was in th3 3 weeks of the XM bulb being in was the growth on the XM's are very noticeable in a short period of time the first time I had them in for a week. When the MH's are on, the sps kind look like crap, but I supplement with LED's for my blue after the MH's go out and the color pop is incredible after the MH's are off.
Here is what I noticed:
Coloration on sps although didn't appear as great with the XM bulb on, did in fact happen while getting good growth and was noticeable when LED's where on alone.
I run MH's while I am gone at work and LED in the evening for viewing. After seeing the growth from the lower kelvin, I was possibly leaning towards doing an iswaki 6500k to get more growth if the coloration will still be there when I view with LED's. I was excited about the recent growth.
I want a bulb that is going to be brighter than the Radium or Ushiro 20k on the M80's.
I don't want to keep purchasing bulbs until I find the right one if I can avoid it.
Finally to my question:
For folks that have used iswaki 6500k, was growth much more noticeable than a 10k/14k bulb and was the coloration when viewed under blue spectrum lighting still colorful/present or was it washed out overall?
Based on my above findings, is there a bulb that will give good growth, be brighter than the radium, and still give good coloration on an m80 ballast?
What bulbs other than 250w Radium SE have folks had that were bright, good growth, and overall good coloration?
Just looking for advice from this respected community.
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