Metal Halide Q&A

Sanjay tested these awhile ago and they are incredible bulbs, spectral quality, PPFD, and the price is way right on them.

 

Hey Robman, I believe two may leave a little area that gets a bit dim... A quality reflector really makes a GREAT difference in how much light goes into the tank and how much is "lost" to the surroundings!
I am a firm believer in the lumenbrite and lumenmax fixtures, the only way you can appreciate how amazing they are is to try them and be amazed for yourself!
If you go with three lumenbrites you can make it reach the whole 72" perfectly

For bulbs I am a strong advocate of the SPS 10k, Ushio 14k, and phoenix 14k

 

Cooter, Sanjay runs Ushio 14k on the tank in the HUB at PSU and also on his personal tanks at his house (his tanks are amazing I might add )
He and I would both consider the EVC to be average as far as light output. They are a nice blue color, however substantially lower than the ushios or SPS.
Since they are $25 cheaper than ushios, they are a bulb worth considering.
as you can see, the EVC is a little competitive and keeps a .06 average irradiance. PPFD is in between Ushio and SPS. Ushio has higher irradiance in the UV range so you get much nicer colors and an average irradiance of about .05. SPS only has an average irradiance of .04 but has some very interesting peaks at crucial wavelengths.
EVC 10k

Ushio 10k

SPS 10k

EVC 20k

 

Oh theres no doubt that lower kelvin bulbs will put out much higher levels of light across the entire spectrum. I do not want any of that spectrum, which is my reason for wanting 20K bulbs only. I am from the school of thought that believes most corals do not actually use much light in those wavelengths anyway, and a bulb that is punching in most of it's PPFD rating from those wavelengths is no more beneficial than a bulb without them. Just my .02

 

Sorry Cooter, I was only trying to help out by comparing the three bulbs to each other...

Corals use a wide range of UV and visible light in photosynthesis based on the color they reflect. If you are interested, these 9 articles will be very helpful:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral/how-color-up-your-corals-71882.html

 

No need to be sorry, I wasn't bothered at all, sorry if I came off that way;D I have read through those articles a bit, but you can also read articles by Dana Riddle at Advanced Aquarist that show tests that prove Zooxanthelae responds best to 20K. I am not saying my way is the only way, just saying the jury is still out on the subject. Maybe we can discuss this a bit more later, I don't have a ton of time right now to go back and forth alot, I'm moving across the country in a few weeks so I'm a bit busy gettin ready. I am very interested in Reef lighting though, and hope we all can learn a lot more about it in the future.

 

Dingo--Thanks for the info!!! I think you answered my questions on the bulbs and fixtures. I understand about the lumenbrite reflectors. They are just out of my league when it comes to my budget. I was looking at the spider reflectors, and Tangster said in that budget. The Reefoptix 2 was a better reflector..What say you? I will probably add a 3rd fixture in the near future...Easy to do..just slide the 2 towards the ends and stick a new one in the middle. Do you like the ballasts I am going with? It was Lumentek or Galaxy. Same ballast and same warranty. Close in price. I have seen the Lumentek in person.

 

Lumatek is actually a great ballast! Comparable, if not the tinyest bit better than icecap... They are pulse start only so you can't run any HQI bulbs with them, but none of the typical SE bulbs are hqi.

I have only used spider reflectors and lumen reflectors but I respect tangster and all of his knowledge/experience so if he says they are slightly better then I would believe him!

 

See that's the beautyof t5ho, even is you try to consider them as supplemental lights to the MH, the fact is they put out a lot of PAR when you have proper reflectors, and good bulbs.

With VHO and PC as supplements, that's all they really can be because you need so many to get a decent PAR number.

 

Also, eariler in the thread, someone mentioned that 10k MH bulbs don't make great light fro growout purposes. While the iwasaki 6500k 250w halides do make more PAR, the next best bulb ballast combo for PAR is an electronic ballast running an XM10,000k bulb. That puts out over 500 PAR. So, unless you don't mind the horribly coloration of the 6500k bulb, your next best bet is the 10,000k XM (for 250w MH). Those iwasaki 6500k bulbs also last like 3 years, so that is another reason that coral farms use them.