Halide Q & A

[AVDweeb]

Yes but the shift is not as noticeable as you may think, and the shift does not stop growth. I would not take what MD says as gospel, they sell bulbs, the last thing they would do is tell you not to change them, they have a monetary stake in the advice they give, that rarely equates to solid advice. A stand up company they are, but there is no testing that I have seen that requires a change in MH bulbs so soon, unless they are being over driven.

One study by someone NOT selling bulbs indicates the opposite of the mythinformation that has been passed down over time.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/ac/index.php

As always look to your corals for the health of the tank, IME there is little reason to change a bulb driven correctly at anything less than a year. If the color shift is noticed, and it bothers you, then by all means change it but I have never noticed a major color shift and I have never had my corals respond poorly to a 14 month old bulb. You will notice a change in PAR and color initially when you change bulbs, as they do lose intensity but if you read the study above, this happens very early in the bulbs life and remains fairly constant after that.

I have doing the extended change routine since that article came out in 2007 and have not had any issues from doing so. Bad information morphs from good information, and probably this came from people who were running 400 watt Radiums on HQI spec ballasts, which severely over drives them, as the 400 watt Radium is actually designed to be run at 360 watts. For those people a change at the 6-9 month mark is warranted and recommended, and it is possible from that came the notion that all MH bulbs needed to be changed at no more than a year. I don't really know, but I do know that I have never had an issue with running my bulbs at the 14-16 month mark. Honestly they could probably go longer but I like to mess with my equipment.

Sounds good. I'll keep my eye on my bulbs and use a bit more of the search feature. Man this is funny, "No One has ever been seriously injured by using the search function."

Good work.

-Russ

 

[Omie]

Please HELP

Please HELP

Hi RC,
I order a Radium MH 20k (blue)... Well, it arrive damage and I call and they send me another one....
The problem: I had Radium before (and the same 20k and is blue). When they send me the damage one it's specify that was blue. Because it was damage I return it and they send me one and this one say aqua...
Do they have different colors? I just trying to confirm it... Also it looks completely different and it's not blue... (don't like the color!!!)

 

[sirreal63]

What wattage? Have a look at their website, it may help.
http://www.radium.de/en/products-catalogue/6012

 

[Omie]

What wattage? Have a look at their website, it may help.
http://www.radium.de/en/products-catalogue/6012

150w double ended

 

[sirreal63]

I don't have my box's any more, but compare the number to the website, it should be the same. There is only one, and it is listed as aqua.

 

[Omie]

I don't have my box's any more, but compare the number to the website, it should be the same. There is only one, and it is listed as aqua.

I'm trying to find the numbers but the box and paper don't say anything. I find out that they have 3 different bulbs and what is different is the "luminous flux"...
13500/12500/12000
BTW thanks for the site...)
Will keep looking, but if someone knows about it, please let me know...
Thanks
Omar

 

[sirreal63]

No, the number should be 32411166 written on the end of the box IIRC, the ones you are looking at are not the aquarium bulbs, you will notice the color temp in the 3500 to 5600. The link goes right to the aquarium bulbs, there is only one RX7s base, which is the DE 150 watt.

 

[Omie]

No, the number should be 32411166 written on the end of the box IIRC, the ones you are looking at are not the aquarium bulbs, you will notice the color temp in the 3500 to 5600. The link goes right to the aquarium bulbs, there is only one RX7s base, which is the DE 150 watt.

Thank u a lot!!!
Yes I find the num in the box and is the same that appears in the web...
I JUST FOUND SOMETHING!!!
In the box appears the number that u mention...
NOW IF IS THE SAME BULB THE BOX SUPPOSE TO HAVE THE SAME NUMBER
THE ONE THAT SAYS AQUA IS:
4008597111662
MY OLD BULB (STILL HAVE THE BOX) SAYS BLUE AND THE NUMBER IS:
4008597121685

 

[Omie]

I found the problem
The aqua 4008597111662 is 10k
The blue 4008597121685 is 20k

Thanks a lot AGAIN SIRREAL63 for help me with all my questions!!!!

 

[sirreal63]

You did it, I just directed traffic. They do have a 10K bulb so it sounds like you found the problem.

 

[eledile]

Okay, so I am wanting to try a different lighting than LED (just to see the difference) and want to go MH, but I'm going to have an LPS dominated tank, with some softies and a couple SPS, nothing too crazy. Would a MH be too much for that? I mean, is it overkill? I know they are not the coolest running lights out there, and if I have to use T5's I will, but just wanted to know if I was going to run into any problems with MH

Edit: This is also going to be on a newly set up tank, not replacing my current lights. The tank is a 50g cube with dimensions 24x24x20

 

[sirreal63]

That tank is a good candidate for MH, personally I would use 150's but I am partial to them, but a 175 or 250 would also work. Equipment selection is always important. Think not just about what you have today for livestock, but plan for what you may want in the future.

 

[eledile]

Well, the fixture I am looking at is a 150w MH with 4 24" T5's
I was thinking if doing the 20k MH, and then get two blue + and 2 purple + T5's for a nice color pop.
What do you think?

 

[sirreal63]

That sounds like a very blue tank, depending on which 20K bulb and the ballast running it. It will depend on the color you want. Some like the Windex look and others don't.

 

[eledile]

well, I like the look of blue, but I really don't want it to be too blue. Do you think I should go with a 14K and the blue + and purple + bulbs? I definitely don't like my tank to look straight white. I like it too look white with a noticeable tint of blue, and I like my corals to fluoresce a little even during the day. My current tank looks like that, and I really think it's my standard of how a tank should look. I am new to MH and don't really know much about them other than so far they are the closest thing to the sun you can get.

 

[sirreal63]

The really good thing with the T5's is you can fine tune the look. There is no way to tell you ahead of time which will give you the look you want, each person will have a different idea of the blue and white. I would check in the T5 thread and ask Grim or rtparty about which to use as a baseline, keep in mind the bulb and ballast for the halide comes into play here as well, a M81 magnetic ballast will fire the bulb differently than an electronic one, with the electronic usually being more blue because the bulb is being under driven. My 150 watt Radiums are very much more blue with electronic than they are with the M81.

 

[spider1218]

I am currently running a 175 watt with four 40w t8s two daylights and two actinics
this is on a 48X18X24 inch tank
I know its a very old setup but its allways worked well I just built a four foot led light with 12 cree blue leds on it and wow what a diferance in the blue light.
I am sold on leds for blue but I think that mh is still the best light you can buy for a overall spectrum for daytime coral growth. anyone mixing mh and led?

 

[sirreal63]

I am not yet, but have tentative plans to in the near future.

 

[eledile]

That makes sense. Now, what is the difference between double ended and single ended MH bulbs? Anything significant?

 

[spider1218]

Its definitely differant I have a 14k bulb and the difference I see. its like changing it out for a 20k bulb