1050 Gallon Tank Pics

How many hours are you running your 1000 watt bulbs?
How often are you replacing the 1000 watt bulbs?
 
I have been running them 11 hours a day and I will Change them out about every 10 months or so do you have them on your tank and if so what kind of bulbs are you using.
 
How high off the water do you have the 1000's?

Did you notice a significant amount more evoporation when you went from the 400's to 1000's?
 
I have been using 5x400 watt radiums with lumenarc3 reflectors and HQI ballasts. I also have 740 watt of actinics over the tank. Good spread and color. I was very tempted to use the 1000 watters and run them for much less total, but the cost of electricity and the replacement cost of the bulbs drove me away fromt hem.
 
DGASMD-

I am curious about your lumenarc3 reflectors I have been looking at replacing what I have now with them I have my 3 1000 watters
about six inches above the water and I love the color that I get with them but I think I can improve it by using lumenarcs for my 400's It seems like to me that they give off a whole lot more light then your standard reflectors, I was curious what you were using before those and if you noticed any difference in your coloration, you also said you had Radium bulbs. I just wondered what made you go with those, I currently have xm's on my 400's and it is about replacement time so I am trying to decide what route to go.

thanks.

Avansickle-

Thanks for comments on my pics from the Marshall's I will get some more up soon.
 
There are no words that can explain the beauty and aw of this tank, you are simply amazing. But if I had to say a few this is what they would be. You have mixed and blended so many different species of corals, fish and anemones, that are so perfect. Color scheme and organization of this tank can't be beat. If they was ever a truly "PERFECT" tank, you have it. I commend you in how much you do to keep it prestine and flawless. You really posess the "love" in which it takes to run a "real reef" tank. I wish many other aquarist's saw your view even if it was with smaller tanks obviously. You are truly a leader to us all. I give you :thumbsup: :thumbsup:, only bc I have 2 thumbs, if I had more you would get them all.
 
aruba1334 said:
DGASMD-

I am curious about your lumenarc3 reflectors I have been looking at replacing what I have now with them I have my 3 1000 watters
about six inches above the water and I love the color that I get with them but I think I can improve it by using lumenarcs for my 400's It seems like to me that they give off a whole lot more light then your standard reflectors, I was curious what you were using before those and if you noticed any difference in your coloration, you also said you had Radium bulbs. I just wondered what made you go with those, I currently have xm's on my 400's and it is about replacement time so I am trying to decide what route to go.
Click to expand...

I used regular parallel reflectors before with the same ballasts and bulbs. Night and day difference in intensity and the color is a bit more white too now with these reflectors. If I was to change anything to your set up, I would change the reflectors of the 1000 watt bulbs. You will likely have to raise them up a bit for a while to acclimate things to the new intensity, which will be significant.

I personally went with the radiums because of the color to my eyes and nothing else. Growth is mediocre compared to Ushios and the color is not that much better than Ushio/VHO. I say not much better because it tends to accentuate some colors much more and not others while 10000K bulbs tend to accentuate them all the same. These are pretty inefficient bulbs in my book as they crap out at about 4.5-5 months, so they need replacing 2.3 times per year. I am on my third round of radiums and still cannot comprehend why is it that some people keep saying they get 6-9 months out of them :rolleyes: I will likely not go with these bulbs again when they need changing. I was hoping for the XM 15000K to be a nice compromise with a bit more PAR, but they turned out to be pretty bad according to Sanjay's tests. I may just go back to 10000K like Ushio or even try the XM. I tried XM once and it was urine yellow even after a week. I sent them back and got the radiums instead.
 
phoenix unfortunately doesn't make a 400watt bulb yet (that I am aware of) and the AC PAR (170)is not that much more than a 14 k Hamilton bulb (140), which is half the price.

I am currently debating lighting over a tank like DGASMD's, and I am trying to decide 10K XM with VHO or 14K hamiliton solo.
I would love to try the aquaconnects, but at $144 a bulb?!
Steve
 
Haven't looked at all the pages on this thread yet but, From what I have seen so far, your tank is awsome. We just set up or 210 and yours is giving me some inspiration.
 
DGASMD-

Thanks for getting back to me I am definitely going to upgrade my reflectors I think the 400's I have are not used adequately they are mounted to my canopy and when looking at the aquarium it looks very good but I think it would be more efficient to reduce my 400's to something similar to what you have on there, from what I have read the luminarc reflectors will cover a lot more area than the standard I have and by dropping these down more onto the tank like my 1000 watters I should be able to reduce the amount of 400's from 8 to 5 and still gain some light if what I have read is correct. I really like the color of the 20k xm's it looks just about right at first they seemed a little to blue but when I added the 1000 watt 20k's which look more like a 10000k bulb it seemed perfect. I am very interested to see what these reflectors will do to a 1000 watt bulb.

Kentrobb11-
The eel is fed either by a feeding stick or by my hand from time to time he has become pretty comfortable with me he has found his spot at dinner time to where when I feed the other fish he sticks his head out of the cave for his.

Katzmanj-

Wow thank you for the compliments I really do enjoy coming home at night and relaxing to this and It seems like it changes everyday, I am glad you liked the corals a lot of people do not like corals mixed like this but I am a diver and I know what a real reef looks like and that is what I wanted to replicate so thanks again.
 
Aruba 1334:

You have 8 x 400 watt and 3 x 1000 watts over the tank?? My god man. Your electricity bill must be carried on its own set of wheels!!!!!! The chiller must run all day too!!!!!!!!!!

I have 5 lumenarc reflectors over my tank and 10 feet you can stuff 6 total, which I did at the begining. I found the 2 at the ends were wasted at about 40-50% because of location, so I removed one. Mine are about 4-5" fromt he water and the spread is even throughout the entire tank. I can't possibly see using any more lighting than this. I have 95%+ SPS and the rest LPS and they are doing quite well even at the bottom with 20000K. From looking at Sanjay's bulb testing results, The only things similar to the 20000K radiums in terms of visual characteristics and still ahve the same or more PAR with the PFO HQI reflectors are the fllowing:

Helios: very slightly more than the radiums.
XM: you already have that, but they have less PAR.
AquaConnect 14000K: at their prices you might as well continue to use radiums changed every 6 months because the price will be the same.
Hamiltons 14000K: have bad history with most people in terms of poor bulb quality. Then again, look at XM bulbs!

Actually, one choice you have is to go with 400 watt in XM 10000K and leave the 1000 watt as 20000K. They should blend quite well, cut your bulb replacement costs, and increase your PAR significantly.
 
dgasmd said:

AquaConnect 14000K: at their prices you might as well continue to use radiums changed every 6 months because the price will be the same.
Click to expand...

It's too bad someone hasn't figured out who makes the AC 400W bulbs yet. The Phoenix 250W DE bulbs are the same as Aquaconnect (at less than 1/2 the cost), implying that AC doesn't make their own bulbs.

It wasn't until someone went over to Asia and saw the Phoenix bulbs that they made it over here.
 
DGASMD ,

Have thought about the EVC 14k? Looks from Sanjays that on 400w HQI, that they have same par as Radium and the visual characteristics make them 20k bulbs. So far good reports from most I have heard from. I'm in the same boat, wanting a replacement. Radium's every 6 months doesn't cut it.
 
DL said:
DGASMD ,

Have thought about the EVC 14k? Looks from Sanjays that on 400w HQI, that they have same par as Radium and the visual characteristics make them 20k bulbs. So far good reports from most I have heard from. I'm in the same boat, wanting a replacement. Radium's every 6 months doesn't cut it.
Click to expand...

The next question is longevity. If all these 14000K, 15000K, and 20000K have the same spikes and visual characteristics is because they are likely the same bulb. Which makes me jump to the next point: they likely all last the same time.:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
I guess my thought process on bulbs over these big tanks has come full circle. If we are after PAR -10k XM is the way to go. Then simply adding VHO actinics will change the color to our liking AND add some MORE PAR to the tank. So, if you have the space above the tank doesn't it make the most sense to go this avenue?
Steve
 
dgasmd said:
The next question is longevity. If all these 14000K, 15000K, and 20000K have the same spikes and visual characteristics is because they are likely the same bulb. Which makes me jump to the next point: they likely all last the same time.:confused: :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

Yes, that seems to make sense. But...it seems Radium is the most talked about in regards to early replacement. No idea if internal structure of the bulbs leads to early retirement or not. I don't think they are the same bulbs, but perhaps close enough?

I know my Hamilton 14k (which is 14mo old), is not the same as any other, as it is shaped like a football. Right now, I'm trying to choose from the Hamiton again, or EVC14k or the Helios 20k
 
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