Radium bulbs

[mikem]

What is the difference in a 250 watt Radium 20K se MH bulb and a regular 20K MH bulb? Is it just better color?
Also I setup another 120 gallon tank. Going to do mostly SPS's. Lighting is going to be 2 250 watt Radium bulbs. I also have 5 bulb t5HO. What bulb selection would work best with the halides? I would like to see the pop a few hours a day and would like my red corals to look better. I don't like the way and color most leds put out.Thanks for all your input

 

[mikem]

Halides have the lumeric (?)reflectors.

 

[mfinn]

Back a few years ago I use to use a 250 watt mh Radium powered by a PFO HQI ballast over my smaller tank.
I also used 2 x 75 watt VHO actinic ( 454) with it.
I loved the color. The tank looked great.
Once in a while I would move a coral out to my 240 that had IceCap ballasts with XM 20k bulbs on it, with VHO also.
You could really tell a difference. The Radiums really made the corals look nice and when moved to the tank with the XM's on it, they just didn't look the same.
Difference? Yeah there was.

 

[mfinn]

Halides have the lumeric (?)reflectors.

I made my own reflectors ( lumenarc?) from a pattern that was circulating on the internet for a while.

 

[trido]

Lumenarc reflectors are a great product. Radium 20K's put out a crisp well balanced blue light and are one of my favorites. Not all 20K bulbs are created equal. There are less expensive bulbs but you might not like them. My more favorite 400W 20K over the radium was a Helios bulb. They reminded me of the phoenix 14K but they were very undependable and would fail without any warning. At $60-90 per bulb, its easier to just buy the tried and preferred Radium unless you have money to potentially store in the closet or take a hit on resale of your slightly used least favorable bulbs. I hope this long winded explanation helps you with your decision.

Also, a five bulb T-5 along side of 2 250 watt MH on a 120G tank is absolute over kill. Two supplemental bulbs is plenty. Not only will less supplemental bulbs save on electricity it will save a lot on bulb replacement.

 

[mikem]

Thanks for your help. I'm ordering the radiums now. I was just thinking with 5 bulbs, i can bring out the colors in every coral. By reading, I thought I understood that one bulb brings out reds, one bulb brings out the blues etc... but I never understood do bulb colors cancel each other out?
Thanks for all your time.

 

[trido]

They dont really cancel each other out but you can absolutely over light SPS corals and cause them to lose color and look washed out. If you really want to bring out reds use a 14K phoenix and then you can adjust the T-5's to get the blues and purples to pop. Too much 20K makes pinks turn to a dull purple. The 250 watt 14K phoenix is by far my most favorite bulb of all time. More so than my LED's I've been running for five years.

 

[alton]

Radiums and 14K SE Phoenix look the same and have the same PAR readings. I used both on the same tank, no one ever guessed and got it right on which was which. Enjoy your light

 

[mikem]

I'm glad I didn't order the radiums yet. Now I have to think about the phoenix's...lol
Thanks again.

 

[Bpb]

Issue with Radium vs Phoenix 14k is that they require the same ballast, but one is a mogul base and one is DE. Ignore the mogul phoenix, different animal entirely. The DE phoenix is the standard offering everyone uses. What makes the radium better than your average 20k bulb? It simply puts out alot more par for how many watts it consumes. It's also an HQI mogul bulb, so it is naturally driven harder by design of the ballast than other mogul bulbs, so it actually runs at 330 watts. This is not overdriving it, this is correctly driving it. Its a well balanced bulb with most of its PAR focused in the PUR range and JUST enough of the rest of the spectrum to make it an icy white. It really is a fantastic bulb. Most quality spectrographs comparing the 14k Phoenix and the Radium are nearly identical. Closer than just about any other two bulbs are actually. Any variance is likely just due to variations in manufacturing, as I'd be willing to be they use an identical phosphor recipe.

 

[alton]

I have tried the DE and did not like it. I picked up a lumen bright mini but DE and the par numbers did not hold up to its SE brother in another lumen bright mini pendant