Wow!!! HELIOS 250W DE 20K Awesome!!
- Thread starter mbunaman
- Start date
- Tagged users None
So Helio's and pheonix seem to be similar in color, but the pheonix out pars the helios. The helios gives the corals better pop. If you had the ability to add 2 T5's to the mix what would they be? Could the pheonix and T5's get the pop and par?
treylane
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2007
- Messages
- 142
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- Manhattan
- What state or country do you live in
- New York
My last batch of three bulbs looked fantastic for the first few months, and then color shifted to where they may as well have been blacklight bulbs. SuuuUUUuuper blue. The previous batch lasted ~10months before it was clearly time to change them out. I think somebody's been messing with the secret sauce.
I know on my magnetic ballast they were a bit too monochromatic
the captive reef
Active Member
Does anyone know where you can get helios 20K 250 watt DE online?
thanks,
mike
thanks,
mike
Sikryd
hmm...Sweet!
so called? M-80 ballasts AKA HQI ballasts are what DE bulbs are designed for.
+1 That is why he doesn't need any actinic supplementation - because the electronics underdrive the bulbs and produce more blue then a crisp white that the M80 provides.
Last edited:
luke33
2500 Club Member
So for the helios, would the blue wave hqi ballast be the best to drive it or are there eballasts better to drive it? Does the hqi ballast shorten the lives of these bulb's? I'm guessing hqi's better and they do shorten life.
gilmour01
Well-Known Member
ditto....i'm running the same set-up and i'm curious about the helios as well.
Sikryd
hmm...Sweet!
Scott - not sure what the helios look like on electronic. But my 14k's PHX's look crisp white with a hint of blue on M80's. I'm sure yours look blue with the electronic and have lower par.
I'm kind of wondering now, what a good bulb combo is with an electronic.
I run my Phoenix 14k 250's on an electronic and I get an icey blue look. It is more of a white icey blue is how I describe it. Mine are not deep blue at all.
Reef 5etup
Active Member
Im running a icecap ballast 250w with a lumenarc mini III coralvue 20k what would you guys recommend for a nice blue with the icecap? planning on changing bulbs here soon they dont make helios for de? that was one of my choices with phoneix 14k!
gilmour01
Well-Known Member
my phoenix are a crisp white with a slight blue tint. definitely not a deep blue, but a nice mix of white and blue. i've been happy with the phoenix, but always interested in what others are running...grass is always greener kinda thing lol
Sikryd
hmm...Sweet!
Thats cool. I guess its hard to tell the difference in color unless they are right next to each other, or you change bulbs/ballasts out on the same tank.
From the spectrum tests I have read, it seems they always come out more in the bluish range.
I'm not sure though since I haven't actually tested them side by side.
Now I wonder what voltage comes out of the electronics.
macawmagic
Valuable Member
anyone know where you can buy the helio 20k's from? I have them on my tank and its almost time to order new ones, but I can't seem to find them anywhere nor remember where i bought them.
Amici
Community Member
Hello everyone, New to the site but not the hobby. Ive run the Helios DE bulbs and they were killer on getting colors to really pop on corals. I had a sunset monti that was sitting on the bottom getting about 80 par and grew much faster than the previous owner could get it to grow which completely dumbfounded me. Only thing I can think of is that the par and spectrum play a strong part in growth. I have gone through 3 of the 250w DE bulbs, one arrived and didnt fire upon arrival, premium aquatic immediately sent me another. After about 2 weeks, I came home to see the tank looking very very dim. I looked at the bulb and it appeared that it wasnt fully firing. I swapped it out with a phoenix which fired fine. So I sent premium aquatics an email and a picture of what the bulb was doing and again they sent another one out. The third bulb was fine for 8 1/2 months unto the inner glass casing cracked and at that point I just put the phoenix back in. I really wish I could find these bulbs and the quality was higher but I cant. Most places I find dont carry the DE bulbs anymore. As a result I have switched all my DE fixtures to SE and plan on ordering a 250w SE as soon as my Radiums run their course.
I have also heard that the EVC bulbs are the same inner parts as the Helios bulbs but have not been able to verify this yet. A member of my local reef club has ordered them and will report back on what he finds. I really miss my helios bulbs and hope I can find a 20kk that is comparable to these bulbs. As for a place to order them, I dont know how cool it is to post links here so shot me a pm and I know of a site that has the SE bulbs in stock but NOT the DE bulbs. I called them and they claimed they were on backorder but inferred that they had stopped ordering them due to returns. He also added that they had fewer returns on the SE bulbs so I am hoping this is the case.
I have also heard that the EVC bulbs are the same inner parts as the Helios bulbs but have not been able to verify this yet. A member of my local reef club has ordered them and will report back on what he finds. I really miss my helios bulbs and hope I can find a 20kk that is comparable to these bulbs. As for a place to order them, I dont know how cool it is to post links here so shot me a pm and I know of a site that has the SE bulbs in stock but NOT the DE bulbs. I called them and they claimed they were on backorder but inferred that they had stopped ordering them due to returns. He also added that they had fewer returns on the SE bulbs so I am hoping this is the case.
