Who here uses 250 DE bulbs and what brand?

[CleveYank]

Do you supplement them or run them by themselves?

Yes Ray,
At First I was running them by themselves.

But coming from (almost 1.5 decades ago) the ole 2 or 4 by white actinic VHO and having 2 full Actinic VHO's and later (about 8 or 9 years ago) going Metals/VHO combos of 10K Ushio MH's with 4 full actinic VHO's and missing the flouro pops and a dedicated dawn dusk cycle I added 3 VHO pure actinics to the Phoenix.

I'm working on a major fishroom upgrade and putting my 120 and 180 into play and the new mix will be Phoenix 250's with some VHO full actinics, some T5 ATI blue plus and a T5 KZ...ya know the purple reddish one. I think the 120 will be 2 Iwasaki 175's (the 15K stark white powerhouses) with a mix of some T5 and VHO pure actinic close to the 180's. Since I have 8 250 DE rigs and 4 SE rigs I'll be able to experiment while having exact same water parameters and feeding and such and figure out my light mix. (There's a DIY 400 to 460 gallon in my future {maybe 2 side by side } and I'm basically using the smaller 90's, 120 & the 180 as growout tanks and for various tweaking).

Anyway, yes the Phoenix is a great stand alone and an outstanding VHO pure actinic supplimented.

 

[TellyFish]

Yes Ray,
Phoenix 250's with some VHO full actinics...
Anyway, yes the Phoenix is a great stand alone and an outstanding VHO pure actinic supplimented.

+1

Same combo for me. Was thinking of adding a couple T5 for fun on my next build, but I enjoy the look of the Phoenix DE 250s. I am running the Blueline 7 magnetic ballast and IceCap 660.

 

[hybridazn]

thank goodness for this thread, when my mh's come in i am def. switching out the bulbs. i might try the 14k phoneix bulbs out

 

[CleveYank]

The one thing I note about the Phoenix vs other bulbs like the lower par Hammy 14K, sunburst 12K, and the short lived Radiums. IS that a yellow tang is yellow with the Phoenix. The hammy gave greenish yellow tint to the yellow tang and dimmer tank. The sunburst 12K a yellow tang had a bluish tint and way dimmer tank. And the radiums the corals looked slick, but a yellow tang had a bluish purple tint and of course the lifespan was a joke. And cost. The Phoenix is such a great value.

All in all, I'd say the Phoenix gets you excellent PAR, great bulb life & yellows, oranges and reds look close to a 10K and natural sunlight yet subtle blue and purples and a little bit of flouro pop. Just a little of flouro pop, hence the pure actinic VHO's. They also look great driven by Sunlight Supply Blue Wave 7's or Galaxy or ARO Electronic ballasts with the electronics burning just a tad bluer. I think they are the overwhelming champ of the 250's.

 

[cloakerpoked]

The one thing I note about the Phoenix vs other bulbs like the lower par Hammy 14K, sunburst 12K, and the short lived Radiums. IS that a yellow tang is yellow with the Phoenix. The hammy gave greenish yellow tint to the yellow tang and dimmer tank. The sunburst 12K a yellow tang had a bluish tint and way dimmer tank. And the radiums the corals looked slick, but a yellow tang had a bluish purple tint and of course the lifespan was a joke. And cost. The Phoenix is such a great value.

All in all, I'd say the Phoenix gets you excellent PAR, great bulb life & yellows, oranges and reds look close to a 10K and natural sunlight yet subtle blue and purples and a little bit of flouro pop. Just a little of flouro pop, hence the pure actinic VHO's. They also look great driven by Sunlight Supply Blue Wave 7's or Galaxy or ARO Electronic ballasts with the electronics burning just a tad bluer. I think they are the overwhelming champ of the 250's.

This has been the most helpful summary of any bulb that I've ever read. Your reference point of the yellow tang is brilliant. Are your experiences just with the DE phoenix, or have you used the SE as well, and had similar results with it?

 

[raynist]

Is the SE phoenix the same as the aquaconnect 14k? I thought I read that at one time.

The SE aquaconnect 14k 250w was my favorite SE bulb.

 

[Mark 75g]

The maristar fixture would work well for your application since you do not have a canopy set up. I had to do some DIY mods to make it work with my canopy. You are more than welcome to come out some evening and see my fixture on the tank. They are well built and aquacave gives you galaxy ballast with the fixture and standard phoenix bulbs. Go to aquacave.com and check it out.

Give me a call

 

[CleveYank]

This has been the most helpful summary of any bulb that I've ever read. Your reference point of the yellow tang is brilliant. Are your experiences just with the DE phoenix, or have you used the SE as well, and had similar results with it?

Contact a friend of mine and possible new convert to the Phoenix, RC User Serpentman, AKA Jeff. He just put 3 250 SE's above his 300 gallon marvel. Last I heard he liked them, see his build thread in the larger tanks forum for photos.

 

[Tswifty]

Ray I run DE Pheonix 14k and love them. I also do not supplement them. The colors definitely don't wash out, and the spectrum IMO is closer to that of a 20k bulb. I like it because you get the 20k pop without the overpowering blue water effect. Plus the PAR is extremely impressive as well.

As always you're more than welcome to stop by and check them out in person if you're ever out this way. Aquaconnects are great too, but their price is not IMO. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a better combination of color and growth in the same price range as the Pheonix bulb. That's just my experience though, and I've toyed around with a few different bulbs ranging from 10k to 20k.

The only other bulb I've considered giving a test run is the XM 20k, because a few people who's opinion I respect have made some bold statements regarding them.

 

[hybridazn]

Where do you guys get your phoneix bulbs from?

 

[Tswifty]

I order mine from Salty Critter. You might be able to find a little better price out there somewhere if you look around, but I like to throw those guys my business whenever I can. They're prices usually are the best, and if they aren't... they're not enough off to make me go elsewhere. Plus, stuff from them ships ground and gets here next day.

Pheonix 14k bulbs from Salty Critter - LINK

 

[raynist]

TJ, are you using electronic or hqi ballasts?

 

[Tswifty]

Pfo hqi (M80)

 

[Tswifty]

dp.

 

[eyebedam]

SOS lightbulbs. I just ordered 3 250 watt HQIs. Thet were 50 each & had free shipping also. I had them withen 2 days of plAcing my order.

 

[Tswifty]

^^^ That's a great deal!

 

[cloakerpoked]

Ray I run DE Pheonix 14k and love them. I also do not supplement them. The colors definitely don't wash out, and the spectrum IMO is closer to that of a 20k bulb. I like it because you get the 20k pop without the overpowering blue water effect. Plus the PAR is extremely impressive as well.

As always you're more than welcome to stop by and check them out in person if you're ever out this way. Aquaconnects are great too, but their price is not IMO. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a better combination of color and growth in the same price range as the Pheonix bulb. That's just my experience though, and I've toyed around with a few different bulbs ranging from 10k to 20k.

The only other bulb I've considered giving a test run is the XM 20k, because a few people who's opinion I respect have made some bold statements regarding them.

Do you know if the SE versions are similar in color and PAR to their DE counterparts or not. Been a while since I've seen you around...how's the tank doing?

 

[Tswifty]

Not sure, I haven't seen them in person yet. They're original release price was pretty high. So I know a lot of people shyed away from them initially (I think they were as much or more than AquaConnects). However, a friend of mine Serpentman from Ohio just added them on his tank the other day. I'll have to stop out and check them out once they burn in. I'm WAY overdue for a trip out to Ohio. :lol:

Here's his update with the lights:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16317560&postcount=627

I haven't been doing much fish related activities since I moved and the tank isn't located at my current residence. The tank is hanging in there though, been a little rough not being around it on a daily basis and finally had some losses a week or so ago.

I just posted an update with a few pics:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16355240&postcount=1073

 

[NaClH2Opgh]

Pfo hqi (M80)

Did you ever put a killawatt on the ballast and see how much it's pulling? I wonder if the M80 overdrives the bulb or not. I have a dual electronic 250 and it it's almost spot on with wattage. The killawatt reads 508. Your tank is looking good. I am building an aluminum frame for my light rack for my 220 and it going to be similar to Serpentmans but I am going to enclose it also.

Anyone see that Elos put out MH bulbs now. Expensive just like the rest of their stuff.

http://glassbox-design.com/2010/elos-spectra-chrome-20k-14k-metal-halide/

 

[CleveYank]

Most M80 will drive in the range of 300 to 335 watts per bulb.