My new Metal Halide/T5 light is here!

[10Seconds]

And... it's an Odyssea (gasp!). It is way brighter than I expected with Quite a lot of spill over into the room. Going to have to address that.

I will give my initial thoughts and impressions now, and when my other bulbs and ballasts arrive. What you see here are what people consider the throw-away bulbs that come with it.

First though on unboxing it, it's much nicer than I expected from the numerous posts that hate on this fixture. Heavy, and no obvious assembly issues. This has the new style electric ballast so I am giving it a try for now (have a luxcore on order) just to see. I'm also checking the temp on it as we go.

In 2 hrs running it so far, tank temp is up .8 degrees per my Apex. Going to be keeping a close eye on that too.

The T5 bulbs that it comes with are very underwhelming. They will be replaced immediately when the ATIs arrive.

I plan to put in the Phoenix 15k MH bulb at the same time as the T5s

Anyways, just wanted to try something different after a frustrating run with LEDS

 

[CNDReef]

The tank looks really good with that light

 

[10Seconds]

The tank looks really good with that light

Thanks. What's crazy is that in 2 hrs my candy cane coral has opened up more with this than ever before. And this will sounds odd but it seems like thinks "abosorbed" the light as when I turned off the MH and left my moonlights everything floressed more than normal too.

 

[A. grandis]

Be very careful!!! You need to really adapt your system to the halides!
Halides/T5s are the very best you can offer to them, but you need to adapt them very slowly, even when you change bulbs.
That's some serious lights, eh?
I'm so happy for you. The corals speak for themselves!!!!
What LEDs did you have before?
Grandis.

 

[10Seconds]

Ho

Be very careful!!! You need to really adapt your system to the halides!
Halides/T5s are the very best you can offer to them, but you need to adapt them very slowly, even when you change bulbs.
That's some serious lights, eh?
I'm so happy for you. The corals speak for themselves!!!!
What LEDs did you have before?
Grandis.

How do you recommend I adapt the corals to the new lights? My plan was to run it for limited time and increase it each day. I can't easily change the height of the light and don't want to be rearranging the corals.

What about the T5s should I worry about adapting them to those? With the MH off, the tank does not seem brighter than the old LEDs but I don't have a lux or par meter.

 

[Slicktop]

Slowly, less is more.. I run t-5's and MH. I would run Radium 20k MH bulb and actinic t-5's. As Grandis stated, be very careful, you can easily over do it. I would start with a short run time on both and increase @ 1 hour a week. Maxing out the MH to @ 5 hours a day

 

[10Seconds]

Slowly, less is more.. I run t-5's and MH. I would run Radium 20k MH bulb and actinic t-5's. As Grandis stated, be very careful, you can easily over do it. I would start with a short run time on both and increase @ 1 hour a week. Maxing out the MH to @ 5 hours a day

I have been running my current LED's for 8hrs per day, with 2 hr window on each side of that for my "moonlighting" blue only LEDs. What is recommended as a time to start with for the MH? And for the T5's? I was just going to have the T5's run for the 8 hrs my LEDs were running on and then build up to it with the MH. I was going to start the MH at 4 hrs per day, but if you are only recommending it for 5 hrs total, that seems like I should start lower. 3 hrs?

I am starting to wish I had ordered all true actinic T5s instead of 2 Blue Plus bulbs. Guess they are easy to swap out

 

[CNDReef]

Everything will adapt to the light quickly. When I had my 120 I ran t5’s for 12 hours and mh for 8. T5 was just actinic

 

[A. grandis]

Ho


How do you recommend I adapt the corals to the new lights? My plan was to run it for limited time and increase it each day. I can't easily change the height of the light and don't want to be rearranging the corals.

What about the T5s should I worry about adapting them to those? With the MH off, the tank does not seem brighter than the old LEDs but I don't have a lux or par meter.

I would run MHs for a hour the first day or 2 and increase every other day like 30 min to an hour just to be safe.
The T5s aren't that bad, but the MHs are critical for adaptation. Specially because some of your corals are close to the water surface.
Remember: The light we see isn't what the corals "see".
T5s for 4 -5 hours and increase an hour a day up to like 8 -10 hours a day. I would run MHs for 6 hours a day max.
Grandis.

 

[10Seconds]

Is it best to run the MH for S straight run of time like 5-6 hours at a time? Or what if I ran them for like 3 periods of 2 hrs each?

 

[A. grandis]

Is it best to run the MH for S straight run of time like 5-6 hours at a time? Or what if I ran them for like 3 periods of 2 hrs each?

Well, that you'll have to decide... the hours a day will determinate what the corals get.

If you rest in between 2 periods of halides just make sure you don't overdo the total of what should be daily, I guess...
I would think that running it of 5 - 6 hours straight would be the max I would offer daily.
So if I would do what you are suggesting I would run 2 X of 3 hours each.
Most people turn on the lights respecting a photoperiod similar to the natural, so basically I would have some T5s running for 8 - 9 hours total and do the 2 X 3 hours period of halides..
Up to you...
First you need to adapt the system.. That's the most important thing right now...

Grandis.

 

[10Seconds]

I was only thinking of Doing that to let the temp cool off a bit

 

[CNDReef]

If I’m not mistaken halides burn out faster the more they go on and off

 

[A. grandis]

If I’m not mistaken halides burn out faster the more they go on and off

That is probably true, but I'm not 100% certain.
Grandis.

 

[10Seconds]

That is probably true, but I'm not 100% certain.
Grandis.

That's a fact. True for most bulbs. But bulbs are cheaper than replacing baked corals.

 

[A. grandis]

That's a fact. True for most bulbs. But bulbs are cheaper than replacing baked corals.

Even though, I wouldn't have my bulb's life cut in half just by doing that every day. Not worthy to me at all.
Grandis.

 

[10Seconds]

Ok, thanks. My understanding, which is coming from internet research, not experience, is that while it shortens the absolute end of the bulb life, it doesnt affect the output. And if we are replacing bulbs at 9 months instead of when they actually blow out, then it probably wont be an issue cycling them an extra time per day.

Also, do most people run the T5s with the MH at the same time? I like the look of it with it all on together better. My plan is to run the t5's about 9 hrs per day and the MH for about 6 in the middle of it.

 

[jda]

For two decades, I have run every MH bulb for one year (changed on Valentines Day) except for 14K Phoenix which I will run for two years. I have never had one stop working. When I had a larger FO tank, I used to use the bulbs for another year over that tank as well - these never burned out either.

I would never change bulbs at 9 months unless I was overdriving them - just go with a year and turn them on/off as much as you want for a week or two. Rest easy and don't overthink this.

 

[BluewaterLa]

I would use them for one year running for a total of 6 to 8 hours per day when I had halides.
This of course was a deeper tank so I could run them longer for the corals to reach photo saturation.
Most times with Halide fixtures the corals reach this point in 4 to 6 hours depending on the bulb and depth of the coral.
In your shallow tank even with a 150W hqi I would only suggest middle road of 5 hours per day and at this rate you could more than likely get more than 12 months out of the bulb and closer to the 18 month mark due to the less hours per day run.
Of course having a meter to test the new bulb after a good burn in time to get a value would be great to compare to reading of one year and make your decision then.

Most bulbs require a burn in time when they are new to reach their true potential so to speak.
Your largest obstacle is going to be the heat transferring into the tank so fans would be a good idea and you will evaporate more water per day now.
Watch the corals at the top of your rock for signs of getting too much light, you may have to move them lower in the tank.

Hows the light working for your tank so far ?

 

[10Seconds]

Bluewater, its crazy but that light is working out great. I love the metal halide T5 combo and actually bought another light to go over my big tank. Thats a 6' long 220 and I bought a Giesemann Spectra for it.

This combo of light is so good, I cant see myself ever going back to LEDs. The growth and color of everything in the tank since going this route has been so much better.