New lighting

[Acronuts1]

Holy smokes guys,

You guys were right! The new Radium 20,000K 250 wtt metal halide bulb with the Galaxy™ LumenMax® Elite are fantastic! Just looking at the corals under this light clearly without a doubt shows my corals hidden colors. I am anxious to see the final color when the corals adjust to their new lighting. I also can't wait to purchase the other two sets for a total of three for the 6 ft length of my 125g tank!

Wow what a difference from 175 watts. The last time I remember a lighting difference was when I went from pc's to 175 mh's!

 

[Anonymous]

Good news. You realise now that we'll need pictures.

 

[Anonymous]

If anyone ever develops a Radium fight song - I'll sing it too!

 

[Acronuts1]

Yes as soon as I get back from my trip I will start posting pics. Of course my mind has already started thinking.......if 250's are this way, what would 400's be like....?
Any 250'ers out there who went the 400 watts route can tell me what advatages there are?
Maybe I'll start another post?

Juan

 

[Anonymous]

400's are supposedly a touch whiter because the bulbs are overdriven on US ballasts. IIRC, the 400 bulb is actually designed for 360 watts - something we don't have in the states. Speculation about short bulb life can be found in abundance. Whether it is true or not I don't know. Honestly though, as long as you're running a top quality reflector (lumenarc, lumenmax, lumenbrite), a 250 Radium has all the PAR you need for just about anything and leaves you more margin for error than a 400 does. If you don't have high end reflectors, the payback is pretty quick in terms of electrical cost savings and *potentially* bulb replacement cycles.

 

[Acronuts1]

Hey miwoodar,
What do you mean by this?
the payback is pretty quick in terms of electrical cost savings and *potentially* bulb replacement cycles.
thanks
Juan

 

[Anonymous]

Please excuse me - I am quite a frugal person.

A month of electricity to run three 250's is ~$33 (assuming $0.12/KWH). Three 400's would be ~$52/month. That's a savings of $228/year.

On the bulb replacements...let's assume that an overdriven bulb (400 watt) will last 9 months and a properly driven bulb (250 watt) would last 18. The latter is not unreasonable given recent studies. The former, I don't know, but it has been stated quite often on the web. At $80/bulb you're going to be averaging $320/year for replacing the 400's and $160/year for replacing the 250's.

IMHO, it would be better to ensure that you're running top of the line reflectors (if you don't already have) and sticking with 250 watt bulbs rather than 400's. I know that many hobbyists have switched to 400's and believe that more is better (how many times have you read 'switch to 10K bulbs and your growth will increase' or 'switch to 400s and your growth will increase' ?). Many respected authors believe the 'more is better' mentality is troublesome though and that 250's have plenty of PAR for the vast majority of tanks out there - even with a *quality* 20K bulb.

 

[Acronuts1]

Thanks for the info!
I will run 3 Radium 20,000k MH Bulb 250's with the Galaxy™ LumenMax® Elite reflectors. The bulbs will be run with a Galaxy™ Electronic Ballast.
Of course the transition period will take awhile but I too feel confident that this will be enough light.

Thanks,
Juan