Halide Q & A

Thanks DavidinGA.

I'm strongly considering going just T5 by purchasing a 5ft ATI Sunpower 8x80 but I can help but wonder why more don't just go only T5.

-why spend the money in equipment and electricity that comes w going w MH?

-what are the benefits of MH w/T5 over going only w/T5?

I'm not trying to argue. I want to get what will be best for the corals that will going into my system so I'm wrestling with this decision.

Any insight is appreciated.
I answered you in another thread, but I would add that I went with MH over T5 for simplicity and because the MH setup I got used was dirt cheap. If a 5ft sun power setup was for sale for pennies on the dollar like my MH setup was I'd have it over my tank to try out instead...
 
Another question I have is magnetic or electronic ballast?

Theres about $150 price difference.

Any thoughts? What are you guys using?
 
I have used both in a couple different wattages, I prefer the proper magnetic ballast for the bulb I am running.
 
If you already know what bulb you will be running get the proper ballast for that bulb, if you do not know or plan on using a variety of bulbs then go electronic.
 
it would probably be the hamilton 14K. the magnetic ballast won't support phoenix or radium bulbs but according to them, it will work on 95% (odd) of the other bulbs on the market.

What bulb combo do you use?
 
You would still be fine firing the Radium and Phoenix on a magnetic ballast assuming that it is pulse start - ANSI Code M153. This is not the spec ballast for the Radium, but it will still supply enough voltage to the lamp to fire it up. Even a probe start magnetic ballast - ANSI Code M58, would still probably fire the Radium most of the time, but I wouldn't risk it. Going with a good electronic Select-a-watt ballast such as the Luxcore is not a bad option at all if you want to play around with different lamps. Some other good brands are:

Ushio, XM, Giesemann (extremely similar to Ushio), AquaConnect, Aqualine Buschke, Coralvue, etc..
 
The magnetic ballasts that comes with one of the Hamilton Cebu fixtures I'm looking at is the M 58. It would come w Hamiltons 14k bulb
 
I am running Radium and M80. The M58 is pretty much a standard (most common) 250 watt ballast and will fire the bulk of the 250 watt bulbs still out there. Some people like the Hammy 14k, and some people do not. I ran it for a few years and liked it, but I ran the DE version. If you have doubts, get the electronic, even if it won't run all bulbs to spec, it will do the job.
 
I just bought a 36" Maristar 2x250w DE MH + 2x39W T5 fixture with the Galaxy electronic ballast. I plan to put it over a frag tank that is 4'x2'x1' which holds mostly SPS, but also Zoas and some LPS. I'm going to use the Phoenix 14000k bulbs, and some combination of the following T5:
Giesemann Actinic Blue
Giesemann Super Actinic
ATI True Actinic
ATI Blue Plus

I like a blue ~17000k color, but I didn't want it to be too blue, so I bought one of each and was thinking I'd mix and match one of the blue and actinics.

I have a few questions:
1. Any suggestions on T5 combination?
2. I'm acclimating from an LED fixture - how high off the water should I start? What length photoperiod? Should I use screen?
3. The corals are all about two inches off the bottom on egg crate. I was considering shading half the tank for the softies/LPS. Any suggestions?

If you can't tell, I'm concerned that this may be a little too much light for such a shallow tank.
 
The 14k Phoenix lamps are going to run pretty white in my opinion, especially after they burn in. I'd suggest running a couple of blue plus T5's to go along with it. The downside to T5 supplementation, especially when you only have two of them supplementing 2 x 250's, is that they're not going to be that noticeable unfortunately. Of all the "blue" T5's out there the ATI Blue Plus will have the most punch and give you the most pop in conjunction with the 2 x 250 Phoenix lamps.

A lot of your acclimation will depend on the LED's you're switching from, the intensity they're set at, and how high off the water they are now.
 
The 14k Phoenix lamps are going to run pretty white in my opinion, especially after they burn in. I'd suggest running a couple of blue plus T5's to go along with it. The downside to T5 supplementation, especially when you only have two of them supplementing 2 x 250's, is that they're not going to be that noticeable unfortunately. Of all the "blue" T5's out there the ATI Blue Plus will have the most punch and give you the most pop in conjunction with the 2 x 250 Phoenix lamps.

A lot of your acclimation will depend on the LED's you're switching from, the intensity they're set at, and how high off the water they are now.

Thanks! So do you think the actinics would be even better than the Blue Plus? They're not nearly as white.

I'm currently using a 36" Pacific Sun Metis Hyperion R2 (http://www.pacific-sun.eu/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92&Itemid=192). I'm running it about a foot above the waterline at 50% power in the Bali Sun mode.

I guess a better way to ask about the acclimation would be where do you think the light should end up? I was tentatively thinking 12-18" above the water, T5s on for ~10 hours, MH on for ~6 hours. Does that sound reasonable?
 
True actinics are roughly 420nm, while the Blue Plus are 450-460nm. The actinics will be more of a purple / blue while the blue plus are more of a solid blue. Because of this the true actinics are going to have even less punch, and be even less noticeable while the halides are on. While the actinics are my personal favorite color of blue supplementation, they're just really hard to run when you only have two of them in T5 trying to supplement your 2 x 250's. I'd still stick with the Blue Plus.

For acclimation over that tank I'd start the fixture around 15" - 16", and run the halides for 4-5hrs per day, maybe running the T5's an hour in front of that and an hour in back of that. I'd try to work the halides up to 6-7hrs per day at around 12" - 14" height, again with the T5's being an hour in front and an hour in back.

Keep in mind that every 3" you raise the light will have approximately a 90% decrease in light reaching the corals.
 
True actinics are roughly 420nm, while the Blue Plus are 450-460nm. The actinics will be more of a purple / blue while the blue plus are more of a solid blue. Because of this the true actinics are going to have even less punch, and be even less noticeable while the halides are on. While the actinics are my personal favorite color of blue supplementation, they're just really hard to run when you only have two of them in T5 trying to supplement your 2 x 250's. I'd still stick with the Blue Plus.

For acclimation over that tank I'd start the fixture around 15" - 16", and run the halides for 4-5hrs per day, maybe running the T5's an hour in front of that and an hour in back of that. I'd try to work the halides up to 6-7hrs per day at around 12" - 14" height, again with the T5's being an hour in front and an hour in back.

Keep in mind that every 3" you raise the light will have approximately a 90% decrease in light reaching the corals.

Thanks for the great advice! That's exactly what I was looking for.
 
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