Something different for Halides? XM10K now

[wooglin]

I am running 250watt XM10k's now with 110 watt VHO actinics. I would like to try something a little more blue. I have poked around Sanjays site, but cant find anything.

Any suggestions? My ballasts are magnetic, and I am not to keen on changing them, it would be a pain since they are built into my Hamilton box.


Thanks,
Wooglin

 

[arts007]

heres another website that compared 250watt MH's http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm there is much of anything else thats going to put out the PAR like those 10k XM's so going with bluer bulbs you will lose some output

 

[wooglin]

Thats a nice website. I guess its a tough call. I am more interested in my corals coloring now. In my 75 after four years of XM light I have had to frag more than I have to for. I wonder if I could maintain what I have, and get better color with say a XM 20K? Should I swap my VHO URI actinics for somthing else if I did that? Questions to ponder. I looks like the XM20k out performs any of the 12k to 15k bulbs, so why bother unless you want a whiter look.

 

[VaderWS6]

I've been using the XM 10k's single ended bulbs with a PFO dual HQI 250w ballast. They're the brightest metal halides I've seen, brighter than the doubled ended HQI bulbs I've seen. As far as intensity, way more intense than Iwasaki 6500k's on the HQI ballast. It would be difficult to switch to any other bulb.

 

[wooglin]

How do you wire a HQI ballast to go to a single ended mogul socket? I have a hamilton hood, with the nice (but custom cable) ballast box that powers both my halides and my VHO bulbs. It seems like I could just swap out the magnetic ballasts on the inside of the box with HQI, and if I got the wiring right it would work fine with the Hamilton cables.

 

[fishdoc11]

Hey Wooglin

If you want a bluer look and want to keep the magnetic ballasts the 20K XM would probably be a good choice. As you can tell from Joe's site the bluer bulbs typically produce more PAR with an electronic ballast though.
I just switched to Aquaconnect 14K's after 3 years with Ushio 10K's and ended up changing my ballast to electronic. I'm getting excellent color.
Not sure why you would want to go with HQI for what you are looking for unless you plan on running Radiums....which would be a good choice for color but the bulbs need changing every 6 months.

Chris

 

[wooglin]

I have heard the Aquaconnects are great, but need an electronic ballast to get good par. Not sure I want to reinvest in another ballast for my Hamilton fixture.

By the way, nice to hear from you, hope things are going well in Knoxville. we miss you here in Nashville.

 

[silvers]

20k xm PAR is awful if you were running the 10k and switch to the 20k you would probaly loose all groth.

 

[wooglin]

I think I will stick with the 10K XM and be happy ;-)

My real hope is that eventually the Chineese will get ahold of LED, and some inexpensive LED hoods will start hitting the market eventually.

 

[fishdoc11]

Things are going well....any new pics of the tank?