Reef Brite MH Fan Club

[DSC reef]

Quick update: Alk consumption has doubled in three weeks with the halides. Growth has been amazing and colors are getting very intense. I'm using Triton, if this keeps up I'm going to have to find another system as this will get too expensive.

The problems of using halides

 

[Straight.Reefin]

I love my fixtures so far!!! I have 3 of the 250 watt fixtures with 14k Phoenix bulbs....

My question is do you think 3 of these 250watt fixtures are enough for my sps heavy 210 gallon tank??

Dimensions are 72 by 24 by 30 tall

 

[Straight.Reefin]

??

 

[jporter17]

I love my fixtures so far!!! I have 3 of the 250 watt fixtures with 14k Phoenix bulbs....

My question is do you think 3 of these 250watt fixtures are enough for my sps heavy 210 gallon tank??

Dimensions are 72 by 24 by 30 tall

I would think that three would be fine. I used my 36"hybrid model on my old 30" tall tank and it was more than enough light.

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Okay awesome! I just didn’t know if i should have gone with the 400 watts instead of 250

 

[A. grandis]

3 X 250W are good.
400W would be too much.
Grandis.

 

[Straight.Reefin]

3 X 250W are good.
400W would be too much.
Grandis.

Okay awesome....thanks!!

 

[A. grandis]

Enjoy your tank!!
Grandis.

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Does anyone run m80 ballasts with their 15inch 250watt units??? If so what kind? I just found out I’m under driving my units with my current ballasts and getting lower than normal par [emoji85][emoji85][emoji85]

 

[Syntax1235]

What bulbs and ballast are you using?

 

[Straight.Reefin]

What bulbs and ballast are you using?

So the thing that started my concern was I borrowed my buddies Neptune par meter and I didn’t get the results I thought I would have gotten, definitely a lot lower....

I’m using 14k Phoenix DE bulbs with odyssey electronic ballasts

 

[Straight.Reefin]

I posted on a different thread on here with the picture of my ballast and I was told it was definitely under driving my units so I’m trying to figure out what to do to get the max par I can

I was told Reef brite ballasts are not m80 either so they will still under drive my units

I don’t know exactly what is right or wrong

 

[Syntax1235]

Who told you? How do you know they are correct?

Why don’t you call the manufacturer of the bulb and see what they recommend?

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Who told you? How do you know they are correct?

Why don’t you call the manufacturer of the bulb and see what they recommend?

Hahaha on my thread under the lighting section and no I don’t know if they are right or not....

I sent tulio an email also.....I will wait to hear from them for sure

Just looking to see what other opinions were and what others used/thought

 

[Straight.Reefin]

My par numbers were definitely not that good though.....1-2 inches under the water it was 520ish and my lights are 8 inches above the water

I feel like something has to be off because I was getting a reading of mid 200s in the middle of my tank

 

[Syntax1235]

I’ve had many a few conversations with Tulio... he will tell you that all 250 watt ballasts are similar and will ask why you want to overdrive a bulb... it adds heat and costs more... even for the radium, he will tell you run it on a standard 250watt electronic ballast.

Opinions are just that. Call the manufacturer and then you don’t have to listen to a bunch of “experts” here.

 

[UWC]

Here you go. Reef Brite 250w w/ Reef Brite ballast running Phoenix de 14k mounted 15” above the water surface.

Just mh

Right above the water line 1020
Right below the water line 840
6” below 560
12” below 400
18” below 250

Reef Brite mh x 4 reef Brite t5ho x 2 Reef Brite tech actinic led. T5 and led mounted 20” above water line, mh 15” above the surface.

Right above the water line 1230
Right below the water line 1090
6” 790
12” 545
18” 410

Numbers taken with apogee mq-510.

 

[A. grandis]

Is this the thread?
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/halides-question.360358/#post-4465842

The recommendation in that thread is that all the DE 250W halides would need a M80 ballast to run it's best.

For sure your ballast isn't an M80, and therefore you ARE under driving the bulb, yes, when using a ReefBrite ballast!

That doesn't mean the bulb can't be used with HQI, electronic, Pulse start, or the ReefBrite ballast.
It's just that if you use it with the M80 you will get the best out of it. Is that what you want when complaining about the PAR from ReefBrite?

M80 ballast runs at 330W.
Electronic on HQI or Superlumens will give you 300W.
Your ReefBrite is only 255W on the output.

Mr. Tullio makes ballasts that under drives the bulbs, if those bulbs are designed to be used with higher wattage ballasts.
That is a fact published by their website.

Quote:
"Model Input Voltage Input Current Input Power Power Factor
175 Watts 100-150 & 240 VAC 1.5 Amps 178.5 Watts >0.98
250 Watts 2.1 Amps 255 Watts
400 Watts 3.4 Amps 408 Watts"

FROM:
http://www.reefbrite.com/product/reef-brite-reef-tech/

Take a look here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-brite-halide-system-users.337885/
This is when I started to think more about the ReefBright for what I wanted:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-brite-halide-system-users.337885/page-7#post-4237305

Its a matter of how you want your light system to perform.
If your ultimate goal is to save some pennies here and there and keep the house/tank a little cooler, you get something like the ReefBrite, but please don't complain about it. Hehe.
If you want to keep that bulb running at it's recommended output you will need to get what makes it happen, right?
Simple as that.
I don't think we should ignore the advices here because other wise there is no need even to come here to ask.
I returned my ReefBrite because I want to run Radium bulbs and they are made for M80 ballasts.

Grandis.

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Is this the thread?
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/halides-question.360358/#post-4465842

The recommendation in that thread is that all the DE 250W halides would need a M80 ballast to run it's best.

For sure your ballast isn't an M80, and therefore you ARE under driving the bulb, yes, when using a ReefBrite ballast!

That doesn't mean the bulb can't be used with HQI, electronic, Pulse start, or the ReefBrite ballast.
It's just that if you use it with the M80 you will get the best out of it. Is that what you want when complaining about the PAR from ReefBrite?

M80 ballast runs at 330W.
Electronic on HQI or Superlumens will give you 300W.
Your ReefBrite is only 255W on the output.

Mr. Tullio makes ballasts that under drives the bulbs, if those bulbs are designed to be used with higher wattage ballasts.
That is a fact published by their website.

Quote:
"Model Input Voltage Input Current Input Power Power Factor
175 Watts 100-150 & 240 VAC 1.5 Amps 178.5 Watts >0.98
250 Watts 2.1 Amps 255 Watts
400 Watts 3.4 Amps 408 Watts"

FROM:
http://www.reefbrite.com/product/reef-brite-reef-tech/

Take a look here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-brite-halide-system-users.337885/
This is when I started to think more about the ReefBright for what I wanted:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-brite-halide-system-users.337885/page-7#post-4237305

Its a matter of how you want your light system to perform.
If your ultimate goal is to save some pennies here and there and keep the house/tank a little cooler, you get something like the ReefBrite, but please don't complain about it. Hehe.
If you want to keep that bulb running at it's recommended output you will need to get what makes it happen, right?
Simple as that.
I don't think we should ignore the advices here because other wise there is no need even to come here to ask.
I returned my ReefBrite because I want to run Radium bulbs and they are made for M80 ballasts.

Grandis.

Thanks for the post! So, Yesterday when I called they didn’t answer and with today being presidents I’m not sure if they will either but I will definitely give an update once I do speak to him!

I LOVE these fixtures but I just assumed the par would be higher that is all I was saying and I was wondering if I could fix it or not

I don’t really care to overdrive a bulb or anything like that, my post was simply me just stating my disappointing par results and wondering if it was because I went the cheap route on my ballasts.....

I just thought it was very disappointing results getting a 520-540 par range with 250watt Phoenix bulbs literally 1 inch under the water line and my lights are only 8 inches off of the water

If this is normal results then I’m all good with it and that’s what it’s supposed to be but I guess I just assumed the par results would have been higher with the halides and both led strips

And I’d rather have higher par than save a couple pennies haha

 

[A. grandis]

The Odyssea gives 300W output and the ReefBrite will give even less, 255W output.
Grandis.