No I have the se bulbs .The de bulbs put off high uv .Thats why they need the shield .I was like u Tomoko .I did not want to spend the $500.oo for a chiller .I had one fan in my canopy ,but I just earlier today installed 2 matching 85 cfm fans in the canopy.I am thinking of buying me a Aqua Controller Jr.It can be set to control temp, by turning off lights and stuff like that .I know who wants the lights off ,but on those spring days when it cool and someone for got to turn on the a/c and it has got hot out side in the evening and I get home and open the door and its like a oven inside my lights may be off but my corals will be safe.Anyone use the Aqua Jr?
Tank Pics (FRAGS) New Corals and Old
- Thread starter MaryBebo
- Start date
Tomoko Schum
New member
Hard-Rock,
When you said you were rebuilding, I thought you were taking out an HQI fixture/reflector and retrofitting SE bulbs in your canopy shortly.
DE bulbs are supposed to be brighter and cooler than SE bulbs because they are more efficient, meaning more energy is used as light instead of being lost as heat. DE bulbs put out more UV because they lack the extra glass shielding that SE bulbs have built in it. The glass shield for DE bulbs radiate a considerable amount of heat, but SE bulbs put out a lot of heat as well. I think it's a preference thing after all. Some people go back and force.
$500 is a well worth investment if it really helps to protect all the livestock in our tanks, considering the replacement cost of all these animals. However, the inexpensive fans are doing its job really well for me. I don't like to use a chiller because a lot of them put out a lot of heat in the surrounding area/room and they are also known to fail and cause a huge problem. (I've known a couple of people who lost their entire livestock due to malfunctioning chillers.) Kind of like the problem with a heater with a separate control - just the opposite end of the spectrum.
As for Aqua Controller Jr., 8Ball was using it on his smaller system.
Tomoko
When you said you were rebuilding, I thought you were taking out an HQI fixture/reflector and retrofitting SE bulbs in your canopy shortly.
DE bulbs are supposed to be brighter and cooler than SE bulbs because they are more efficient, meaning more energy is used as light instead of being lost as heat. DE bulbs put out more UV because they lack the extra glass shielding that SE bulbs have built in it. The glass shield for DE bulbs radiate a considerable amount of heat, but SE bulbs put out a lot of heat as well. I think it's a preference thing after all. Some people go back and force.
$500 is a well worth investment if it really helps to protect all the livestock in our tanks, considering the replacement cost of all these animals. However, the inexpensive fans are doing its job really well for me. I don't like to use a chiller because a lot of them put out a lot of heat in the surrounding area/room and they are also known to fail and cause a huge problem. (I've known a couple of people who lost their entire livestock due to malfunctioning chillers.) Kind of like the problem with a heater with a separate control - just the opposite end of the spectrum.
As for Aqua Controller Jr., 8Ball was using it on his smaller system.
Tomoko
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The reason for the rebuild is to get the bulbs 10-12 inches off the surface of the water and with these new fans I should have my temp problem well under control .We are also going to put a clam shell type front door on it .My canopy know has 2 small doors on it .I want the hole front to raise up.So I can play in the water .
Tomoko Schum
New member
There is an interesting thread about measured PAR values on 15K XM (SE) and 14K Pheonix (DE):
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1033510
Tomoko
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1033510
Tomoko
Tomoko Schum
New member
Aquamedic ballast is an HQI ballast (M81?) which burns DE bulbs brighter (but it's really noisy). I wonder if PFO ballast he is using is an electronic one.
Tomoko
Tomoko
Nitroq2
New member
I think sanjays numbers would be a better test you can see them here http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/
Tomoko Schum
New member
I have been following Sanjay's articles for the past 4 years in Advanced Aquarists Magazine and they are great. You can tell how important to find the right bulb and ballast combination.
Sanjay is also improving his site steadily, too. However, I cannot get the 2 bulb comparison page to work correctly.
Tomoko
Sanjay is also improving his site steadily, too. However, I cannot get the 2 bulb comparison page to work correctly.
Tomoko
Tomoko Schum
New member
I get empty data array error on various bulb sets.
Tomoko
Tomoko
Tomoko Schum
New member
Well, the par value of 20K XM is worse than 15K XM, although the color of 20K XM is more pleasing. If you go to Sanjay's site, you can check out their values. The site works for that.
With that said, the growth rate of my corals were still very respectable under two 250W 20K XDE bulbs. I noticed hardly any difference in the growth rate of my corals when I switched to Phoenix 14K bulbs. This could have been partly due to a bad batch of IO salt. When I switched my salt to Seachems Reef Salt, my acropora took off even though my Phoenix bulbs were 9 months old. The growth rate of the other corals did not really show any big difference, though. I think the contiditon of the tank and the size of corals have a lot to do with their growth, too.
Tomoko
With that said, the growth rate of my corals were still very respectable under two 250W 20K XDE bulbs. I noticed hardly any difference in the growth rate of my corals when I switched to Phoenix 14K bulbs. This could have been partly due to a bad batch of IO salt. When I switched my salt to Seachems Reef Salt, my acropora took off even though my Phoenix bulbs were 9 months old. The growth rate of the other corals did not really show any big difference, though. I think the contiditon of the tank and the size of corals have a lot to do with their growth, too.
Tomoko
