Current USA Outer Orbit Users

[Guzzetta]

I just hung my new 60 inch Current USA outer orbit MH/T5 fixture over my new 100 gallon tank. I have a few questions for people out there that are using the same set-up.

1. Have you stayed with the Current bulbs or switched out to others?

2. How high over the water do you have your light?

3. What timer settings are you using for your 24 hour light cycle?

4. Any other good advise?

Thanks in advance for all the help

 

[Toddrtrex]

I got the 48" version a couple of weeks ago (( 250 watt MH )), it is over my 75.

1) Right now I am using the stock bulbs. At first I thought they were to yellow, but now that they have burned it, I am starting to like them. (( I normally prefer a bluer look, but I am happy )). At this point I am going to keep them until it is time to change them.

2) Right now it is just 3 inches or so (( whatever the legs give you )). When I get around to hanging it it will be about 5-6 inches.

3) Blue moon lights are on when the other lights (( MH and T5 )) are off, I use the white moon lights only when I want to look at the tank after lights out. The T5s, come on at Noon, and shut off at 11 PM. The left MH on at 3, the right one on at 3:30, both off at 10:30.

4) Advise, only would be to acclimate your corals (( if you have any )) to the lights if this is an upgrade, window screening works great .

 

[rholguin]

I have the 24" 250w fixture over my 29g. I have hanged 11" above the water line. As for bulbs they all got replaced the mh is 14k phoenix, 2 ati blue plus, and 2 ati blue special. The mh is ran for a total of 7hrs and the t-5 for 10hrs. Great fixture for the money.

 

[aaron1987]

I've got the 24" 250w fixture over a 46g column. Replaced all the bulbs: currently running Phoenix 14k, 2x ATI Blue Plus and 2x KorallenZucht Fiji Purple. Great spectrum with these bulbs for both my LPS and SPS. I have the fixture mounted on the top of my tank via the legs. T5 is on for 9 hours, halide for 6.5.

 

[Tyrenlds]

48" 250w T5HO here. Replaced the ballasts with a Bluewave Dual M80, the halides with Ushio 20K, & the T5s with 4x ATI Blue Plus. Liked the light when I got it, LOVE it after replacing the mentioned components...

Fixture sits on tank with provided mounting legs ~ 3" above tank?

T5's on for 10 hours
Halides on for 4 hours
Stopped using the LED's altogether in an attempt to increase growth, seems to work so far.

 

[Guzzetta]

I'm hoping the switch from 10k to 14k in the halides will help. Its alittle too yellow for me right now. Is there a break-in period for the halides?

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14825238#post14825238 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Guzzetta
I'm hoping the switch from 10k to 14k in the halides will help. Its alittle too yellow for me right now. Is there a break-in period for the halides?

How long have you had them? Mine is just about 2 week old now (( 13 days to be exact )), and notice less yellow this weekend.

Like I said above, I normally like bluer bulbs (( have 20K XMs over my 58 )), but these 10K bulbs are starting to grow on me. I ordered some Phoenix bulbs (( was ordering other lights, so decided to save on shipping )), that should be here Friday, I am thinking that I might not change out the 10Ks until they are needed to be changed.

I have a 33 cube in the same room as the above tank, and it has the Current SunPod (( with the Current 14K bulb )) and I think I like the above tank's look better.

 

[tufacody]

I agree with Todd. I have read many people bash the current bulb, but when the actinics are on I think the color is nice. I did, however, switch to a 14k ushio, just to try something different. I feel like I lost some brightness. I definitely would not like it if the combination were any more blue than it is now. I am NOT a 20k kind of guy.

 

[PogoMonogo]

i tried the phoenix 14 and reeflux 10k and HATED them. I got a new set of current 10ks and they are sooooo much brighter. Don't care what people say, the light fires those bulbs better then some of the other ones. Maybe if you change the ballasts they will do better, but personally i would just use current bulbs. I learned the hard way buying 200 dollars in bulbs that sucked.

 

[Tyrenlds]

It's all about the ballasts. Current supplies a cheap ballast that does not provide enough wattage to HQI bulbs. That's why you take a BIG hit in brightness when using other brands, and also why bulbs burn heavily on the blue side. People that HATE phoenix 14K because they're too blue are likely to be using these out-of-spec ballasts.

What current did is make their own bulbs designed around the ballast, which is why stock current bulbs are so much brighter in comparison. Swap out the ballasts for M80 spec and you'll see all those 'dim/blue' bulbs fire bright and crisp.

 

[DarG]

The Current Ballast is a pulse start M138 as opposed to a true M80 last time someone checked for me. It's not what I would call a cheap or bad ballast. It is just not an M80 or HQI ballast.
It will underdrive the M80 rated replacement lamps to some degree relative to the M80 ballast but so do the electronic ballasts that probably the majority of reefers are using these days. You'll take a bigger wattage hit on some bulbs and not as much on others compared to driving them with the spec M80 ballast.

And as far as the Phoenix bulbs ... I only run magnetic ballast. Ive got probe and pulse start magnetic ballasts for 175 watt and 250 watt as well as M81 150 watt HQI and an M80 ballast. I also have electronics in all 3 wattages. I hate the Phoenix bulb on the M80 ballast.

That said, the current 10K bulb is pretty bright. There are plenty of owners of the Current fixtures who have swapped out to many different bulbs to suit their preferences for color. The M80 ballast is the correct ballast designed for the 250 watt HQI bulbs and it would have been nice to see current include a true M80 with the fixture, but a ballast replacement isnt mandatory for the fixture. Its not like they included a probe start ballast which truly would have made for grossly underpowering the HQI lamps and them burning signfigantly different from the designed color/spectrum.

Buying bulbs is always a crapshoot in terms of knowing whether you will like them or not sight unseen. Especially when you have gotten used to a certian bulb for a while. I dont own a current fixture but I did in the past. A friend has one on his tank and was running Ushio 20K's last time I checked. That is a bulb I am very familiar with and it wasnt running grossly bluer on the current fixture than it does on my M80. Maybe a slight bit more blue but not signifigantly so.

Regardless, current has a 14K for those who want to stick with the Current bulbs but want a bit bluer look.
Also, the Current bulbs are ANSI M80 , specd for M80 ballast. So if they are indeed specially made to run at spec on a standard pulse start ballast and not an M80, then they are lying about the ANSI M80 spec. I havent heard anything about that being the case. They are another chinese made HQI "rated" halide that Current is making a killing on just like every other company that has bulbs labeled and made for them in china.

 

[Tyrenlds]

I've run Ushio 20k on both the stock M138 & M80 and can tell you there was a night and day difference in brightness... When I first popped them into the fixture they were disappointingly dim.

Fact is that Current is misrepresenting their product. They use an M138 to save money and by doing that really prevent you from using any of the popular bulbs correctly. When they say 'HQI' ballasts what they're really saying is that the ballast will fire true HQI bulbs... but barely.

And although electric ballasts don't run 250w HQI to their correct wattage either, they would still be an upgrade from the M138.

 

[DarG]

Current isnt any more deceptive than most of the rest of them. They call the electronic ballasts in their 150 watt systems "HQI driving system" and the M138's "HQI Driving systems".
How many electronic ballasts have HQI on them or are referred to as HQI in some way in the marketing text? Probably most of them and if it's not an M80 mag. ballast (for 250 watt) then its not an HQI ballast.

I never commented on how much brighter the ushio 20K 250 watt DE is on an M138 or an M80.

Another electronic ballast discussion doesnt interest me. But just for grins and giggles, look inside your Ushio box and see what Ushio writes about using their DE lamps on electronic ballasts And if that makes you curious as to why, there is lots of info on the web.

 

[Lyfey]

Ok I searched for this thread, and actually got to use the search function. First of all what does HQI mean?

Ok I just bought a 72" outer orbit 250w "hqi" I bought it with the center bulb still the stock 10k and the 2 outer bulbs have reeflux 12k's in them. All are run on stock ballasts.

The stock current bulb is about 2x as bright as the reeflux 12k's and the reefluxs run on the slightly purple shade side. I do not believe that any of the bulbs have had their proper burn in time, I just bought the fixture "unused" and have been only running it for less than a week.

I have been hearing many things about these ballasts being not up to par and such. I was wondering if switching them out for the new icecap ballasts would make a difference? Is there a particular ballast that would work the best with this fixture? I am still learning about MH since this is my first fixture so I def need some help

Thanks guys, Ill keep reading up in the meantime!

 

[DarG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14926588#post14926588 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lyfey
Ok I searched for this thread, and actually got to use the search function. First of all what does HQI mean?

Ok I just bought a 72" outer orbit 250w "hqi" I bought it with the center bulb still the stock 10k and the 2 outer bulbs have reeflux 12k's in them. All are run on stock ballasts.

The stock current bulb is about 2x as bright as the reeflux 12k's and the reefluxs run on the slightly purple shade side. I do not believe that any of the bulbs have had their proper burn in time, I just bought the fixture "unused" and have been only running it for less than a week.

I have been hearing many things about these ballasts being not up to par and such. I was wondering if switching them out for the new icecap ballasts would make a difference? Is there a particular ballast that would work the best with this fixture? I am still learning about MH since this is my first fixture so I def need some help

Thanks guys, Ill keep reading up in the meantime!

HQI is actually a trademarked name for a type of HID lamp made by Osram. It is loosely used in the aquarium lighting industry to apply to double ended lamps that are spec'd to be driven by M80 (for 250 watt) and M81 (for 150 watt) magnetic ballasts. I dont think that there are any true HQI type lamps used in the aquarium hobby by the strict sense of the word. But as it applies to our hobby, HQI are those lamps spec'd to be driven by the M80 and M81 magnetic ballasts which are all or most all DE lamps and a few SE lamps.

The stock Current 10K is pretty bright and the reeflux 250 watt 12K's have been measured by Sanjay Joshi and do not have great par in the testing. I have used them personally, and not found them to have great par either. So your observations seem right on the differences in brightness (for the record, our eyes are very unreliable at judging degrees of difference in par). Also, there are many reefers who have described the reeflux as purple or pink and compared to the 10K current bulb, your description also seems reasonable.
The ballast used is not a true M80 so it will underdrive the lamps to some degree. An electronic ballast will as well. Whether spending money on electronic ballasts will give you a gain that you would consider worth the money, I dont know. But The correct ballast for the lamps is a magnetic HQI (ANSI M80). Personally, I would just stay with the ballasts that came with the fixture. IF I were to change ballasts, again personally, I would go with magnetic HQI ballasts. In the very least, I would allow the lamps to burn in for the minimum 100 hours before spending any more money. After about 100 hours of run time the lamps will have stabilized in terms of color and output.

My 2 cents.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I have to agree that the stock 10K bulbs are (( seem, I didn't test them )) very bright.

I used to have 250 Phoenix bulbs over my tank (( used a Hamilton mag ballast )), and when I got my Current fixture (( with the 10K bulbs, and the Current ballast )), one layer of window screening wasn't enough. Started to bleach my corals, after two days. Ended up going with 3 layers of screening.

It was a long time ago, but I did use the Reeflux 12K bulbs, and remember not being impressed with them -- color and brightness -- to my eye.

 

[GaryR1984]

Re: Current USA Outer Orbit Users

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14824201#post14824201 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Guzzetta
I just hung my new 60 inch Current USA outer orbit MH/T5 fixture over my new 100 gallon tank. I have a few questions for people out there that are using the same set-up.

1. Have you stayed with the Current bulbs or switched out to others?

2. How high over the water do you have your light?

3. What timer settings are you using for your 24 hour light cycle?

4. Any other good advise?

Thanks in advance for all the help

14k Ham Bulb.

4 Inches using the stock legs.

I use a Aquacontroller that turns on my T5's for 2 hours, after 1.5 hours my MH Turns on then 30 minutes later the T5's turn off. Later on the T5's turn back on and 30 minutes later the MH turns off and for 1.5 hours the T5's remain on before my Blue LED's turn on for the night.

Get a Aqua Controller they work great to control the lights.

 

[Lyfey]

My fixture came with 2x current 10ks and 2x 12k reefluxes

Im thinking about taking out the reeflux on the left end and putting back in the 10k for the PAR but I like the color of the reeflux much better than the 10k, it just seems that the 10k is 2x more powerful as the reeflux and I am wondering and starting to think that the growth under the 10k would be much better also.

I am acclimating my corals by only running the halides at first day 1.5hrs next day 2.0 / 2.5 / 3.0 / 3.5 and today at 4 hours. Is this a better way to acclimate than say the screen method? When using the screen do you run for the full cycle of 8hours? I have not notices any bleaching and my PE is awesome at the time being.

I am also going to change out the T5 bulbs for some ATI blue pluses / super actinic and a fiji purple, I think that would be very nice combination of t5s now if only I can get a good bulb (halide) to run in all 3x 250w sockets. Any reccomendations with the Current Ballast? Seems to me that all bulbs are going to run like crap besides the current bulbs. What are your opinions on that?

 

[Lyfey]

As far as an awesome SPS growing machine since the PAR of 20ks are a lot less than 10ks.. how would this sound

3x 20K 250w (insert best suited bulb here)
2x Fiji Purple
4x ATI Blue +
2x UVL Super Actinic

That would be a very nice setup. I think with running the halides at 10k would be too much PAR.. With the 20ks I think it would be an awesome color + perfect PAR.. I am running the 72" so I have 8x 39w T5's

So I think Im going to stay with the stock ballasts based on DarG's advice. But if you were going to replace the ballasts what would you replace them with? I was thinking the Icecap would be the best of them all. Thanks guys I really enjoy the help!
-Chris

 

[DarG]

A true M80 magnetic ballast would be the "best" ballast to replace the stock ballasts with in terms of the lamps being driven to their designed output and color.

The current bulb is spec'd for an M80 ballast so its no different in terms of ballast spec than any of the other DE lamps. It's a 10K lamp. The bluer the lamp the lower the par in general terms. There are some blue lamps with strong par like the Phoenix 14K but in general terms, the lower the ACTUAL K of the bulbs the higher the par.