400 watt radiums

[Guest tgallo]

if so , whats driving them. im trying to decide whether to go that route or not, on a pfo ballast or pfo hqi ballast, any comments would be great.

[pez]

Are you talking about the 20KK lamps?

[ridetheducati]

I am running the following:

 

(2) 400w PFO 6.5k

(2) 400w PFO HQI 20k Radiums

 

If you want to run Radiums use the PFO HQI or Blueline.

[geofloors]

I read on RC that people using the HQI ballast reduces the life of the lamp to 6-9 months tops because the ballast drives the bulb at 70 watts more than it should be run at. That's why it gives a whiter light. The best ballast for lamp life is the blueline electronic. I personally don't use these bulbs but was going to so I did some research. I decided to get the ushio 10000K's instead.

 

 

George

[Guest tgallo]

yes pez, im talking about the 20 k bulbs. ridetheducatti,i dont think ill get the rite light from the blueline e ballast, looking for a crisp white with a slite blue hue, i hear that you have to over drive them to get it as in pfo hqi ballast, and i cant find 400 watt blueline e ballast's sold out. is there any stores locally to wash dc that has them in stock , what about store's in virginia. hey george,i heard that to that it cuts bulb life down by over driving them, but i figure i change my bulbs every 9 months or so anyway so well see what happends, thanks for all the response's. :D

[iceman]

I'm running two 20,000ks on the blueline eballasts over my 120g.  I really like the color...white with bluish tint.  I just replaced the bulbs with new 20,000ks and need to go through the burn in stage.

[Guest tgallo]

HEY ICEMAN,would like to come by if possible and see what they look like, if thats ok with you.

[dgasmd]

Just like ICEMAN, I am also running the 20K on e-ballast. Superb color in my opinion. I couldn't see running anything else, but to each its own preference. According to Dana Riddle and his lighting research, he found that since all of our tanks are so under powered when it comes to lighting, it really doesn't matter wat we put in our tanks. The corals will see it as light at 200+ feet depth on a cloudy day anyways. As far as color, he has also found it makes no difference and it is 98% for our own personal preference. He did find that for good color development, blue is needed.

I currently have a four 400 watt 20K over my 360. I am leaving it as is for now since I have no money for a while, but when I move and the tank comes down, I am redoing the canopy insides and will add another 3 or 4 400watt 20K

Another thing Mr Riddle seem to have found is that water flow is much much much more important to their growth, color, and development than the lighting we are able to provide. So, I will add another close loop with an ampmaster 3000.

I highly suggest you look at different set ups with these 20k on PFO HQI and on eballast. The PFO will run them so blue it is almost purple. The HQI is very white and more intense, but burns the bulb quicker. I personally think the eballast is the best of both worlds.

 

Alberto

PS: sorry if I rambled on.

[pez]

According to Dana Riddle and his lighting research, he found that since all of our tanks are so under powered when it comes to lighting, it really doesn't matter wat we put in our tanks. The corals will see it as light at 200+ feet depth on a cloudy day anyways. As far as color, he has also found it makes no difference and it is 98% for our own personal preference. He did find that for good color development, blue is needed.

 

I respect Dana's opinion, but I have to disagree.  Although our reefs might not come close to a indo-pacific reef at noon during summer, lighting levels on a natural reef vary throughout the day, due to the sun movement and due to cloud cover.  Choosing the maximum intensity ever recorded on a reef and then saying our tanks are no where near that is irresponsible IMO.

 

Let's face it folks, we will never be able to bottle the sun, but we have come very far over the last decade.  The next step in reef keeping won't be better lights or water movement, it will be live food for our corals.  That's really what we are missing.

 

Another thing Mr Riddle seem to have found is that water flow is much much much more important to their growth, color, and development than the lighting we are able to provide.

 

Finally, I highly doubt water movement is more important to coloration than lighting.  Dana has already shown that intensity is most important to coloration; not water movement nor color spectrum.

 

Alberto, can you provide links to new Dana's information?

 

-Tom

[geofloors]

Dana gave a seminar at MACNA and last months CMAS meeting about this, it was very indepth and complicated. This is all brand new info. Alberto is correct... this is what he spoke about and it's hard for me to believe but I'm not one to judge someone like Dana. I'm certainly not going to remove my lights or add 10 ampmaster 3000s to a 120g. He also seems to think that LED fixtures will be the lighting of the future (less than 1 year ot should be marketed). I agree that feeding will be the next major advancement in the hobby.

 

 

George

[iceman]

tgallo,

 

sure thing...send me an email at rfletcher922@earthlink.net or PM me here.

 

Bob

[dgasmd]

Pez:

 

My source is the talk he gave at MACNA and at the CMAS meeting a month ago. Both were the same. From looking at his data, there is some merit to it. I don't think it is the entire story by far and there are way too many variables. Nevertheless, I think he has a point in some respects. From the data he showed though, we DO NOT have enough lighting or flow. The problem is we have limited space volume to provide it. George is right when he says you can't put 10 x 400 watt halides and 6 ampmaster 3000 in a 120 gal tank. It is just not possible. Doesn't mean the corals wouldn't do much better in a larger tank that can withstand much more flow ad much more volume. Then again, what ia the limit? A coral you can sit there and literally see it grow?

I don't know. I am still going to provide all the lighting and flow I can within reason. Live food is a huge factor and one that has not been explored enough.

 

Alberto

[Guest JFish]

Just adding that I also use a single 400watt 20,000k radium on a PFO HQI ballast on my 58 gallon tank.

[michaelg]

This is an interesting discussion that I am just getting around to reading.  Water flow is a topic that we have yet to cover (lighting WILL be covered at some point by Sanjay- just haven't confirmed a solid date).  I was going to put together a presentation on waterflow for the group based on some research articles I have some across and have Glenn present his observations on different current generators he has used.  Will likely start working on it now to use for a meeting down the road (these things take a little time to get together).  If anyone else would like to help contribute to tracking whatever information is out there down, please contact me.

 

Michael