At the moment yet I still have a 75 gallon reef and I swapped out just one of my 175 10k ushio and put in one 400 watt radium on a son/agro ballast. The color is VERY NICE. However, like Brad said, the radiums will not be as bright as a 400 watt 10k.
So currently I have one 175 watt 10k still on one side of the reef and the radium on the other. I really find that the color of the radium is a very nice bluish/white. It makes the 10k look pretty yellow/green which is what I thought when I compared the 10k to the 6500's.
Photo's on the web will not give you an accurate enough picture of how they look. They tend to look whiter and brighter when you are actually are looking at a system (not a photo)
I certainly am planning on adding one or two more radiums to my 150 gallon reef that I will be setting up in a couple of months.
BTW I have Brad (& Stephane) to thank for the recommendation to go to radium. He was very informative and so I thought I would give it a try. I love the color of the light and unless I find I have to replace the bulbs way too frequently I wouldn't consider switching to anything else.
The key to the radium looking good though is to use the right ballast. If you have a hard time finding the son/agro 430 watt ballast in your area for a good price, I know a place locally that sells them for a very reasonable price. I'm out in Chilliwack.
Bill
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