Show me your 20k Radium tanks?

[J.R.L.]

i just ordered a blue wave 7 ballast, 2 radiums, 2 lamp cords,and 2 lumen bright larges! cant wait for them to come in! ill post pics when they do

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14619163#post14619163 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FFrankie
Todd March has mentioned the Helios being an interesting bulb. I am going to get a set to see what they look like on my 400w galaxy's after a few months. Still burning in the Radium's here though atm..

The 400 SE helios are an awesome bulb. Marshall (CAreefer) used/uses them and his colors were second to no one. I ran the 250 DE helios and still run them on a QT tank. The 250 SE were not what I liked so I stuck with the radiums. A couple other great SE 400's, depending on what you like and what you run as supplememtation are the giessman 14k and especially the aquaconnect 14k.

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14618859#post14618859 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by einsteins
Well .....Late last month my bulbs suddenly color shifted big time.

they suddenly lost about 50% of their intensity and shifted WAY to the blue side.

Thats wierd, they usually shift away from the blue towards a pinkish purple as the blue spectrum is the first to go in any bulb.

Did they all go? Did you try them on another ballast?

 

[Dejavu]

Hey everyone,

I'm in the market for a new bulb. Currently I running 400w 12k reeflux's w/out supplementation. I would like something a little bluer. I using blueline e-ballast, which run closer to 370-400. I have used 20k XM's but IMO they weren't power enough to look more than just super blue with my ballast.

Do you think radium would look OK on this ballast or is there an other option.

 

[onetrickpony]

 

[J.R.L.]

 

[FFrankie]

Looks good JRL. Good to see another lumen bright reflector set up. What ballasts and wattage are you useing? It does not say in your thread~

 

[J.R.L.]

sorry i just got them the other day, its a blue wave 7 ballast, 2 radiums of course, and lumen bright larges...oh 250w

my colors have browned out a month ago due to losing quite a few fish at once so hopefully everything will color up

i also plan to add a 4 bulb t5 retro to tweek the colors

 

[SuperR*]

Looking good guys, I am trying to decide between the Galaxy and Blue wave 3 for SE 250w Radium.
On the fence ... not sure. What do you think

 

[mojo~]

I really like my galaxy ballast. Runs really pretty cool too. No issues/

Mojo~

 

[Dave's Reef]

I like mine....

I like mine....

Running a pair of 250watt Radiums in Lumenmax Elite reflectors driven with Galaxy ballasts and supplementing with a pair of 54watt fiji purples and a pair of 54watt UVL Super Actinic's on an IceCap 660

Tanks only been up 5 weeks now!

 

[mojo~]

Nice work with your top. I am in the process of kinda doing the same. Dual 250 radiums with galaxy ballast. I am torn between t5 suppliments or running VHO super actinics.

Anyone have any suggestions. I have a t5 ballast but I also have a ICE cap 660 ballast. I went with the LumenMax 2 reflectors because they were more narrow. My tank is only a 90g. My newcanoy will be here this week so I would like to order any suppliment stuff I will order monday. I have used most of the top t5 reflectors and wl most likely get icecap or tek for a broader spread. I used to use aquactinic brand that are more narrow. Well any help would be great. So I will be adding 2 t5 or 2 vho just not sure what yet. Thanks again Mojo~

 

[SuperR*]

Looks great Dave. You might have just answered my question as far as what ballast to run with the 250w radium.

 

[Dave's Reef]

Hey Mojo-

I'm using the IceCap reflectors for my T5's and am real pleased so far. This is my first experience with T5's so I don't have anything to compare to reflector wise....

Previously, I was using, for years... 4x 96watt PC's supplementing a couple 20K XM's driven by a PFO ballast over a 60 gallon tank with great results.

I like the IceCap reflectors though... they seem to give off a lot of light spread despite being 2 in front and 2 in back of the LME's. I run my T5's for 12 hours and only run the Radium's for 8 hours. The radiums are set to come on separately and only run together for a couple hours to simulate the high noon sun and then the reverse and so on and so forth... yadda, yadda, yadda

Hope this helps!

 

[macreefster]

love the look of the radiums..... great tanks everyone.

question. i am currently running 250w phoenix 14k's on a bluewave 7 HQI ballast with lumenmax 3 reflectors. i only use t-5's before and after the halides, not during. while i like the phoenix bulbs, i'd like a little more pop in my coral and fish colors. i realize to switch to radiums i would have to replace my lumenmax 3's with lumenmax 2's. my question is, will i lose much par going from the phoenix to the radiums?

thanks for your help.

 

[hatfielj]

My tank is still quite young (current tank is only <2 months, rocks are about a year old though, some corals are older, but most are still frags)

 

[Dave's Reef]

SuperR- Glad to help, I'm very pleased with the look and results so far with Radiums and the Galaxy's. I've run 250watt and 400watt Radium's before with the PFO HQI ballasts and the Galaxy stacks up pretty well to PFO in my opinion!


hatfielj- Wow... Gorgeous tank, I love it! Do you have any netting or mesh "lid" over your tank for your Wrasses?

 

[hatfielj]

Thanks, No mesh over the tank right now. I haven't had any problems with the wrasses yet, but I plan on adding a screen soon.

 

[J.R.L.]

heres an updated shot of mine

once again, 2 x 250w Radiums in Lumenbright reflectors with a BlueWave 7 ballast

 

[SuperR*]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15022920#post15022920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dave's Reef
SuperR- Glad to help, I'm very pleased with the look and results so far with Radiums and the Galaxy's. I've run 250watt and 400watt Radium's before with the PFO HQI ballasts and the Galaxy stacks up pretty well to PFO in my opinion!


hatfielj- Wow... Gorgeous tank, I love it! Do you have any netting or mesh "lid" over your tank for your Wrasses?

Thanks, just have to figure out how I am going to wire the Galaxy to the Xr6. Going to need a male adapter from SNS. Should be able to make it work

Rob