Halide Q & A

[sirreal63]

Manhatten reefs, Sanjay Yoshi has the specs posted there. I am not home but you can google it easily. You want lamp and ballast tab.

 

[sirreal63]

Cool, I was able to look it up with my iPad.
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting

Phoenix on typical electronic ballast has a par in the mid 70's
Ushio 10k has a par in the mid 60's
XDE 10k has a parin the 90's

I am really surprised the Ushio is so much lower than the XDE, and is about what the 150 watt is. I hope it is just my iPad not working the sight correctly, I cannot imagine a 250 watt 10k being that low.

 

[rad1687]

I just ordered 2 of the XM DE 250w 10Ks! I am so excited, but will wait to run them until I have my 24 led's running for supplementation. Will update as things come along.

Another question: I am using the legs that came with the Sunpod, and the lights are only about 6 inches off the water. Heat has not been an issue, but is there any reason they need to be higher? Thanks!

 

[sirreal63]

That's pretty close to the water, heat issues, acclimation and salt creep would be a good reason to raise them up. You don't have to wait for supplementation to run the bulbs, but you do need to acclimate the corals, you are increasing tha par enough to bleach things.

 

[rad1687]

So acclimate by reducing how long the lights run? Or do I actually need to increase the lights distance from the water?

 

[sirreal63]

Fiberglass screening works better.

 

[rad1687]

One last question, then I promise to stop bugging you! Should 72 watts of Royal Blue and Actinic Violets be enough to add blue to 500 watts of 10k? Or will you even be able to notice the LEDs with so much MH? Thanks for all of your help and patience!!!!

 

[sirreal63]

You will notice them but I doubt it will make it Windex blue.

 

[moondoggy4]

What would be a good T-5 combination using Giesemann bulbs for a Giesemann Infinity 250 watt Radium 20 K , T-5's 4 X 24 watt. Thanks in advance

 

[sirreal63]

I would ask Grimm in the T5 thread, the last time I asked about T5's matching up with a Radium he said blue+ bulbs, but it has been a few years and I am sure there are other bulb choices now. It will also depend on what color you want the T5's to add to.

 

[aqua80]

Hi,

got some questions about my new halide setup, a Giesemann Spectra unit with an electronic ballast 250w. I got the unit second hand, but the unit is only a couple of months old.

I've put a 250w SE Phoenix 14k bulb in it and it is firing well with good color and not flickering, but both the ballast and the bulb are making a small anoying hissing noise... not too bad, but annoying still...

I've had a 20w lumatek ballast before and it was not making noise like this, it was silent.

Is that normal ? incompatibility between ballast and bulb ?

Here is the ballast :

I've open it to see what was going on... here is under the top plate :

melted sticky stuff

and here is the ballast :

thanks !

 

[sirreal63]

I would contact Geismann directly and not even plug that back in.
http://www.giesemann.us/

 

[aqua80]

I would contact Geismann directly and not even plug that back in.
http://www.giesemann.us/

will do that... thanks

 

[aqua80]

I would contact Geismann directly and not even plug that back in.
http://www.giesemann.us/

they say that the high temperature silicone can melt like this if the ballast is in a close space (which it was with the previous owner...) and that a small hissing sound can also be heard...
but the ballast is still good...

will try with a radium bulb to see if there is any difference...

 

[sirreal63]

That's some serious melt. I don't get a good feeling from a hissing sound on electronic ballasts, or anything electronic. I have some that are getting old now and are still cool and silent. Let us know if it gets quiet with the bulb change.

 

[Purple Rocks]

My electronic lumateck 600w have been running on SL for years no hissing noise no noise at all still cool to the touch

Would phone supplier asap and ask, good thing we dont use pcb's anymore!

 

[mintcond]

If you want to grow sps you will need 250 minimum

If you want to grow sps you will need 250 minimum

I have heard that the depth of water will cause a bulb to loose its strength. Will a 150 watt 10000ºK HQI double ended metal halide bulb be efficient enough to keep a mixed reef in a tank that is 24" deep?

 

[mintcond]

If you have temperature issues try using some fans before purchasing a chiller. You will be amazed on how good it works.

 

[sirreal63]

If you have temperature issues try using some fans before purchasing a chiller. You will be amazed on how good it works.

You replied to a post from 10/2008? Do you think maybe, just maybe the poster has already figured his lighting? I am curious if you ever tried 150's and failed or if your experience is just anecdotal?

 

[dram537]

Hi, I have a 36x30x24 mixed reef that has been running for some time with leds. Groth is there but it hasn't really been crazy, so I thought I could try halides and see if it made a difference, since they produce a broader spectrum. My initial thoughtwas to use either 2x150w or 1x250w, but after seeing some seetups here I don't know if that would be enough, or if I'm willing to to increase my currrent power that much, since I'm only using 150w of led for the entire tank. So my question is, what would be the best halide set up for my tank? Thanks