Why I love my Metal Halide

anarchy · Jan 24, 2016

Tab28 said:
About 10". What wattage are your bulbs, sure ballast and bulbs are good? I had a cheap odysea hqi. That pushed 800 at 6" below bulbs. In my 120 I can only keep chalices in very center of tank. The cross beam added with center gap between my reflectors, reflectors are 15" squares, is my dimmest area. It is 140 par. Still bleaches chalices and leptoseris if i do not acclimate.

Bulbs are 250w. Everything was bought 2nd hand but was told bulbs were brand new (xm 20k) and the blueline powers both lights so im assuming its fine

Tab28 · Jan 24, 2016

I keep them on egg crate frag rack. Lower tank with acrylic frag rack at mid point. The acrylic has acro frags in it. The acrylic gets full of coralline so it is a good over hang. For bigger things like plates they go under rock overhangs.

Lilmatty5dimes · Jan 25, 2016

RedneckReefer68 said:
I think you will be OK with a good reflector

That's good to know. I'm getting Hamilton reef star SE reflector, m85 ballast(going to upgrade to lumatek/luxcore 250w selectable), and radium 20k bulb. Along with 4 vho running on an icecap 660 ballast all together cost me $150. Only thing I'll need is a few more end caps for the vho which I found a guy with 4 for $20. So I'm under $200 for lighting my tank. Compare to led which I'll only use reef breeder or radion.

luke33 · Jan 25, 2016

Well that was a heck of a read! Good thing I'm at work : )

I have ran t5's, MH's and LED's for years. After 5yrs of LED's I am back to T5's and happier I've been the last 5yrs. MH's are excellent lights for sps and the best imo. My reason to not run mh's is mostly due to the amp's they pull and evaporation. You can control the heat pretty easily with fans, and for folks like myself in Indiana the added heat isn't a bad thing in the wintertime. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is everyone, or a few are arguing about the efficient LED, but my heater kicked on much much more with the LED system vs MH's. The chart I have seen in this article is pretty humorous as it does not tell the tale as there are way to many things to consider, not to mention spread of led vs mh's and the fact no one will keep their fixture for 50,000hrs

Hopefully this thread gets back on topic and some more mh people will post some pics

mcarroll · Jan 25, 2016

Pete polyp said:
Let's try to get as realistic as possible here. [...]
$750

[...]

"as realistic as possible"

You have to admit there're something at least slightly unrealistic about a $750 fixture, right?

Pete polyp · Jan 25, 2016

mcarroll said:
"as realistic as possible"

You have to admit there're something at least slightly unrealistic about a $750 fixture, right?

Go price a ecotech radion xr30 pro and tell me $750 is unrealistic. I quoted the price of high end halide to high end led. That sir is apples to apples.

Jmcdaniel0 · Jan 25, 2016

Anyone trying the new ATI T5/ LED combo lights. I am looking at the 8 bulb 60 inch fixture

twilliard · Jan 25, 2016

Lilmatty5dimes said:
That's good to know. I'm getting Hamilton reef star SE reflector, m85 ballast(going to upgrade to lumatek/luxcore 250w selectable), and radium 20k bulb. Along with 4 vho running on an icecap 660 ballast all together cost me $150. Only thing I'll need is a few more end caps for the vho which I found a guy with 4 for $20. So I'm under $200 for lighting my tank. Compare to led which I'll only use reef breeder or radion.

I love icecap ballasts and easy to rebuild!

Pete polyp · Jan 25, 2016

And then you need this to operate it

Compare to

Pete polyp · Jan 25, 2016

luke33 said:
Well that was a heck of a read! Good thing I'm at work : )

I have ran t5's, MH's and LED's for years. After 5yrs of LED's I am back to T5's and happier I've been the last 5yrs. MH's are excellent lights for sps and the best imo. My reason to not run mh's is mostly due to the amp's they pull and evaporation. You can control the heat pretty easily with fans, and for folks like myself in Indiana the added heat isn't a bad thing in the wintertime. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is everyone, or a few are arguing about the efficient LED, but my heater kicked on much much more with the LED system vs MH's. The chart I have seen in this article is pretty humorous as it does not tell the tale as there are way to many things to consider, not to mention spread of led vs mh's and the fact no one will keep their fixture for 50,000hrs

Hopefully this thread gets back on topic and some more mh people will post some pics

Even as crazy as the chart used the math still came up in halides favor. Die hard led fans don't want to consider running 400w heater all day long compared to halide keeping the tank warm. The increased evaporation works in my favor since I dose kalk ☺

Lilmatty5dimes · Jan 26, 2016

A few mh pics

jackson6745 · Jan 31, 2016

Man, I love the spectrum of my 400w RADIUM

IMG_6138 by rich colombo, on Flickr

RedneckReefer68 · Jan 31, 2016

Rich, a 400w radium on a 40b overkill? I feel like I can get better part to the ends than I get with the 250. I'm debating on adding another 250 anyway.

Brian

jackson6745 · Jan 31, 2016

Brian I think it would be overkill. Your whole tank would be 400-700 Par. It's not always a great thing for colors IMO. I see the need for lower light at times while I have corals populating their zoox (I blast them later on). Keep in mind my tank is 32x32x26 with a singe 400w. I have supplements but they are weak <200par. Lowest par in my tank is 250 at the sanded near the glass. If you have a full size lumatek style reflector your PAR should be great with a single 250 to each end of the 40B.

RedneckReefer68 · Jan 31, 2016

I have the mini.. The regular size would hang over front to back being as my tank is only 18" that way and 17" tall.. I have a mini wide I'm not using that I been trying to clean up. It's kinda hazy

jackson6745 · Jan 31, 2016

My sfiligoi fixture reflector is hazy but still cranks

. Only one way to tell for sure

RedneckReefer68 · Jan 31, 2016

Thanks Rich, saved me money for the frag tank in putting together. I'll run the wide on my 40 and move the mini to my frag tank with xm 10k for growth. Sound good?

jackson6745 · Jan 31, 2016

Sure but the 10km is crazy bright. If you see colors fading I would just keep it simple with the good old fashioned radium 20k

They grow fast under that bulb too.

anarchy · Jan 31, 2016

Okay maybe you guys can help me. My par levels are weak. My sps deep blue 30 has a lumen max elite reflector 11" off the water so about 22" from the bottom. The ballast is a blue line 7 dual and 20k xm bulbs. The ballast also runs the exact same setup on my 93. The par in the 30 ranges from 420 at the top middle and goes down to 50 around top and bottom near the glass. Tank is 24 x 24 x 12. Bulbs were bought from someone who said they bought them and didnt like the color so they bought different bulbs. Could it be the bulbs are actually old? Maybe the ballast isnt powering the bulbs enough? Or is the fixture too high?
Thanks in advance