HQI de compared to single end bulb any experiences sorry no pictures

[toothman]

I got a comment from a friend that his new de hqi bulb has changed his sps tank color wise, so much. He continued to say that he moved a monti from one side to the de side and it is now blue and the other one remaining under the single end is brown.

I went on to say well, do you have a decent reflector, same k bulbs, on each light and he said yes.


Which brings me to the question is it just the new bulbs or are de better?

I also believe most people really want to like their new products.

I would really like to hear from sps reefers that have owned both.


Thanks in advance.

 

[Ti]

the reflector is different, so it's not a fair comparasion.
I've done both.
For my setup DE was better.

 

[clkwrk]

I had same bulbs same ballast and used spider reflectors with the SE's and ROIII's and PFO mini's with the DE bulbs.

Hands down DE but that could be all in the reflector . Still I perfer DE pendants of a retro kit.

 

[RichConley]

The SE bulbs have higher par, so with good reflectors they win.

Go out and buy some lumenarcs. Its a better use of your money than buying DE pendants.

 

[toothman]

Sorry it would be really hard to vent the heat with lumerics. At this time I have 2 Hamilton fixtures with 6 total 400 watt 10k and 14k bulbs with holes cut in the top of the fixture venting through the top of the viewable 3 side tank. These vents really keep the heat away from the water. For example I do not even use a chiller, it is still in the box 1 yr later, the filter is in the heater room though, which is also the air handler for the AC. So it is about 65 degrees in the filter area in the summer. This obviously helps a bunch.

The main reason to ask about this is that Hamilton makes a fixture with de in now. I am having problems with my 4 yr old light ballast and thought I might just buy a whole new fixture.

I was simply curious if I missed something regarding the magic of de.

 

[gcarroll]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7477009#post7477009 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
The SE bulbs have higher par, so with good reflectors they win.

Go out and buy some lumenarcs. Its a better use of your money than buying DE pendants.

Personally I like the ROIII. With a couple of bulbs, the SE bulb with a luminarc may be the way to go but if you plan on using a blue bulb there does not appear to be a comparison to the DE Phoenix 14K's color and intensity w/ a reflector such as the ROIII or the PFO Mini. Notice that I did not include the Hamilton relfector! Hammertone reflectors have not performed well in reflector test. They do however excel at reducing hot spots. Also the Luminarcs are available with the cooling option.

 

[clkwrk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7477009#post7477009 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
The SE bulbs have higher par, so with good reflectors they win.

Go out and buy some lumenarcs. Its a better use of your money than buying DE pendants.

So spider reflectors aren't good?

 

[mntl]

spider reflectors aren't good

Compared to the luminarcs, no. They have been compared and the luminarc wins hands down.

-John-

 

[gcarroll]

Spider reflectors are as good as or better than many of the aquarium designed reflectors on the market. It actually seems to outperform the Luminarc mini buy a larger margin than it is outperformed by the Lumenarc III.

 

[clkwrk]

Thats not a standard reflector so of course it wins compared to a 30 dollar spider which most use.

I bet the the mini de reflector that SSS makes might rival the lumerarc .

But I havent seen any data by Sanjay or others on what amount of par a reflector increases output

 

[toothman]

When we are talking about hammertone reflector do this include the hammer portion surrounding the reflector and the smaller 12" x 4" smaller reflector around the bulb.

Although I have tried most different Kelvin bulbs I have never had any other reflector than the Hamilton with white inside with no reflectors and the newer hammertone with reflectors. I can say the hammertone is better.

Looking at the lumeric 3 I can see how it would be better, but again the canopy is set up to hold a 6' Hamilton fixture.

I do like the se hammertone fixture, but I have not directly compared anything else.

 

[mntl]

But I havent seen any data by Sanjay or others on what amount of par a reflector increases output

This is what I would like to know also. Sanjays site shows individual bulbs (with no reflecter) and his papers that he has written about se reflecters use the ushio 10k with mag ballast (if I remeber right). The problem is, the ushio 10k (400w) with mg ballast alone shows par at 123. The readings with reflecters vary by how high the reflecter is sitting (6"-12") but show par at over 3000 in some instances!! I do not know how to read the reports, there must be something else the par # with the relfecter is referring to because I cannot see how the reflecter would make that huge of an increase.

THIS is the reflecter comparison I am referring too. You can use the tables at the top of the page to compare what the bulb alone makes.

Can soemone explain how the par in the bulb alone actually comapres to the reflecter (ie can I compare bulb alone @ 6" to w/reflecter @ 6" etc.?) If this is the case the information can be use to extrapolate a reasonable number for other bulbs?

-John-