Radium on Icecap Ballast

this is me

this is me

Active member
I got these old Icecap ballast which I think is one of the most dependable pieced of equipment. It's too bad that the company went out of business.
I know the popularity of the radium bulb and the result you can get with the bulb. However, I'm a little confused as to what ballast can drive this bulb correctly. A couple threads from the search show that the bulb need an M80 which is HQI ballast to drives it correctly. However, some people are saying the Icecap can not drive the bulb correctly and the color is more bulb. Isn't the Icecap an HQI ballast?
http://www.marinedepot.com/IceCap_2...s-IceCap-IC3111-FILTACBAMHTFEB-IC3161-vi.html
 
No it is not, it is a simple 250 watt electronic ballast. Yes it will fire the bulb but it will not run it to spec. Take a look at Sanjay's site and compare the two, the difference in PAR is substantial. Go to Compare MH Lamps, select 250 watt, then Radium.
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting

85 for the M80 compared to 66 for the IC is a lot of difference for the same bulb, and why is usually recommended to run the correct ballast for the bulb you want to run.
 
Yes the Icecap is an HQI ballast, and it will run a Radium bulb just fine. There is a slight color variation from ballast to ballast, but that will make no difference to your corals. I like the Lumatek ballasts these days because they can be adjusted for different bulbs making them more versatile then earlier e-ballasts. Most any ballast e-ballast will run a Radium these days. It's just a question of optimization and taste.

Enjoy your new ballast!


Joe
 
sirreal63 said:
No it is not, it is a simple 250 watt electronic ballast. Yes it will fire the bulb but it will not run it to spec. Take a look at Sanjay's site and compare the two, the difference in PAR is substantial. Go to Compare MH Lamps, select 250 watt, then Radium.
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting

85 for the M80 compared to 66 for the IC is a lot of difference for the same bulb, and why is usually recommended to run the correct ballast for the bulb you want to run.
Click to expand...

Hey Jack!

I get what you are saying, but I guess I'm just looking at it slightly differently . . .


HQI - Halogen Quartz Iodine - a type of metal halide bulb requiring a constant voltage to start.

Is the Icecap purpose built for HQI lamps only? No. Are most e-ballasts today capable of supplying a constant voltage at start up like a magnetic HQI ballast? Yes. Does that make them "HQI" ballasts? I think so. Will an Icecap ballast fire a 250 watt Radium and grow SPS at 24 inches? Yes. Could an HQI magnetic ballast provide more light from the same lamp? Yes. Do you need that to grow nice coral? No.

Not trying to be a smarty pants, but I think it will be fine to use the Icecap ballast for a 250 watt Radium. :thumbsup:



Joe
 
No worries Joe, this place is a discussion forum, I never take offense at an exchange of experience. :-)
No question the IceCap will fire and run the Radium, however the 250 watt Radium has a nominal wattage spec of 270 watts which the M80 gives it, the IceCap will only push 250 watts, under driving the bulb by roughly 20 watts. IIRC the startup voltage for electronic ballasts is much less than the M80 and why many people report longer firing times for an electronic ballast than the M80. There is a difference in an older style electronic ballast and the new e-ballasts, microchip tech is a great thing.

Yes it will be ok to run the Radium on the IceCap, but it will under drive the bulb and with that comes the change in color (more blue) and less PAR. Not the end of the world, but one of the best things about a properly driven Radium is the color and the PAR. Under driving the bulb changes both.

I would not call an electronic ballast an HQI ballast, no more than I would call 86 octane gas Premium. My car runs 91 octane gas, recommended by BMW, but it will still start on 86 octane gas. Just because it starts does not imply it is the same. Highway mpg for my 4400 lb car is 27 with 91-93 octane gas, and if I run 86 octane in it, I get about 22. Yes the engine still runs, but the car was designed for a higher octane, hence it runs to spec with the proper fuel in it. It is not any different with bulbs and ballasts, and why the Radium puts out less PAR when under driven.
 
Color and PAR aside, will under driving a Radium with a 250w e-ballast negatively impact the longevity of the bulb?
 
It depends on who you ask. A lower startup voltage can impact the ability of the bulb to fire, which can impact longevity of the light. The gasses inside the bulb are also designed for a certain wattage. All of that aside, I don't believe it will make much difference, most people change bulbs yearly with no issues. Some of us run longer, I go 14 to 16 months between bulb changes and some go much longer. Over the years many people have run the Radium bulb on electronic ballasts, and as long as you understand the downsides I doubt you will have any problems. As far as far as the new e-ballasts go, I honestly don't know, there hasn't been much information out there on them, but I think they are an improvement.
 
So is the 250W radium overdriven on the M80 or is the bulb really is a 330W bulb.
Looks like if driven by an IceCap, it's about the same intensity as the phoenix bulb.
 
It is not over driven, and the typical 330 watts is the wattage at the wall, not what the bulb is getting, the bulb is getting about 270 watts, per the spec of the bulb.
 
I have a 465 gallon SPS reef tank that I originally lit with 4x Radium 400 watt bulbs, Lumenmax elite reflectors, and Lumatek 250/400 watt dimmable ballasts. Worked OK, but in all honesty, the 400 watt setting was glaringly bright with a huge hot spot in the reef right under the lumenmax elite reflectors. The Radium 400 watters are specified to work with a pulse start M135/155 magnetic ballast at 360 watts, so the Lumatek ballasts were actually overdriving the bulbs at 400 watts.

I bought 4x Hamilton 400 watt M135 ballasts from reefgeek, correct for the Radium 400 watt bulbs, and they are working very well for me. They are bright, which is expected from a high wattage bulb, but they don't glare anymore. Much less of a hot spot as well. A nice compromise.
 
Nick it will get 250 watts and if it is one of the newer e-ballasts with the "HQI" or "Super Lumen" settings then it will put out closer to 270 watts if that option is selected. It gets someone complicated choosing the right bulb and ballast combination. Some SE bulbs are really HQI bulbs in an SE form, Radium is a prime example. There is an excellent article that Sanjay did on this, I have the link but Reefkeeping.com is currently offline so I can't pull it up.
 
Looks like this radium is a picky bulb. I'm not going to change all 3 of my IC e-ballasts to the real M80 ballast that I can't really find just to run this bulb. I may try it when I come across a decent M80 ballast. Also, I heard some real annoying interference when running a magnetic ballast. For example, your TV screen or computer monitor flicker when the magnetic ballast is on. Thanks for the good info though.
 
Nothing wrong with that at all. A lot of people run that combination and are happy with it. When you are ready to try something different, AquaMedic still makes the M80 as does Hamilton. The AquaMedic Reeflex Cube is a great ballast and I have never had any interference from my ballasts but I know it has happened with some people in the past. I don't think it is a worry with our digital broadcasts.
 
I'm running Radiums on my old Icecap electronic ballast.

I'm wondering if I upgrade to M80, will it run other bulbs as wells, like the Phoenix 14K?
 
That article is helpful, except that I'm using the old IceCap electronic ballast. Is that a probe or pulse? which ANSI code do they correspond to?
 
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