Halide Q & A

The Kessil 150 with the 10k is a white color temperature some say yellow I do not see that I have a 10k Kessil, I placed on one my 120 tank for four hours and caused one of my yuma's to move and it left a baby, so I would put screen material over the tank and remove one layer a week.
I am not sure if you can change your mind of the 10 k or not or if they have not shipped you might like the 15k better more blue. Marine Depot had a really comparison showing the different models. They are a sponsor here.
 
moondoggy4 said:
The Kessil 150 with the 10k is a white color temperature some say yellow I do not see that I have a 10k Kessil, I placed on one my 120 tank for four hours and caused one of my yuma's to move and it left a baby, so I would put screen material over the tank and remove one layer a week.
I am not sure if you can change your mind of the 10 k or not or if they have not shipped you might like the 15k better more blue. Marine Depot had a really comparison showing the different models. They are a sponsor here.
Click to expand...


From what little i have read the PAR readings are a fair amount better with the 10,000ks I have plenty of supplemental actinic lighting already on the tank. Worse case scenario ill buy two of the 15ks or 20ks and add them in later for a total of 4. :)

Im lucky enough right now that i dont need to worry about the dimmible/color options at the moment as i have 6 settings of light intensity/color spectrums hat i can control/bring on line gradually with my additional supplemental lights that are already on the tank.

Also not concerned with the my tank being 60 inches. There is noting on the outer 8 inches of each side of the tank as its basically just extra swimming room for the fish...plus i do have that T5 system sitting in the middle. I read some where that mixing T5s with LEDs is actually a good thing (for some sort of light spectrum reasons that were over my head). I have the wonky center brace on my tank to contend with also which left me thinking i might be better off with those 18 inch x6 T5ho bulbs over the center rather than having to shoe horn a spot light style LED to one side or the other (of the center brace).

...actually, adding two additional A150s in either 15 or 20k might make a nice upgrade path. It would increase the total PAR and give me yet another phase of intensity in the light schedule.

I should add that im a total newb and have only kept leathers, zoa's, gsp and a maze coral (that doesnt look great right now). I really know almost nothing about lps/sps corals (or corals in general) but im hoping to expand "a little" with these lights.

Ill be happy if i can keep just a few of the more demanding corals in the upper 12-16 inches of the tank, ive no need for sps on the sand bed. I would like to keep a clam one day on the sand bed along with my maze coral....

Am i way off base or on track with my thinking?
 
I am in the process of setting up a new reef tank and scored a MH light fixture but i have a few questions about it. The tank is 65Gallon (36x18x24) the light i got used off another reefer is a 36 inch current usa with 2 150 bulbs 4 T5s and some LEDs.... My question is the light came with legs to sit on top of the aquarium but is that to close to the water? It is only a 4-5 inches above the tank and I know MH run hot so im just curious if that will not work ? I would rather not mount it to the ceiling if i dont have too.

Also i want to replace all the bulbs because im not sure how old they are any suggestions?
 
I use a MH 175 watt 10,000k in my tank (24" deep) and corals are doing very well. I do change the bulb every 10 months or so.
 
Hi,

Was hoping for some help from the MH experts. I am I the process of upgrading my tank and want to switch to MH from t5. I am really leaning towards 2 lumen bright mini se, with 250 w radium bulbs on the aquamedic reeflex ballast. New tank dimensions will be 48"x24"x29". Will the 2 x 250 radiums in the lb minis be enough coverage for this tank? The tank will be mostly sps and I want to keep clams on my sandbed. Also is there a special adapter to connect the lb pendants to the reeflex ballasts? For actinic supplementation I was thinking of going with 1 48" super actinic strip from build my led. Really hoping this combo will work for the new tank. Thanks!
 
Yes the Mini's will work, though not ideal for the tank, they are spotlights but if you raise them up high enough they will do the job. I have not seen a specific adapter available but it is easy to change out the plugs with twist locks or hard wire the reflectors to the ballast plug. I don't know about the LED Actintic, have not seen one in person yet, but if you go that route, make sure the LED's do not get too hot.
 
sirreal63 said:
Yes the Mini's will work, though not ideal for the tank, they are spotlights but if you raise them up high enough they will do the job. I have not seen a specific adapter available but it is easy to change out the plugs with twist locks or hard wire the reflectors to the ballast plug. I don't know about the LED Actintic, have not seen one in person yet, but if you go that route, make sure the LED's do not get too hot.
Click to expand...

Cool thanks, is there something better for reflectors out there? Like the hamiltons. Lumen arcs are getting pretty hard to come by these days it seems. Really not too many other choices is there?
 
The number of choices are getting smaller each year. If you can find the LumenArc Mini's they are an awesome choice, and they do appear in the For Sale section frequently, I have a pair and will probably never sell them. The Hamilton's are a good choice as well but I haven't had one of theirs since the ReefStar, which was a great fixture. There is nothing wrong with the LB's as long as you can raise them up high enough to spread the PAR out.
 
sirreal63 said:
The number of choices are getting smaller each year. If you can find the LumenArc Mini's they are an awesome choice, and they do appear in the For Sale section frequently, I have a pair and will probably never sell them. The Hamilton's are a good choice as well but I haven't had one of theirs since the ReefStar, which was a great fixture. There is nothing wrong with the LB's as long as you can raise them up high enough to spread the PAR out.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for the response. will keep my eye on the FS section to see what comes up.. Yeah I read that he LB's worked best at like 12-18 inches from the surface and that was a benefit because it helped disperse some of the heat from the bulbs. I know LED is going to be the future but it seems like there are still too many great SPS tanks running MH, just wish there were more choices... Heck even with the M80 ballast choices are slim pickins...
 
If the rest of the system is set up to not add too much heat to the system then probably not. If you have a canopy with a closed top and high wattage pumps in the tank then you may. On my old 125 I had 3-250's on it for a while with VHO actintics and did not need a chiller after replacing all of my pumps with more energy efficient ones and going with an open top canopy. It all comes down to heat management, and how you address the heat that is created goes a long ways towards not needing a chiller. My current 110 has 450 watts of light and numerous pieces of equipment and not only do I not need a chiller, I don't even have a fan on it.
 
Thanks for the input. I ended up finding a good deal on a Tek 8 lamp 60" t5. I've always liked T5, so I'm going back to it. LEDs just didn't work out for me.
 
On my old 90 euro tall, with a 150 halide over each of the two openings (about 6" up), it really needed chilling. Probably because of the very small surface area of a tall, and the small openings.
 
New to mh not to hobby. I am in the planning stages of a 120g 48x24x24 I have had t5 on my old 75 and loved them built a led hood for my aquapod and its OK and now want to try mh maybe with 2 t5s I am trying to get some lumen max elite reflectors for a good deal and was thinking of going with 2 250w mh on the tank with possibly 2 actinic t5s the does this sound good I want mostly spa and clams LPs. Also I'm unsure of the bulb I want to use I have heard good things about the radioms but like more of a crisp white so maybe something else like the 14k or a 10k with the other lights I need help what's best and what would be the best ballast to use since im not sure of bulb
 
I was able to get a Current USA MH fixture for my new 65g build but in the mean time i want to run it on my 30. It is 2 x150watt MH and 4 T5 bulbs..

My questions are how long should i leave the MH bulbs on for to start and what type of T5 bulbs should I run? I will be replacing both MH bulbs with 14k phoenixes I think. Also the fixture will be sitting on top of the tank with the mounting legs it came with i can not hang it from the ceiling (planning on getting a fan to help with heat across the surface)

Any insight would be great! thanks
 
Hey all, I've been a metal halide user for a long time and currently have 2x250w mogul base Radiums running on Icecap electronic ballasts. They've never let me down and fire everytime but growth has been slow.
I've heard a lot of good things about the Lumatek adjustable ballasts as they have the 250w hqi setting which a lot of people use and like for the Radium bulbs.
My question is: whats the difference between the icecap electronic ballast and the Lumatek adjustable ballast, My plan is to stay with Radium 20k or phoenix 14k mogul bulbs.... which ballast will run either of these bulbs better?? Is there a substantial difference? I think I read somewhere a while back that the Lumatek adjustable ballast is Micro-processor based and can sense the bulb and slightly adjust its output for aging bulbs where the electronic ballast don't do this, is this true?
 
I am sure some others will chime in, but I think your slow growth could be water params, but most likely the 20k bulb. 14k will give you better growth.

I have a 14k Hamilton bulb right now and it is working good so far. Granted, I haven't been running it a couple of weeks, but....

I tried a 20k SPS bulb and I wasn't impressed. I hear only good things about the 20k Radiums, but 14k will be better for growth. Try it out, if you don't like it then you can change back.
 
So im setting up a MH light this week its a current USA fixture with 2 150w Phoenix 14k bulbs 4 t-5 and moonlights.

My 2 questions are its going over a 30g mixed reef for the 4 T-5 bulbs should i just use pure actinic? and what do you recommend for run time on the MH bulbs to start? 6 hours maybe?
 
Pdm2476 said:
So im setting up a MH light this week its a current USA fixture with 2 150w Phoenix 14k bulbs 4 t-5 and moonlights.

My 2 questions are its going over a 30g mixed reef for the 4 T-5 bulbs should i just use pure actinic? and what do you recommend for run time on the MH bulbs to start? 6 hours maybe?
Click to expand...

is this a new fixture a upgrade over a tank that's been running or is this a whole new setup??

if its a new set up you should be good with the 6hrs if its a upgrade on a tank that's been running you may want to start out with 4hrs and work your way up

as for the actinics I have an older larger ver of your light that has pcs not t-5 but I run all of them actinic but I like blue tanks so its going to come down to how you want your tank to look with the MH off I would say go for it
 
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