par and color for 250watt SE Ushio vs Radium

Zacktosterone

Zacktosterone

Active member
does anyone have any numbers for SE USHIO 10k 14k 20k and radium 20k?

i'm running M80 ballasts, i was thinking of swtiching to xm 10k but I would have to change out the entire ballast.

what i'm looking for is a tank that's not as blue as the radium. i find it's a touch too blue. i want to colour up sps without washing out some colours. i kind of want a crisp white look and i want the sps to look naturally colorful, not just benefiting from the blue florescence. i hope that makes sense.

anyway i'm looking for pictures and par readings if anyone has any?? if i pick an ushio bulb i'm thinking it might be the 14k, sounds like a happy medium
 
Last edited:
JB NY said:
I tested pretty much all the SE 250 watt MH lamps a while ago,

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/jb/index.php
Click to expand...

I can run that ushio on m80 then correct? I finished reading the entire artical before posting this which is a huge swing of luck for me that you answered.

I love daddyjax's rod colours! He ran 10k reflux bulbs on ice caps to get his colours

I also like denadai's tank and he runs 10k xms on electronic ballasts.

See I run m80 and would like to know what bulb to get to replicate the color and growth there guys are getting. If I have to switch the ballast then whatever but what should I be looking for. I want I crisp crisp white I'll be running these alone with actinics at only some points of the day.

The fixture I'm using is a 60" hamilton cebu run by the way

I would also like to add before forgetting that I'm a huge fan of your tank too!! I think I've read your build thread like 5 times haha. I'm just not a fan of the blue anymore. I want a more natural looking tank with intense coloration still
 
I would like to ask. Why is the xm such a monster? I would have to change my ballast to run those properly without killing the life
 
Yeah, you can run the ushio on the m80, it will overdrive the bulb so it might not last as long but it will work fine. It will probably look a little more white as well.

everyone has their own idea of what white with just a little blue is. So it's hard to tell people what to get, but I like the ushio and ran it for years, then I went with the xm10K. I then ran the aquaconnect 14K when I wanted a little more blue than I could get out of the xm and ushio bulbs.

Lights are really only one part of the equation. I have seen beautiful tanks with almost all the bulbs.

yeah the XM10k is a monster, a lot of people ran that instead of the Iwaski after I published those results, it's a PAR monster. I don't know why, they were just able to get the right combination in that bulbs that it is both very bright and not very yellow.
 
JB NY said:
Yeah, you can run the ushio on the m80, it will overdrive the bulb so it might not last as long but it will work fine. It will probably look a little more white as well.

everyone has their own idea of what white with just a little blue is. So it's hard to tell people what to get, but I like the ushio and ran it for years, then I went with the xm10K. I then ran the aquaconnect 14K when I wanted a little more blue than I could get out of the xm and ushio bulbs.

Lights are really only one part of the equation. I have seen beautiful tanks with almost all the bulbs.

yeah the XM10k is a monster, a lot of people ran that instead of the Iwaski after I published those results, it's a PAR monster. I don't know why, they were just able to get the right combination in that bulbs that it is both very bright and not very yellow.
Click to expand...

What's the proper bulb ballast combo for ushios then and xms?? I don't want to over drive the bulb and kill the life span
 
I don't think you can get an xm 10k in SE 250w. I tried a few months ago and was told it's no longer made.
 
M58 or you could just get an electronic ballast.

Yeah a lot of the MH bulbs are not in demand as they used to be, so not as many are being sold/made.
 
I've run both 250w radium, 400w radium, 400w 14k ushio as well as the 400w xm10k. I think the 14k ushio has very very little blue in it and a slight tint of yellow. I would run the Xm 10k over it, that bulb is really a perfect white. The problem with the Xm is I can't find them anymore. I switched to the ushio thinking it would be a replacement but in my opinion it doesn't compare.
 
Realposition said:
I've run both 250w radium, 400w radium, 400w 14k ushio as well as the 400w xm10k. I think the 14k ushio has very very little blue in it and a slight tint of yellow. I would run the Xm 10k over it, that bulb is really a perfect white. The problem with the Xm is I can't find them anymore. I switched to the ushio thinking it would be a replacement but in my opinion it doesn't compare.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm looking for. So I guess I should stick with the radium then because unless I could find an xm I'm out of luck
 
XM is outta the game, they stated they stopped production a few months back. Another bulb Id recommend is the 10000 Aqualine Bushke but I think they stopped production as well, but in my near 20 years of this hobby that bulb produced some of the most rapid growth in SPS corals I have ever seen, while having a crisp white light with little to no yellow tint.
 
I loved the xm 10k. I like the reflux 12k a lot, it's a nice crisp white with good color in it,. It much yellow like 10ks.
 
I love that article thank you. But I don't see the bulb I'm actually running. I'm using a Hamilton 20k. I think my colors and growth are actually better than when I ran radiums. The color seems more blue and crisper too. It's a surprisingly strong bulb.
 
My Hamilton bulbs are coming up on 10 months old. Run times have varied from 5-9 hrs a day. The bulb is definitely at the end of its life span. Color is getting more white and yellow and I'm starting to get some algae blooms here and there. Actually all my bulbs need replaced but I know the halides are due.
 
At 10 months? Have you tested the par? I have seen par numbers on radiums that run for 16 + months with little loss in par.

Corey
 
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