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Old 08-31-2006, 12:07 AM
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Delphinus Delphinus is offline
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According to Sanjay's site http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/ the EVC 10k tops out at the scale of 250W DE's (at least with the "sheilded", I didn't bother look up "unsheilded" because I wouldn't run a DE lamp without the cover glass) with a PPFD value of 147. The EVC 14k is almost squarely in the middle with a PPFD of 66.

By comparison, the Ushio 10k yields a PPFD of 84.

He mentions the BLV Nepturion 14k, which yields a PPFD of 85. But is a BLV Nepturion 14k the same as a Ushio 14k? (I can't really tell, some people say it is, but I find the multiple brandings to be frankly a bit confusing). But if it is the same bulb, I find it odd that a 14k can beat out a 10k for PPFD ("PAR") (particularly among the same manufacturer at least). To further confoozle the matter, I asked Wendell if he had a Nepturion BLV 14k, he said no, but he had a Nepturion BLV *10k*. Which almost makes me wonder if Sanjay has a typo in his data, i.e., it's not a 14k bulb that has the PPFD of 85, but a 10k, which would explain why the numbers are so close to an Ushio 10k.

BTW, all these numbers I listed are based on M80 ballast.

By further comparison, Iwasaki 250W/6500K on a M58 ballast yields 131 (unsheilded). Iwasaki's are reputed to put out among the best values for PAR, at the expense of colour (i.e., most people find them far too yellow).

At the end of all this, I'm not sure what to make of it. Essentially, the EVC 14k rates a solid "not bad" as far as PAR goes for 14k bulbs, the EVC 10k rates a solid "holey wow that's awesome" as far as PAR goes altogether.

But is PAR everything? I don't know, in fact, I might guess probably not. More important for sure, is that the user of a lamp is happy with the colour, and happy with the level of response from the corals (colour and growth). But I don't know if a lamp that produces, say a PPFD of 140, is going to yield twice the coral growth rates that would have been produced under a lamp with say, a PPFD of 70. But then even if so, if the colours were better under the 70 lamp, then that might make it the better choice still. I don't really know.
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Last edited by Delphinus; 08-31-2006 at 12:10 AM.
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