MH fixture owners...Info please!

[RoGeTa]

Okay...Thank for taking the time to open this up and take a look. I'll try and make this as brief as I can so I don't waste any more of your time than I must. I'm currently playing with the idea of buying a metal halide fixture to go over the top of a rimless build (48/24/24). I've been reading and researching and basically just come up with a few questions. Ones that I hope owners can help me with! I plan on using 250w bulbs.

1) How hot do these things get? Is it going to be a chiller required fixture even in an open top designed tank?

2) The reason I am even considering staying with halides is based in the fact that I want radium bulbs. Which fixture(s) are capable of running the 250w bulb to spec?

3) What kind of fixture to you have and how do you like it? Would you buy it again? What other would you get if you had to do it again, if not?

Thanks for any help and guidance!

 

[karsco]

Hello I have been running a 250W MH, Radium 20K, with a Galaxy Ballast and a Lumen Bright SE mini wide. Great bulb, great ballast and great reflector IMO. I have 150G cube and the back half of the tank is MH with the SPS corals and the front half is lighted by a 6 bulb T-5 fixture with mainly Acans, softies and chalices under this light.

T-5's could get the job done but I like shimmer lines and high PAR values deep to the sand bed with MH. LED's there just not quite there yet and are to expensive IMO, no offense to the LED crowd.

I run a Chineese LED fixture over my shallow frag tank and I have it hung very low to get the PAR values I need for the corals in that tank.

To answer your questions
They get pretty hot, but with an open top that will help. My aquarium is in the basement which is cool in the summer so I have no issues there.

The radium 20K is one of the best (if not the best) all around MH bulbs out there, I use a Galaxy ballast to power mine.

I run my Radium with the Lumen Bright reflector, and I like it a lot and would purchase again. I have very high PAR values even on my sand bed. Good Luck!

 

[RoGeTa]

Hey! Thanks for the reply. I agree with everything, and I love the lumen bright reflectors. Which is a mains reason I am leaning toward the lumen bright all-in-one fixture. The only thing I don't know about the fixture is the ballasts it comes with...I don't know that it will run a 250w radium correctly. There are so many to choose from between that one and the geissemann and sfigiloi...it just makes things difficult. It would be a lot simpler with a canopy, but I'm in love with the rimless look.

 

[karsseboom]

Ok radiums are the best 250w bulb IMO. Make sure you get the proper ballast to run the bulbs though, which is an m80 hqi ballast not galaxy or lumentek. No you don't need a chiller I have never ran one on mine.

 

[grigsy]

I run metal halides on my tank and dont use a chiller. Most people I know who do use metal halides do not use a chiller.

Right now I run Phoenix DE 250 watt bulbs in Hamilton Cayman Sun reflectors with M80 HQI ballasts. I really like my current lighting set up.

I tried LEDs but didnt see nearly the same growth as I do with metal halides.

I have used Radium MH bulbs before and liked them as well. I personally like using M80 HQI ballasts with Radiums as they tend to produce higher PAR ratings.

I would suggest Cayman Sun mogul based reflectors, Radium 250 watt MH bulbs and M80 HQI ballasts. That would be a great choice.