What Halides Are Best?

Kehaulani · Aug 7, 2016

Just out of curiosity, I've notice some people don't run their MH all day. They only do it in the peak hours when the sun would be at its brightest.

Anyone actually have experience doing this? If so, what are the pros and cons, other than not using so much energy.

Matthias7 · Aug 7, 2016

There are controllable metal halides now (mine are ordered). I ramp my LEDs up and down although it's probably only beneficially to my viewing pleasure. I don't believe the corals receive much benefit.

Kehaulani · Aug 7, 2016

Matthias7 said:
There are controllable metal halides now (mine are ordered). I ramp my LEDs up and down although it's probably only beneficially to my viewing pleasure. I don't believe the corals receive much benefit.

What brand did you order?

I wasn't sure if the only benefit was your electric bill not being so high or if there were any down falls to doing this. Not sure if 3 hours of high lighting is even enough for corals to have good growth and color while the rest of the day T5s are ran.

Matthias7 · Aug 7, 2016

I bought reefbrite 250watt apex ready ballasts and reefbrite pendants as well. I will use 2 mh fixtures and combine them with 3 kessil A360we (I have been running them about 1 year). I will start the halides at 5 hours per day then ramp them up to 7-8 hours a day depending on how my corals respond. I run the kessils about 11 hours they peak at 70%.

Ike · Aug 9, 2016

Kehaulani said:
Just out of curiosity, I've notice some people don't run their MH all day. They only do it in the peak hours when the sun would be at its brightest.

Anyone actually have experience doing this? If so, what are the pros and cons, other than not using so much energy.

It's best to blast them for a minimum of 6 hours a day, 7-9 is better. Anything beyond that is mostly for the viewing pleasure of the aquarist. Anything less than that and you're probably losing out on color and growth.

Kehaulani · Aug 9, 2016

Ike said:
It's best to blast them for a minimum of 6 hours a day, 7-9 is better. Anything beyond that is mostly for the viewing pleasure of the aquarist. Anything less than that and you're probably losing out on color and growth.

OK thanks. I wondered about that. Didn't think 3 hours was good enough

Kenmx10 · Aug 9, 2016

I have the Hamilton Cayman Sun fixtures with the M80 Magnetic ballast with the 250w Radium bulb . I am very happy with the fixture, and love the color of the Radium bulb alone, without any additional lighting. I run them 8 hours a day in the winter and seven hours a day in the summer. Thats just to conserve a little energy in the summer when the AC is constantly running. I turn them on at 2 pm. Then off at either 9 or 10. That way I can enjoy the tank in the evening when Im home.

They do put out a little heat, but Ive found out in my case, the tank responds better if the fixture is 14" above the tank. And at this height it doesn't noticeable increase the water temperature for me. If I lowered the fixture to 10" then I would notice about a 2 degree difference in water temperature, and either have to turn the AC up, or run a fan.

thirst · Aug 9, 2016

I use 250 Watt radiums with M80 ballast. I think they work pretty well. Also have LED supplementation.

Kehaulani · Aug 10, 2016

thirst said:
I use 250 Watt radiums with M80 ballast. I think they work pretty well. Also have LED supplementation.

Can you post a picture of your light set up? What type of LEDs are you supplementing with

Kehaulani · Aug 10, 2016

Kenmx10 said:
I have the Hamilton Cayman Sun fixtures with the M80 Magnetic ballast with the 250w Radium bulb . I am very happy with the fixture, and love the color of the Radium bulb alone, without any additional lighting. I run them 8 hours a day in the winter and seven hours a day in the summer. Thats just to conserve a little energy in the summer when the AC is constantly running. I turn them on at 2 pm. Then off at either 9 or 10. That way I can enjoy the tank in the evening when Im home.

They do put out a little heat, but Ive found out in my case, the tank responds better if the fixture is 14" above the tank. And at this height it doesn't noticeable increase the water temperature for me. If I lowered the fixture to 10" then I would notice about a 2 degree difference in water temperature, and either have to turn the AC up, or run a fan.

Thanks. That really helps. Does it affect your electric bill alot? Also could you post a picture of your light setup?

thirst · Aug 10, 2016

Mine is a bit of overkill. I have Hamilton 2x250 w 4x54 watt t5

Using 2xkessil a360 also

broach · Aug 10, 2016

Just went with dual Giesmann triple Kessil 160we and it's incredible. Still waiting on another ballast for the left side but the response on to right with the halide Kessil has been good so far. Time will tell but with a combo like that you get the best of both world with room to run a retro t5 if you'd like.

Kenmx10 · Aug 10, 2016

The power usage is around $6 to $7 per month per fixture for me. Metal halides get a bad rap for power usage, but if you have to run 2 Hydra 52's to equal the one MH, they pull 135w a piece. So thats 270w's per hour. The M80 ballast will draw a little more than that, but it is made for the Radium bulb.

Kehaulani · Aug 10, 2016

thirst said:
Mine is a bit of overkill. I have Hamilton 2x250 w 4x54 watt t5

Using 2xkessil a360 also

That's actually a really nice tank. thanks for the picture

thirst · Aug 10, 2016

Here's a video before I added LEDs

Kehaulani · Aug 10, 2016

broach said:
Just went with dual Giesmann triple Kessil 160we and it's incredible. Still waiting on another ballast for the left side but the response on to right with the halide Kessil has been good so far. Time will tell but with a combo like that you get the best of both world with room to run a retro t5 if you'd like.

I already have two Kessil a360we on my 75 gallon. Once my 180 is set up, I did think about just purchasing one more Kessil and running it with the metal halides but I didn't know if that would be too much. I'm glad you do the same. You have a very nice setup. Thanks for the advice and picture.

That is my whole argument also. Everyone keeps saying MH are expensive but when one Hydra 52 cost $599, multiply that by 6 and I feel it's just as expensive. I understand that electric bills differ depending on where you live also but I do have a MH, LED, T5 combo that came with my 75 setup. I thought of taking down my Kessils and running that over my 75 for a month to see how it affects my bill.

silvernblackr35 · Aug 10, 2016

mcarroll said:
It's too bad those were the only choices you were considering. The benefits of LED are pretty well nullified in that option.

If you are OK with the budget it takes to keep the hell I'd system running – that includes a lot of wasted light (see back room pic above), higher electricity bills, twice a year bulb placements, and heat management – then I do not think you can beat a radium system similar to the one being offered.

(Objectively, I do think they're easy to beat with different options though. Things lik "pop" and "look" are subjective....nobody can tell you what you think looks good, or whether what you think looks good is important.)

Bulb replacement twice a year?

Bpb · Aug 10, 2016

Yeah most people don't do that. Most people do annual or even 18 month stretches on radiums. There's plenty of empirical data on halide bulbs losing most of their par inside the first 2-3 months of operation and par loss generally stalling out after that more or less indefinitely. 6 month replacements are kind of pointless you're not saving yourself any reasonable among of par or spectrum shift.

Kenmx10 · Aug 10, 2016

I replace mine every year on black friday when you can find them on sale. Usually around $50. By comparison, thats 12 years of bulb changing before it equals the cost of a high end LED fixture.