Your Metal Halide Questions Answered

[Air51]

ok thanks guys

[adam87]

I have a 40 breeder with a 150w phoenix on a 175w ARO ballast.

Is this ok or do I need more light.

Edited January 24, 2010 by adam87

[jamesweinn]

I think you may be right seeing as how T5 HO's are creeping up on metal halide but i think their time will be limited and all lighting might soon be replaced with LED + Actinics.

 

The kinda things you discussed earlier impressed me ..

The research behind (or) the work done in the ground level shall get applause..

Thank you very much for providing the info..

 

As a vendor I completely agree with you.. and the results would never suggest the output (I mean not always)...

 

Good work..

 

James.

 

 

.

[redfishsc]

Hey y'all,

 

I got real lucky on an equipment trade, swapped some CO2 equipment for a 6-month old Coralview electronic ballast with the common parabolic DE reflector, and a 6-month old Phoenix.

 

This is replacing my 4X24 Nova T5. I can already tell my SPS are going to be much happier in this light. I'm carefully acclimating them to the halide now.

 

 

My main question is this: anyone ever done any PAR testing on the Phoenix 250?

 

Anyone using the Coralvue electronic retro?

 

What about that reflector? (pic below) Opinions- is this generally considered a good reflector?

 

 

If I ever decide to upgrade the reflector (over a 24l, 12w, 21d tank), what would you suggest?

 

 

[Mr. Fosi]

Bring your fixture up to Columbia and we can PAR test it.

[redfishsc]

Bring your fixture up to Columbia and we can PAR test it.

 

 

 

mmm I'd love to, but I very, very rarely go further south than Rock Hill right now.

 

I have a friend here locally that owns a coral farm in a greenhouse that would probably come and test PAR for me, especially since I have LED's over the same tank that it would be cool to test... but he's such a busy dude that I try not to bother him much.

[nano-reefer1]

so i just order the 150w hqi halid i read the thread and seen it asked a few times but no clear answers or maybe just not what im looking for i have a 20 l setup i have pc now and im not happy with it i was cool when i first got in to the hobby but now i know better so will a 150w hqi w/2x13w t5ho suffice my 20L

[evilc66]

Yes. It will be a considerable upgrade though from what you had, so make sure you acclimate properly.

[nano-reefer1]

see i have no idea how to do that (acclimate) any suggestions i guess it is a pretty big diferance 80w diff

[Mr. Fosi]

Buy some fiberglass window screen, cut it up and place several layers between your light and the tank. Use as many layers as it takes to approximate the amount of light given by the old fixture.

 

Give the tank 3-4 days, then remove a layer. Wait another 3-4 days and remove another layer. So on, until you have removed all the layers.

 

Watch the corals during acclimation and if they respond negatively (staying closed up, bleaching, etc...) add a layer or two back and wait more time before removing another.

[nano-reefer1]

intresting so can it kill my coral???? and will i be the same effect if i raise the light(the current one is on chains) it wont be hard to swap

[evilc66]

Changing the height will offer the same effect. Raise it up about 12" and lower it one link every few days.

[nano-reefer1]

cool beans i think i like that idea better to each his own but i think the screens would be tacky

[leoan]

anyone have any opinions as to which 70watt halide bulb is the bluest???

[Yaman]

anyone have any opinions as to which 70watt halide bulb is the bluest???

 

 

I have a Blv 20k 70w and that one is realy blue

[leoan]

I have a Blv 20k 70w and that one is realy blue

 

sorry but what is Blv?

[housefull]

Well this thread is pretty timely. I just changed today from a 15K XM to a 10K ReefOptics, and the color difference is annoying. I'm thinking about just getting a 14K. Right now I have a mag ballast (all of my lighting stuff except the bulb is second hand) and a crappy-but-functional pendant that holds my mogul bulb. The pendant is just long enough to hold the bulb and maybe 5 inches wide. I don't think I have enough room in there to wire in some actinics (do they even make them that small?). Does anyone have a suggestion about what I should do to get more of a white color? The blue on the 15 was too blue, but it was at least more colorful than the yellow-green tint I have with this 10K. I want to see the natural colors of my stuff!

 

TIA

-j

This was a great thread. The only thing that I am not sure of and didn't see in this thread was what would be the right size buld for certain ranges of tanks. I am looking of putting together a halide system for my 10 gallon reef that I am about to throw together.

 

So what size bulb should I get?! Lots to choose from!

 

Thanks

[Small Frag]

I have been looking at ballast's and setting up a DIY 150-175w for a 15-20g (in the works) it’s far wider then tall (30”x 12” x 12” aaprox), what would you guys suggest? I already have a fluorescent ballast 2 x 24" T8 which I plan to use actinic with.

 

I don't see any info on types of ballast like f-can, core and coil (is that magnetic?), what is quad tap and 5 tap?

 

http://www.prolighting.com/mehaba.html

 

All of the electronic ballast's listed are low wattage what's that about? I see that some are pulse start but 5 tap and then some are not pulse start....

[Shyla8]

Now you all have me afraid of the 175w 20k I have on order. I had a 14k and figured I'd get a 20k for more pop since I don't have supplemental actinic. Now instead I am afraid I'm going to get it, put it in and my tank will turn into a Smurf!

[nick1912]

Just got my frist HQI fixture, a coralife mount 150watt.

 

After switching from my 105watt PC hood, this light seems less bright.

 

I have noticed that on other MH systems. I guess its not the actual brightness but PAR that we look for.

 

Oh its a 6 month old 14k phoenix bulb. I have a 10K current bulb never used, i might pop it in and see if its just MH the looks less bright.

[gobbly]

Just got my frist HQI fixture, a coralife mount 150watt.

 

After switching from my 105watt PC hood, this light seems less bright.

 

I have noticed that on other MH systems. I guess its not the actual brightness but PAR that we look for.

 

Oh its a 6 month old 14k phoenix bulb. I have a 10K current bulb never used, i might pop it in and see if its just MH the looks less bright.

 

I kinda had this effect when moving to the MH (using 14k bulb). Part of it was that I started 30" above and acclimated down, but MH is much more directional (why you get the shimmer), where florescent really kinda fill in space. There is no question that the MH is brighter, and I could see the corals react to it from day one (good reaction ), but it just doesn't fill in all the space with the glow. The mix of the two works really well for me though.

[gobbly]

Ran into a question. I have 2 MH's. They are both 250w fixtures, but one of the ballasts is running at a power factor of .67, so really only pushing around 168-174w. My tank is 12" tall, so really, the 150w is plenty. I was thinking of putting a 150-175w bulb in the fixture with the underpowered ballast. Would I have any problems with this? Someone suggested this to me in the past, but I wanted a more experienced opinion of if this would cause me problems.

 

I have a kill-a-watt meter, so I can get other stats on the ballast draw if they would help. Just don't know what will effect this myself.

[franklypre]

Odyssea??????

[gobbly]

yep. Knew the ballast might be an issue when I got it, but for the price, replacing the ballast with a decent used one won't be that much, and in the end is still a decent deal. For now 150w actually is better because it's a smaller tank, but when I upgrade I will need the 250w. anyway, I got another 250w that isn't odyssea (slowly parting up for the upgrade), but as I said, on my current tank the 150w is really better. So if it's not going to cause problems I'll just get a 150w bulb (don't think they make 175w's in this config) instead of swapping it out for the better 250w now. From what I have read running the 250w bulb when the ballast is only delivering 170w is going to decrease bulb life and cause an inaccurate color temp...

[Pilg0re]

So I'm in between 2 choices of lighting for my 10g. The fishneedit 70w or 150w in 20k. I'll eventually want clams and maybe a few sps. I have an ATO and cooling fans. I'd have to use the mounting legs and not be able to hang it from the ceiling. Which fixture would you go with?