Wow!!! HELIOS 250W DE 20K Awesome!!
- Thread starter mbunaman
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that sucks, make sure the metal leads on the fixture didn't go bad.
i had that happen to me and i thought it was the bulb.
Yeah thats the first thing I did was to check the fixture. Right now I have one of my old phoenix bulbs in there. I'm waiting to here back from Eric at fragfarmer to see if I can get a replacement bulb.
dough
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Let us know what Eric says.
What ballast is everyone runing theirs on? Mine is an older ICECAP electronic which could be underdriving it.
What ballast is everyone runing theirs on? Mine is an older ICECAP electronic which could be underdriving it.
I personally don't think the Helio is all that great. I ran the SE which I thought was an ok bulb but the DE is kinda dim. It does give your corals the color pop at first but the low PAR doesn't give my corals the intensity and they start to fade. The phoenix is brighter and whiter but has a wider spectrum. Sanjay's shows how low the Helio is in PAR. I think the reason people like the Helio so much is because of the initial appearance. It's like putting your corals under actinics. They do look more colorful but it's just not enough to keep them colored. I think if I was running 400w Helios it'd be enough.
mbunaman
Active Member
Right now it has been a month I have been using them. I am using the 250W DE on a M80 HQI Ballast by PFO. I just came back from a business trip and I was gone for a week and a half. I noticed my corals grew and some of them really colored up more. Yes they have less PAR then a Phoenix but visually they seem brighter. The only problem I experienced from Phoenix is that it gets dim quickly. So far its only been a month I am still happy with them.
Werdlone
what?
I have been seriously considering going with the helios bulb, but was worried about the quality of the bulb. I have read on RC about bad bulbs that burn out after very short term use. If reefermadness will back up the product, I would definitely try them out.
I ended up ordering 250W DE 20000K Helios. Glad I did. Awesome! I had Phoenix and Hamilton 14K before; Helios is night and day difference. There is no comparison. Running on an IceCap ballast with no actinic supplementation on a 30G nano. Amazing color.
I was also worried about quality issues. I will post in a few weeks how it goes. My guess is some of the failures are because of the overdriving so-called HQI ballasts...
I was also worried about quality issues. I will post in a few weeks how it goes. My guess is some of the failures are because of the overdriving so-called HQI ballasts...
pjr
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The PAR ratings on the Helois isn't very high in Sanjay's testing. The Phoenix kicks out more PAR.... I mention that only because that even though the color may be great, I wonder what the growth experience will be over time.
GSMguy
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Frankie
Community Member
I thought this thread could use a
I am in the process of hunting down the best look for me and have been steered to the Helios bulb. Good thread so far everyone involved. Any updates on your post?
I am in the process of hunting down the best look for me and have been steered to the Helios bulb. Good thread so far everyone involved. Any updates on your post?
I run the 250w 20K Helios, it's a great bulb with a lot of Par I believe 67 ppfd on a magnetic ballast so it's got decent values and the color is great as well...good bulb for 250w DE people
