lighting advice needed

zapata41

zapata41

In Memoriam
ok i currently run 2 250w 10k xm on icecap ballast in lumenarc reflectors with 2 140w vho actinic. i like the growth but dont really care for the color, the color from my 175w iwasaki14k is way better but i would like the color to look like some of the 14kpheonix tanks i see, with that POP look, kinda like having the actinics on with bright light too.

so i am switching to 400w electronic ballast with no suppl. so what would be a good bulb to get. am am also wanting to raise my lumenarcs up about 4" to get some better spread over the 180 so i bulb cant have less par than the ones that i am running. i looked on sanjay's site but dont really see color temps for a lot of bulbs listed.

so opinions welcome as are pictures

TIm
 
instead of the electronic ballast-try an hqi ballast(m80)and you can use radium's.or with the electronic xm has 15k and 20k.i believe blv has a 20k and helios has a 20k.i can only vouch for the radiums.i haven't used any of the others-i'm currently useing reeflux 10k but am switching them out for the 12k.once i'm done playing around with the new must have bulbs i'm switching back to radium.
 
i use reeflux 12k's on both elec. and mag. ballasts and neither make any real pop...great color, but not the actinic-like pop you want. Radiums will make them pop on either hqi like said(brighter, a little more 14K'ish), or even elec.(more blue, slightly dimmer). otherwise, probably going to need actinics.
-jmo
 
pfo or sunlight supply bluewave-will give you a real good look-lots of pop-but (and it is an expensive but)the bulbs are only good for 7 months tops-lots of people say only 6,but i thought they were fine on the 7th month.they look like any other 20k on an electronic ballast.
 
ehh, dont really wanna switch bulbs every 6 months.

so is there anything else that will look real good. i like that color from my 14k saki butthey only make it in a 175w. i am not wanting to buy a new vho ballast and would rather just upgrade to 400w. i just wish that corals like my pink pocci would not look brown with a hint of pink like it does, but under the saki 14k bulb it is bright pink.

how good are the aquaconnect 14k and what do they run each.

also i would like to only run a e ballast as to not puch the energy usage up over my current setup

Tim
 
hey tim,
i am receiving my Aquaconnect 14k 250 watt on friday.... i will be using a reef fanatic e-ballast....i have heard that these bulbs are the SE version of the Phoenixs, but the AC also have very good PAR. I have heard that they blow the hammy 14k out of the water.... I am going to be running it in a lumenarc mini un-supplemented....sounds like what you want to do but on a smaller scale....when i get it fired up i will let you know how they look and ill try to take a few pics...

BTW, the only site that i have been able to even see where they are sold is www.aquaristics.com and they run about $119 for the 250 watt. He has been out for some time with the 250's, but it looks like he has the 400 watter in stock for $145...pretty pricey, but i've heard its one of the best 14ks on the market... I was lucky enough to find a member of RC who had a virtualy unused bulb that he sold me.... but i will be sure to let you know of my results!
 
ok well the 250w version doesnt have the greatest par, under a 100 and is actually a little less than the pheonix 14k. but if they look right then they might be worth it in the the 400w version sicne i will get more par out of the 400w AC 14k than i do out of my 10k xms right now, 117 vs 146 from the ac 14ks

Tim
 
400 watt xm's 10,000k on a PFO HQI ballast kicks out a wopping 203 par...I would go with that with actinic supplementals,,, I now run 400 watt radiums on a pfo HQI ballast overdrives the bulb makes it look more like a 12-14k.... very light crisp bluish white light but the par is only around 130 new.... I will be changing to the above setup when these bulbs are bad.... by the way the colors of my acros are electric!!!!!!!l
 
I've been using a 250W hamilton true 10000k bulb along with an XM 20000k bulb on icecap and ARO ballasts. The hamilton looks very white and nice, and my sps grow very quickly. The 20000k just adds some blue to the color, not as good with grow as radium though.
 
i dont need the high par from the 10k on a hqi ballast. i am happy with the par i have now, just figuring since my vho ballast died that i would switch over to a 400w bulb and not run actinics

Tim
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7249330#post7249330 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nemofish2217
just curious, why does this site have a different rating for PAR? im not real good with this lighting PAR thing...according to this website www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm , an AC 14k on a reef fanatic e-ballast has a PAR of 441. Is this in a different measurement?
Click to expand...

Diffrent way of measuring, measuring with or without reflectors at diffrent distances ect,....

Sanjay mesures in a specific way, I think 6 inches from the bulb with no reflector. Other people may measure right at the bulb with a reflector, or whatever.

Whiskey
 
well i do like how everything is growing and how i handle my heat issues, since i have to run a heater most of the day and night. but i would like a few of my corals to show some better colors liek they did when i got them from 20k lit tanks. i have a birdsnest that i got from a friend under 20k xms 400w and it looked sweet, then when i bring it home to my tank its didnt look so sweet, when the actinics are on it looks awesome but other than then only so so


Tim
 
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