Best Metal Halide Reflectors?

[Atomic081]

Im going to be putting 4 metal Halides over my 750g tank and im looking for opinions on Reflectors. I like the Reefbrite ballasts so ive considered going with them for the total package, but not sure yet. All the brands say they are the best...anyone have suggestions for me?

Also, whats better, dual ended or single ended? Ive been a LED guy for the last 8 years

 

[Navig8tr]

I would use this resource:

https://reefs.com/lighting/

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Assuming yu ou are going with 250w bulbs. I would go SE and run Radiums. What watt you plan to use 250 or 400? How deep and wide is the tank?

 

[Germanwerks]

Lumenmax elites if you can still find them or lumen max lrg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bigcefa]

I sent you a pm I have 6 lumenmax elite moguls I can sell you cheap if your interested

 

[oreo57]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/1/review

 

[biecacka]

ever get over to Ohio. Reefstystems has a bunch of used lumenarc larges (22x22x9) or something along those lines.

corey

 

[Zacktosterone]

Im going to be putting 4 metal Halides over my 750g tank and im looking for opinions on Reflectors. I like the Reefbrite ballasts so ive considered going with them for the total package, but not sure yet. All the brands say they are the best...anyone have suggestions for me?

Also, whats better, dual ended or single ended? Ive been a LED guy for the last 8 years

i like reefbrite a lot but in terms of reflectors, a hamilton cozumel sun is a better reflector and fixture all together. it will cover a lot more. it's almost exactly like lumenarc 3's which you can't get anymore.... that being said they are like 95% similar

 

[gcarroll]

It really depends on the dimensions of the tank to determine what the best reflector choice is. IMO, without knowing that...

So, what are the dimensions?

 

[Atomic081]

The dimensions of the tank are 10' long x 4' Wide x 30" deep

 

[DesertReefT4r]

i like reefbrite a lot but in terms of reflectors, a hamilton cozumel sun is a better reflector and fixture all together. it will cover a lot more. it's almost exactly like lumenarc 3's which you can't get anymore.... that being said they are like 95% similar

This the same one I was going to suggest. Hamilton makes quality lighting. I used Reef Optics on my last tanks and I liked them too.

 

[Germanwerks]

The dimensions of the tank are 10' long x 4' Wide x 30" deep

Ok well that puts lumenmax elites out the picture unless you run 10 reflectors, lol. You can 4 lumenmax lrg and should work fine for you imho that's if you can still find some. I'm sure there are more choices availible


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tkeracer619]

Are you going 250w or 400w?

I'm going 250w on my 600 but my aquascape is pretty minimal and directly under the bulbs.

If you are going 250w I would go with...

Radium 250w 20k SE bulbs
Hamilton Magnetic M80 Ballast
Cabo or Cazumel Sun depending if you want retrofit or pendants.

I would not use a reefbrite, lumenmax, or any other small pendant on a 4' wide tank. Really the only two reflectors on the market that I can recommend for your tank are the two listed above from hamilton. Also, regarding ballasts... choose your bulb and then choose your ballast. Electronics are good all around ballasts but they don't drive a whole lot of bulbs to spec.

 

[JaySchulz]

For that width I’d go Cozumel or Cabo Sun. I can’t say from experience yet but it’s the light I bought for my current build based off of all the research I’ve done.

 

[Mknuwet]

Tagging along on this one. Trying to figure same thing out

 

[jda]

If you need to cover that 4' front-to-back, then Cozumel Sun (or other large reflectors) with 400W is the only real way to do it. It is hard to spread that much. This reflector does not really have any hot spots since it spreads so much. It needs large wattage since PAR can get low under 250W since it spreads it out so far. I would think about 400W HQI or at least use an electronic ballast in Super Lumens - the output is amazingly better... see chart below where the HQI is about 60% more output than the regular 400w ballast:

I have got the same issue coming up in a 14x4x3 tank. I am going to use a combo of Cozumel Sun for spread under the rocks and acropora and also a few LumenMax Elites for depth for my clams - these get the light nice and deep, but spread sucks. I am probably going to use 10k bulbs for the extra output and supplement with VHOs if I need to have the tank more blue. This will have a "hood", so I can hide the retro stuff.

Lumen Bright SE at 16" can spread pretty well if you only need to cover 36 or 40 inches and can leave the rest dimly lit. The trade off for spread is penetration, so I would recommend that you choose and just light the rocks/scape/corals and not worry so much about the front/rear of the aquarium. These are a good tradeoff if you scape has areas where 36x36 would get the job done.

 

[jda]

...for reference, the 250W 20K Radium on M80 is 85 ppfd... or just a bit lower than the 400w version on m58/magnetic ballast. The 147 is a nice gain.

 

[skanderson]

I have 5 400 watt radiums over my 700 which is 36x36x130, with lumenarc reflectors. the lighting is decent but a bit on the weak side. I am planning on running supplemental leds to boost the par and tune the color of the tank. depending on the layout of your rock and coral you could get away with one row of 400s down the center, but if I was lighting a 48 inch wide tank I would consider doing 2 rows of lumen bright reflectors running 250 watt mhs, or do one row of wider spreading 400s with additional leds for filling in and adding flexibility to the lighting.

 

[jda]

Which ballasts are you using?

 

[tkeracer619]

...for reference, the 250W 20K Radium on M80 is 85 ppfd... or just a bit lower than the 400w version on m58/magnetic ballast. The 147 is a nice gain.

Unfortunately they don't make those 400w HQI ballasts anymore, I know where you can order the components PFO used but min quantity is 6. Though, be warned, 400w Radium bulbs were changed a few years back and cannot handle being driven like that anymore. It's basically a 50/50 chance popping the bulbs on startup. Anyone still successfully using that setup is probably on old PFO ballasts that are weaker than they used to be. Giesemann MegaChrome 21,000k 400w are a nice replacement. Kalgra is using this setup with success after losing a lot of radiums and the company confirming they can no longer handle the overdrive.

Also, I'd like to point out that I am also using T5 bulbs with my 250w radiums.