250 watt SE MH lamps compared

[NHMarine]

I bought my 250W XM15K's May 1st 2005.

I will say I love the color & the price, but hate the fact my corals all but stopped growing.

I switched over from XM 250W 10K bulbs because I have a mixed reef and some of my corals did not like the 10K's at all.

Like my hammer & frogspawn, forgot about putting in some mushrooms for color. I even had some SPS which did better in the shade than out in the open.

I really miss the growth of my 10K's. For me there is nothing better than watching my little frags grow up.

I'm not sure what to try next......maybe the AC?

I swear the tank at my LFS which only has 2 175DE MH's is blowing mine away in growth and color.

 

[skippysmind]

great info, thanks for all your help. I purchased the EVC ballast with XM 10k............ great choice!

 

[skippysmind]

great info, thanks for all your help. I purchased the EVC ballast with XM 10k............ great choice!

 

[Scuba_Dave]

l always like referring to this thread. Reminds me why I have PFO HQI & AB bulbs. I'll be relamping w/the same bulbs

 

[phishlet]

l always like referring to this thread. Reminds me why I have PFO HQI & AB bulbs. I'll be relamping w/the same bulbs

Yep. I agree. I'm running the same combination of you and have been for a while. I've tried other lamps/combos but keep coming back to the above mentioned AB and PFO HQI ballast.

 

[phishlet]

l always like referring to this thread. Reminds me why I have PFO HQI & AB bulbs. I'll be relamping w/the same bulbs

Yep. I agree. I'm running the same combination as you and have been for a while. I've tried other lamps/combos but keep coming back to the above mentioned AB and PFO HQI ballast.

 

[Radicaljbr]

I bought my 250W XM15K's May 1st 2005.

I will say I love the color & the price, but hate the fact my corals all but stopped growing.

I switched over from XM 250W 10K bulbs because I have a mixed reef and some of my corals did not like the 10K's at all.

Like my hammer & frogspawn, forgot about putting in some mushrooms for color. I even had some SPS which did better in the shade than out in the open.

I really miss the growth of my 10K's. For me there is nothing better than watching my little frags grow up.

I'm not sure what to try next......maybe the AC?

I swear the tank at my LFS which only has 2 175DE MH's is blowing mine away in growth and color.

I agree, ever since I put my new 250 XMs in I have had nothing but problems. All my corals have pretty much started dying and I am having a BIG algea bloom.

Starting to wish I stayed with my PCs.

Really like the color though. Nice and bright and white.

 

[joeychitwood]

I have a Giesemann Nova II 250 watt pendant with a MegaChrome 13K DE bulb. The light is very white with no detectable blue to my eye. I don't have any actinic supplementation. Any suggestions ? I will be stocking clams, SPS and LPS.

 

[NHMarine]

Radicaljbr, Did you get the 15K or 10K?

 

[Radicaljbr]

Radicaljbr, Did you get the 15K or 10K?

I have the 10Ks. Corals are all dead now and Algae is uncontrolable.

I am sure I have other problems causing most of this (seen in my own thread or in my gallery), but this all started when I switched to MH.

 

[alexchern75]

that last post scared me....I'm about to switch from 260 watts of pc to MH's
I have a 29gal reef with a standard hood, sps, softies and lps....
does anyone have a set up like this and is using MH's?
How's it working out?
which MHs and ballasts are you using...now that I have read this thread im even more confused ?!

 

[alexchern75]

that last post scared me....I'm about to switch from 260 watts of pc to MH's
I have a 29gal reef with a standard hood, sps, softies and lps....
does anyone have a set up like this and is using MH's?
How's it working out?
which MHs and ballasts are you using...now that I have read this thread im even more confused ?!

 

[alexchern75]

sorry about the double post

 

[Radicaljbr]

don't be scared.

I am sure my problem is because of water quallity issues. Tons and Tons have MH with no problems. The lights are not really my issues. They just seemed to have opened the can of worms and started what would have started anyway.

 

[dodo99]

that last post scared me....I'm about to switch from 260 watts of pc to MH's
I have a 29gal reef with a standard hood, sps, softies and lps....
does anyone have a set up like this and is using MH's?
How's it working out?
which MHs and ballasts are you using...now that I have read this thread im even more confused ?!

I'm running a 400w MH setup over my open-top 29g. I run the lamp at about 12" high. Got some great growth compared to the 130W PC I used to run. ...Till my ballast blew last week. No real heat issues, as long as i use a fan when the lights are on. I was using a no-name 10K (PlusRite) lamp. I'm getting a used 400w PFO (standard) ballast today and a PFO 13K lamp.

Too bad I have to tear down the tank in a couple of months for a cross-country move to Edmonton, Alberta.

 

[Shoestring Reefer]

JB NY,

I didn't see any "industrial" lights, like a Philips light that you can pick up at HD. I know some people use these types of lights for grow-out tanks or fuges. Have you considered testing one? Or, have you already but I missed it?

 

[TropTrea]

From the industrial hides I looked at in catalogs the highest was 4100K. I realy don't think that bulbs at this temp would work for any aquarium aplication especially a reef.

Dennis

JB NY,

I didn't see any "industrial" lights, like a Philips light that you can pick up at HD. I know some people use these types of lights for grow-out tanks or fuges. Have you considered testing one? Or, have you already but I missed it?

 

[TropTrea]

From the industrial hides I looked at in catalogs the highest was 4100K. I realy don't think that bulbs at this temp would work for any aquarium aplication especially a reef.

Dennis

JB NY,

I didn't see any "industrial" lights, like a Philips light that you can pick up at HD. I know some people use these types of lights for grow-out tanks or fuges. Have you considered testing one? Or, have you already but I missed it?

 

[TropTrea]

10K verse 15K verse 20K

10K verse 15K verse 20K

One of the things I think people are overlucking is the actual amount of light emitted by these different bulbs. If you look at most of the manufacturer catalogs you will find that there claims of lumins produced by the various bulbs decreases drasticly as the K temp rating increases.


Just a few days ago I looked at GE's special application cata;og and the difference between a MH at 3.5K and 6.8K was roughly half the lumens at the same wattage.

One thing I think must be considered is if you going to a higher K.temp bulb is going to a higher wattage.

The other thing is most people using 6.5K and 10K bulbs are using a lot of additional actici wattage where the people using 20K bulbs often do away with the actinics. So in reality they have a higher amount of wattage as well as lumens on the aquarium with the low K plus Atinic combination.

Dennis

 

[k9cop1512]

I'm looking at getting some replacement MH lamps. I have an Aqua Medic light, 2-250W DE Aqualine 10K, which supposedly is actually a 13K. I'm hearing that I should go to a 20K for better growth, etc. What's the opinion. What brand should I go with? Tim