Upgrading / updating my 2x250w Radium/reefbrite combo

[PicassoDan]

I've had 2x250 watt Radiums on an M80 ballast for the last decade+. I think I changed bulbs once in that time period (part of why I love the mogul Radiums. My supplimental blue reefbrites recently died in a power surge, and now I'm at the point where I need to decide whether to make the jump to LEDs or do some cleanup on the old MH setup.

Option 1: Make the jump to LEDs. For my 120g tank, I would need to spend $2000 (Radions) to grow SPS... This is ridiculous.
Option 2: Find some new/used reflectors and buy another reefbrite XHO strip.

You can still buy 250 watt SE Radiums, but the problem is, I can't find reflectors anywhere. Lumenarc minis, Hamilton cayman sun, etc. I guess the whole world has gone LED crazy...

Guess I could make reflectors again. These were DIY lumenarc mini copies, and with no glass in front of them for 10 years, they aren't doing much reflecting anymore.

 

[Bpb]

Reef Brite Halide 15" Mogul Pendant Kit

Reef Brite products are perfectly matched to meet the demands of the discriminating aquarist. Featuring 95% reflective highly polished aluminum, microprocessor monitored ballasts and auto adjusted strike voltage. Reef Brite Halide systems are built to last, save energy and provide better solar...

www.aquariumspecialty.com

In stock. Ships direct from reefbrite

 

[RedoubtReef]

have you tried any sort of polish on that metal? Seems like you might be able to polish them out.
Hamilton does have pendants available: https://hamiltontechnology.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=17_85&product_id=90

 

[PicassoDan]

I haven't tried polish - it might work initially, I worry that once I polish through to the underlying aluminum mirror coating, it would corrode very quickly (days).

The reefbrite pendant is not a good reflector design (at least compared to lumenarc or similar) and is $250 for just the reflector...
The Hamilton pendant that I like is no longer available...the Cayman Sun. They have it for DE HQI, but not Mogul...argh! I'd love to find a couple of used ones.

I suppose I could modify the DE to work with SE bulbs...

 

[RedoubtReef]

Yeah, you will have to try and modify then if the Bali won't work for you.

 

[Bpb]

I haven't tried polish - it might work initially, I worry that once I polish through to the underlying aluminum mirror coating, it would corrode very quickly (days).

The reefbrite pendant is not a good reflector design (at least compared to lumenarc or similar) and is $250 for just the reflector...
The Hamilton pendant that I like is no longer available...the Cayman Sun. They have it for DE HQI, but not Mogul...argh! I'd love to find a couple of used ones.

I suppose I could modify the DE to work with SE bulbs...

I agree it’s not as well designed as the old lumenarc. But you’ll have to diy another or polish yours if you want one of those. They’re not coming back. Searching the used market is going to be your only option at this point if you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg. Hamilton is perpetually OOS on most of their decent gear. Giesemann stuff puts you into top shelf LED pricing levels. Gone are the days of brand new quality halide gear for dirt cheap

 

[djf91]

Why no protective glass on the DIY reflector?

 

[DCR]

There were three used SE Lumenbrite Large reflectors for sale in the classifieds that looked to still have good reflectors.

 

[A. grandis]

I've had 2x250 watt Radiums on an M80 ballast for the last decade+. I think I changed bulbs once in that time period (part of why I love the mogul Radiums. My supplimental blue reefbrites recently died in a power surge, and now I'm at the point where I need to decide whether to make the jump to LEDs or do some cleanup on the old MH setup.

Option 1: Make the jump to LEDs. For my 120g tank, I would need to spend $2000 (Radions) to grow SPS... This is ridiculous.
Option 2: Find some new/used reflectors and buy another reefbrite XHO strip.

You can still buy 250 watt SE Radiums, but the problem is, I can't find reflectors anywhere. Lumenarc minis, Hamilton cayman sun, etc. I guess the whole world has gone LED crazy...

Guess I could make reflectors again. These were DIY lumenarc mini copies, and with no glass in front of them for 10 years, they aren't doing much reflecting anymore.

Make the reflectors again and put temperate glasses this time.
That will be the best thing you will do for your tank!
Keep the M80s with the new reflectors you will make.
Perhaps would be great to enrich this thread with each step, making them?
Don't forget to adapt the system slowly to the new reflectors/bulbs!

 

[minus9]

Keep the halides and add a couple Quanta Pro meso blue bars, I'm using the meso blues with my 14k hamiltons and it's a great combo. You only changed your Radium bulbs once? Really? I guess this depends on how long you run them a day? I'm sure there are some nice lumenarc reflectors out there, but if you can't clean the ones you have, the Reef Brite pendants are really nice (I'm using 2 of them w/o xho's).

 

[PicassoDan]

Somehow missed these responses - sorry!
I'm definitely going to add protective glass panels this time around.
It's very possible that these old radium bulbs are partly to blame for increased algae growth - but I'm not so sure. To the naked eye, they still look great.
I will post pics of the old-school-style reflector build I just got three 24" square sheets of the MIRO-4 material*, just gotta decide which design to go with, and find some free-time My existing ones are lumenarc mini clones, but maybe I'll do lumen bright minis this time around.

*If you do a search for MIRO-4 on a well-known online retailer, you'll find the reflector material & company (I'm not sure the policy on mentioning retailers on reef2reef).

 

[PicassoDan]

Those Quanta Pro light bars look pretty cool - I'll have to check those out!

*edit - brief look at Quanta Pro lights, and I'm starting to think I should return the reef brites...

 

[minus9]

Those Quanta Pro light bars look pretty cool - I'll have to check those out!

*edit - brief look at Quanta Pro lights, and I'm starting to think I should return the reef brites...

I love my meso blues, they pair well with Hamilton 14k's. You could easily light a tank with Quanta Pro's alone. They beat out the Orpheks and RB combined.

 

[nbooks]

Those Quanta Pro light bars look pretty cool - I'll have to check those out!

*edit - brief look at Quanta Pro lights, and I'm starting to think I should return the reef brites...

I just ordered two 6' quanta pros last night to go over my 220. I can't stomach the ridiculous light costs these days, I've paid somewhat close attention to his stuff for the last year or so but a recent customer instagram picture pushed me to finally order.

Even going to 4 quanta bars i'll only spend 1/3 of what i would have otherwise...

 

[A. grandis]

Somehow missed these responses - sorry!
I'm definitely going to add protective glass panels this time around.
It's very possible that these old radium bulbs are partly to blame for increased algae growth - but I'm not so sure. To the naked eye, they still look great.
I will post pics of the old-school-style reflector build I just got three 24" square sheets of the MIRO-4 material*, just gotta decide which design to go with, and find some free-time My existing ones are lumenarc mini clones, but maybe I'll do lumen bright minis this time around.

*If you do a search for MIRO-4 on a well-known online retailer, you'll find the reflector material & company (I'm not sure the policy on mentioning retailers on reef2reef).

Just do the Lumenarc again. Amazing reflector! You can freely post the links of the material here.