Halide Q & A

which are the best m80 ballast aviable for 250w radium bulbs? i think aqua medic and blue wave3 and 7 are still for sale also the expensive hamilton, which one are better? i want 4 radiums for my tank, or the better deal is look for olds pfo? as sanjay studies said they are the ones with more par, but more heat, i hope u guys can help me a friend of mine is selling me 4 coralvue large reflectors
 
Ticotanks said:
Yep they are just transformer and a large starter cap, my shop just went from low bay mh to t5,s and I scored all the low bays that were headed to the dumpster all m59 mag ballast and a case of 400 w 8200k westinghouse bulbs
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nice a lfs in my area used to sell them and they are a great find but they did have a few of them that started small home fires due to bad wireing so be safe and check them 2x's
 
Hi all - I'm setting back up my nano and decided to move back to MH and sell my radion. I'm going with a 14K Pheonix 150 bulb driven by a M81 reeflex ballast. My question is this, which pendant should I look into? I'll looking for a sleek housing for the bulb. I'm not interested in supplementing the light with anything else. Thanks
 
I'm looking for reflector recommendations for my standard 120 (4x2x2). Problem is, I only have about 18" to work with above the tank. I've noticed a lot of the better reflectors are recommended to be hung higher than I have room for. I currently have a pair of lumenmax large reflectors as high as I can get them, but I really don't need the spread they offer. I'd like to stick with 250w moguls if possible. Thanks for any advice.
 
sirreal63 said:
Look at the smaller Hamilton reflectors, like this one...
http://www.hamiltontechnology.com/item/Cayman-Sun-Mogul-Based-Reflector-with-LED-lights-2006
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Thanks for the recommendation. I have seen the Hamilton's, but didn't notice they had some only 5" tall. That would definitely free up some space, but do you think they'd put significantly more light into the tank than the Lumenmax's? Basically, is it worth swapping from what I already have? The Lumenmax's take up a lot of room, but I can work around them where they're at. I'll be building the canopy around whatever I stick with.
 
The large lumen max is a bit too much reflector for a 24x24 space, I am using one to cover a 40x40 space. You are reflecting a lot of light into the glass with a 22" reflector. The smaller Hamiltons will put a nice spread into the tank, and not as much into the glass.
 
Josh125 said:
Hi all - I'm setting back up my nano and decided to move back to MH and sell my radion. I'm going with a 14K Pheonix 150 bulb driven by a M81 reeflex ballast. My question is this, which pendant should I look into? I'll looking for a sleek housing for the bulb. I'm not interested in supplementing the light with anything else. Thanks
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Did you find the pendant you wanted? If not, I'm getting a Hamilton Bimini Pendant with the 150hqi 14k Phoenix next week. Going to light my 20" cube. Might try one of those as it's on sale and cost right at 2 clams:)R
 
sneeyatch said:
Question for the halide gurus -

I'm running a 150 watt DE Phoenix over my 25 gallon cube with a Lumatek Select-a-Watt ballast. Growth is great and everything's going fine, but color is lacking a little. I'm looking for a bulb that will make colors pop more, but I don't like the windex blue look. I'm willing to consider less PAR / growth for better color.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Todd, Check out the AB 20K+ DE bulbs. They are working great coloring up my standard 90G.
 
tjsmk8 said:
I'm looking for reflector recommendations for my standard 120 (4x2x2). Problem is, I only have about 18" to work with above the tank. I've noticed a lot of the better reflectors are recommended to be hung higher than I have room for. I currently have a pair of lumenmax large reflectors as high as I can get them, but I really don't need the spread they offer. I'd like to stick with 250w moguls if possible. Thanks for any advice.
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2 Reefbrite Halide Hybrid pendants are working great for my 90G. You can also retro fit their LED strip lights to them for more pop/par
 
I have a 11" deep frag system and a 250 watt DE fixture. My other frag system is a 150w/T5 combo and that is 10" above and works well. But that is only 10" deep tank...

Looking for a suggestion on the height. Right now I have it at 18" and the ballast turned down to 150w...
 
I have a new tank starting finally after several years out. I have a couple brand new reefoptics III plus / 250DE units I intend to use. I was thinking about getting different reflectors that might spead better. Also was "going" to go SE Radium. But now think I am going to use what I have and see how I like it. In plan on going with pheonix14k DE bulbs in my fixtures and suppliment with T5. I also have 2 brand new icecap ballasts / 250 watt that I bought in the day. Apon research I have no intention of using those ballasts for the reefoptics. My question is what would be the best ballast to run the pheonix bulbs in the fixtures I have? Light will be about 10" above water. Also, I could use some reassurance that these are still decent fixtures these days. Thank you
 
Brian Peterson said:
I have a new tank starting finally after several years out. I have a couple brand new reefoptics III plus / 250DE units I intend to use. I was thinking about getting different reflectors that might spead better. Also was "going" to go SE Radium. But now think I am going to use what I have and see how I like it. In plan on going with pheonix14k DE bulbs in my fixtures and suppliment with T5. I also have 2 brand new icecap ballasts / 250 watt that I bought in the day. Apon research I have no intention of using those ballasts for the reefoptics. My question is what would be the best ballast to run the pheonix bulbs in the fixtures I have? Light will be about 10" above water. Also, I could use some reassurance that these are still decent fixtures these days. Thank you
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Good to hear that someone else is doing phoenix. I'm planning on running at least one. Need people to keep buying them so they don't think about discontinuing them!!! I'm just getting back into the hobby, and I'm not liking where LEDS are at, so I want to run halide/s for a while. But I'm honestly scared the bulbs will just dry right up in front of me. Like CRT's.

In my recent research, the newer e-ballasts like Lumatek have an hqi setting that drives the bulb more, if that's what you were worried about on the icecap. I'm going to be giving that a try.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that the Reef Optix III's are still pretty good reflectors, in that style. There really doesn't seem to be much to choose from anymore, unless you pick it up used.

The Optix III's are supposed to be a little spotlighty, from what I've read. I had a Reefstar over a 40 br and I recall that being a nice spread, and I've dug up a couple anecdotes that support that, but it's not well engineered for par.

I'm definitely interested in hearing more opinions on this as well. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

*edit* Hehe! I just realized you and I seem to be a similar vintage, as far as RC accounts goes. Honestly, I didn't even realize I'd joined RC all the way back then! Time flies.
 
So....I have a major problem with my light. It uses single ended bulb and the ballasts I have for it say that they are for double ended metal halide, does this make any difference?

Also, I bought a couple new metal halide bulbs and everything and the bulbs still won't strike, not even a blue arc. The light has shocked me a couple times when I flipped the switch on. Also, I noticed that when I turn one ballast on the other ballast also turns on so, even though the other ballasts switch is off. I think I may have a ground issue? All power coming into the light is connected to the same ground post and I do not see where any error could occur? Let me know if anyone can point me in the correct direction.
 
Allentown said:
Follow up to the above. I like these in concent and design. I 150W Metal hallide replacement that runs on low wattage, can be replaced independantly of one another and doesnt require bulb changes (and has nice color mixing options).

I just ordered two of the A150W 10,000k and two goose neck mounting arms. I am 100% positive they will work on either side of my center 6 bulb T5 fixture. I will toy around with what bulbs to put in the center T5s ..i think the tank would look good with 100% actinics in the middle since i ordered the 10000k not the 15000k

As far as the marinelands, i may have to retire those (depending on if it gets in the way and blocks the light from the kessils. I will have to see how everything fits when they arrive.

Now the next question.....these are going to burn the crap out of my three leather corals, and green star polyps that i have (that actually seem to LIKE the low end lighting i have).

What is the game plan? Drop everything to the edges or bottom of the tank? ONly run the kessils 2 hours a day and work gradually increase duration?
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I think you made a mistake thinking those were going to replace MH's....

sirreal63 said:
The Kessil 150 is not a replacement for a 150 watt halide, the naming method has no relation to a MH replacement. It should be ok with your plan though.
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+1 except that i doubt that those lights are going to be what he expects....
 
i have a 72-24-30 sps and clam tank,i hate the leds i am running at this time, want to switch to mh. will 3 250 watt mh be ok, or do i need to go with 400 watt.
 
Yes, the 250's will be fine, better with excellent reflectors, I would avoid low par bulbs if using poorly designed reflectors.
 
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