14k 250W MH question

[chewbaca5000]

Hiya,
I have a couple questions about the lighting setup im putting together. Any help will be greatly appreciated hehe.

I have a 100 gallon reef setup currently lit by 4x55w PC. I am building a canopy to house the new dual 250w 14k MH utilizing two 24" PFO parallel reflectors. I was wondering if the 14k bulb needs any acintic supplementation so i can simulate sunrise and sunset. If it indeed doesnt need acintic supplementation can i still run the acintic bulbs or will it cause some kind of algae bloom or something? Is there a different color temp bulb i should use in that case?

The other thing i was wondering was about how much direct heat these things produce against the reflector. Reason im asking is i plan to drill moonlight LED mount holes every few inches along the spine of the reflector and wire up the moonlight led's for night time but if the reflector gets too hot i dont want the LED's or the wire sheathing melting hehe.

Thanks again folks, much appreciated =)

Cheers,
Bryan

 

[Blown 346]

Depending on the 14K bulb manufacturer you go with actinic lighting wont hurt, but some 14 K bulbs are bluer than most.

You dont need to have actinic lighting with a 14 K, but it wont harm anything.
I have 2 250 watt Aqua cool 14K bulbs with vho actinics and love it.

The reflector will get hot, I have moonlights inmine an they have been fine, just get a decent reflector and you wont have any problem.

 

[jmcmahon66]

I went to an all MH setup with 14K and 20K bulbs, and regret it. I miss the pop and glow of actinic bulbs even though the halides give a blue color. If I were to do it again, I would have actinics in my setup. JMO

 

[chewbaca5000]

Cool thanks =)

 

[Ti]

just see how your MH turns out and add if you feel the need to

 

[crispyreef]

I'm with Ti. You don't need suppliments but may want them.

 

[nemo g]

do some research on 14k bulbs. things to find out and rate according to your importance:

- color: some are more white some are more blue

- color stability: although the bulb can be blue or white at first it could shift into the other direction. all bulbs do this, but some take much longer befre it happens.

- par: the bluer the bulb the less light it is usually going to produce. so if par/ppfd is what you are after, a brighter bulb (and whiter) may be the way to go and add some blue supplementation.

- price: just silly to even think about it. for one, worrying about a few dollars here or there for the most important aspect of a reef, its blood, is just absurd. especially when extra dollars will usually get you a better bulb.

just think about how much money is spent on other throw away spupplies like food, pads, electricity to drive the bulb, etc. the difference in bulb pricing is really irrelevant when seen as a whole. buy the best bulb for you and then find the best price for it. dont buy a bulb that is cheaper just because it is cheaper.

just for information purposes, ive been running a giesemann megachrome coral 14.5k 250w de bulb for the last 3 days, been about 10 hours so far.

the bulb is super bright and super white. its supposed to be one of the most color stable bulbs, said to stay within 3% for 3800 hours. ill let you know within 2 years about any color shift

 

[Fmellish]

My Hamilton 14Ks really make my corals pop. So I do'nt need to run actinics. I can't vouch for any other bulbs. I have seen 14K bulbs by other companies that look too yellowish.

As far as the heat, I would not put anything between the bulb and the reflector. If not melted, its life would certainly be shortened from all of the heat.

Josh

 

[Pennoyer]

The ballast you choose will also affect how the bulb looks/performs. Look at Sanjay's site for all the information you could ever want on bulbs and ballasts.

I have used 14.5K 250DE Megachrome Corals on Icecap ballasts for the last two years and as stated above, they are crisp white with no noticable color shift since the beginning. I also run actinic T5's and although you can't tell the difference in the look of the tank, you can definitely notice the difference in the look of the corals without them on. I'd go with the actinics if you can swing it. I have ROIII's and the housing does get very hot, although I doubt it would melt the sheething on quality wire or the plastic of the LEDs. HTH

 

[crispyreef]

I just upgraded from 175s to 250s on my 125 mixed reef. I'm running 14K hamis driven by blueline eballasts. Nice white with a blue tint. Corals love em and I am not supplimenting. A good site is www.cnidarian.com , he has 250 par values of bulbs on different ballast.

 

[nemo g]

Pennoyer,

im running my coral de bulb in a maristar with giesemann (aka ati, d&d) true actinics. ive held it over my temporary nano (10g) with just the t5s on and noticed my zoos and green star polyps pop with flourescence. but when i turned on the halide, it looked like the halide was just too powerful. not sure if its bacause it was held over close on a shallow 10g.

what are you using for actinics? do the corals at the bottom of the tank glow as much as the ones at the top (the ones that actually do flouresce)?

have any pictures to share?

 

[Pennoyer]

I have 2 x Blue +, 1 Aquablue and pure actinic T5 with Icecap SLRs over a 90. The actinic has never been the best or even comparable to the effect achieved w/ VHO (just got in the new UV bulbs, so hopefully that will change), but you can tell the difference in the look. I wouldn't say the corals "pop" like VHO just a little metalic looking. I don't have any comparison shots due to Katrina, but below is the tank with all lights running just after I started it up again, hence the completely white LR. I am trying to change bulbs tonight and if so, I'll shoot a couple of pics with different lighting schemes on.

 

[Pennoyer]

[/IMG]

 

[nemo g]

thanks for the pic penn, im looking forward to the new ones with the different bulb combos.

i was thinking of ordering a couple of blue plus to get more of a blue tinge to the light. but im unsure if the directional tek reflectors wouldnt allow the light to "mix" well and cause "striping" on the rock.

 

[Ti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7520744#post7520744 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pennoyer

[/IMG]

That looks good, nice CRISP white