Which would you choose out of these 2 MH setups?

[drummereef]

Starting to narrow down my choices. The tank is a 180 (72x24x24). Which setup would you choose?

Option 1:
3 CoralVue L3 Large Reflectors (Lumenarc copy)
3 CoralVue 250 watt Electronic MH Ballasts
3 Reeflux 250 12k SE lamps


Option 2:
3 CoralVue Stealth Lumen Arc DE Pendants (Lumenarc copy)
3 PFO 250 watt HQI MH Ballasts
3 Phoenix 250 watt 14k DE lamps


Am I going to see a difference in coverage, PAR, color with these two setups? Any thoughts?

 

[chadfarmer]

Option 2:
3 CoralVue Stealth Lumen Arc DE Pendants (Lumenarc copy)
3 PFO 250 watt HQI MH Ballasts
3 Phoenix 250 watt 14k DE lamps

the phoenix on a m80 ballast is very bright

 

[frenchie]

option two i'm switching bulbs to phoenix 14k DE also next month

 

[drummereef]

Chadfarmer - So the PFO HQI is an m80 ballast? With this ballast can I run both SE and DE lamps without overdriving?

 

[DrBDC]

HQI overdrives the bulbs. Some bulbs are made to be run on hqi ballasts and will last longer than others.

 

[drummereef]

Dr - So if I went the HQI route I'd be stuck with using DE Euro bulbs? What's your choice as far as flexibility goes out of the two?

 

[chadfarmer]

you can run both

se will be overdriven

 

[drummereef]

Ok, so how do I deal with the UV issue? Planning on using Lumenarcs or the CoralVue copy for reflectors.

 

[DrBDC]

That is about all I know. I wish I could be more help but I've seen that particular issue come up when someone was getting some spectral change in some bulbs and it hadn't been 1 year. I think it was Sanjay, Grim, or Hann that recommended going with hqi bulbs for longer life vs. whatever bulb it was using.

I've also seen some discussions on SE vs. DE and it seemed that more people were going the route of SE because of bulb choices in colors. Some were going back to SE after already upgrading to DE.

FWIW, Sanjay just went with SE 10,000K XM's or Ushio's for the fullness of spectral output and he seems to really know his stuff.

 

[drummereef]

See, that's what I don't want to get into... Spending tons of money on DE and wanting to switch back to SE after a year. Ahh!

 

[DrBDC]

I think a lot of the lumenarcs and etc. work with SE moguls OR DE sockets. There are probably some used moguls you could start with/or already have, and if you still decide to go to DE, get them later at bulb change time. It really wouldn't require a big change then. And if you liked the DE more, the SE moguls are very sellable/tradable.

If you go with the 10,000K color, there is more than enough output to grow anything up to about a 24" deep tank. If you like a higher color, 400's will do the same but with more blue. I'm pretty sure the SE bulbs are cheaper but I haven't priced them. That and you don't need to shield them with glass.

 

[drummereef]

Yeah, even with all the hype about DE's, I'm leaning toward SE just for the ease of use factor.

 

[chadfarmer]

SE are easy the only downfall is there isnt a good 14k bulb with high par, yet time will tell

have fun with the SE becareful not to touch the bulb as it is running

 

[drummereef]

Ok, thanks. What do you think of the Reeflux 12k bulbs in comparison?

 

[levon15]

Careful not to touch the bulb while its running?

 

[sirreal63]

Check out the long thread in the lighting section. It has been shown that both SE and DE put out UV and both should be shielded. Some DE bulbs actually put out less UV than SE's do. The outer glass on a SE is not doing much to shield the UV. Every one of Sanjays spectral plots shows UV and is something to consider.

 

[drummereef]

Very interesting. I'll check that out.