Insides of a bluewave ballast?

[Doug]

I also run a duel pulse start. Although I assume by posts like some here & some from RC, that my ballasts does not drive them as bright as the HQI does.

They however, drive them a lot brighter than my regular ballast does. Yesterday, I fired up a new Iwasaki, in my PFO. Besides ugly, its not that much brighter than my Radiums. And yes, I have read all the tests.

My Radiums are bright enough to bleach new corals. I cannot say which is better, as mentioned, I have never seen them on HQI in person.

[StirCrazy]

Doug, if your getting that much brightness out of a radium don't ever sell them. a 10000K 175watt easaly over powers a radium bulb and make the tank more white than blue again..

I have seen radiums on normal ballast and on the son agro in 3 different tanks now and they are not that bright.. I have see a 400 watt Iwasaki and it is bright (ugly but way brighter than the radiums)

the deal with the radiums, which I am sure you know, is the prettyness not the brightness, even on the son agro they are not brighter... just less blue, well ok that could be construed as brighter.

my point is unless you have a burnt out iwasaki, as ugly as they are, they are way way brighter than a radium could ever be.. well unless we try hooking it up to 220 directy :twisted: hmm...

Steve

[christyf5]

Whats with this Iwasaki ugliness? You talking about the light or the look of the ballasts?? Just wondering.

Christy

[ron101]

They're talking about the relatively yellow light spectrum of the Iwaski bulb output.

[Doug]

Steve,
They are not brighter, thats just a figure of speech comparison. The Iwasaki does not drown them out however.

There is no way, that 175w 10K German bulbs, run on a normal ballast or Icecap, is brighter than my pair of 400w Radiums. Especially to the corals. I just sold my 175 10K system. No comparison. As a matter of fact, many of the corals that are now bleaching, came from an extended period under those 175w bulbs.

Dont get me wrong. I like them. I think they are the best 175w bulb and one of the best all round aquarium bulbs.

I know after seeing the Iwasaki again, I would not switch. As you know, I was thinking of running Iwasaki bulbs in my Bluewave ballasts, so that I could get away with only a pair of 400,s over my 6ft tank. That ended with the firing up of the PFO/Icecap/Iwasaki pendant. I will however run it in the center of the Radiums, so at least one freakin bulb will last more than a year.

Nowwwwwwww, all that being said, Am I a huge Radium fan? Not really. I love the colour though. If I was to start over on my tank, I would run 3- 250 watt Iwasaki bulbs and a pair of vho actinics.

[Acro]

Ok, now I'm really messed up. I thought it was all figured out and the agro ballasts were the ones now is it m135 ps. ????? Ah ge wis I'm confused. Oh and Doug (kidding of course) You seem like a very confused man. Will you ever figure out what you want??

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Doug Lowey

Steve,
There is no way, that 175w 10K German bulbs, run on a normal ballast or Icecap, is brighter than my pair of 400w Radiums. Especially to the corals. I just sold my 175 10K system. No comparison. As a matter of fact, many of the corals that are now bleaching, came from an extended period under those 175w bulbs.

actualy a 175 is brighter.. does it have more PAR.. no, but it is visualy brighter.
here is a prime example in One_Divided's tank

with just the Radium
http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3174

and with the radium and a 175 Ushio (much whiter looking and the 175 actualy gets rid of much of the blue.)
http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3728

Steve

[DJ88]

here is a prime example in One_Divided's tank

Steve,

One problem with taking pictures of tanks is that unless both pictures were taken with the exact same camera with it set on manual with its f-stop set at the identical settings and the shutter speed identically, two different digital images can't really be used to represent lighting differences between two different pictures.

actualy a 175 is brighter.. does it have more PAR.. no

So by that statement it appears to me that the Radium puts out more PAR. Which is what the corals use for photosynthesis is it not? Would a sudden(read massive) increase in useable light(PAR) cause the corals to undergo some form of shock? If the corals were to undergo a major shock to the system by a large change in intensity would they not exhibit signs of bleaching?

And I have to ask? are you basing your statement that a 175W is brighter on what your eye sees? If that is the case how does your eye know what is or isn't brighter to a coral? Can you see UV-A? UV-B? Are you able to determine what spectrum of that light being put into that tank will or won't cause problems with a coral?

How else did you determine that the 175W is more intense? Other than the PAR readings that showed the 400W radium was more intense? Lux meter? Spectrum analyzers showing which frequencies are putting out a higher intensity than the others? or just your eyes? I'd say what you are basing the 175W being more "intense" on is that due to the make up of the light frequency (spectrum) of the 10KK, which makes it noticeably whiter in appearance, it is appearing, more intense. This whiteness doesn’t imply that it is more intense. It just means that it is whiter. With the Radiums putting more of the power into the blue wavelengths (which are more difficult (dimmer) for our eyes) if you were to compare a blue light to a much smaller white light, the white will appear "brighter". When in fact it isn't. Being a combination of all the frequencies on a much more balanced scale (intensities of each spectrum mixing with each other out producing the white light). With some reading of the breakdown of visible light by its frequencies you will find that blue is one of the most powerful of the frequencies (as you shift towards purple from red) purple having the most. This is why when you dive into water, as you get deeper it gets bluer and bluer. All other frequencies making up the white light we see above water are being absorbed at a much faster rate due to less power contained.

Sooo.. with that.. A white light may appear more intense.. Mathematically tho. it isn't. Blue is. And thus causing bleaching in Doug's tank due to higher intensity.

Personally after watching corals under various light setups, if I were to see corals bleaching after a change in ballasts and bulbs in a long term existing tank owned by a long term experienced reef keeper.. I'd tend to agree with him that it was the new radium causing bleaching due to a higher intensity level. Even with all the facts about the make-up of light and how the various frequencies work.

my .02

[Aquattro]

I'm not sure how all this relates to what is inside a bluewave ballast, but I'll play along . The 400w radium bulb is very bright. It is way brighter than a 175w. I can tell this with my eyes by how long I can stare at the inner envelope ot the bulbs (don't try this at home folks, I'm a trained idiot!). I'm not inclined to give a hoot about meters and PAR and onandon. The bulb is brighter. I had a 400 Iwasaki installed once...it was the brightest bulb I've seen and I knew this because it lit up more of my livingroom than any other bulb.
So yes, switching to a new Radium can and will certainly pose the risk of bleaching. Doug is right, 175w Ushios are really nice bulbs. But no way are they anywhere near as bright as 400w anythings!! Soooo, you take a coral from an extended stay under a 175 and put it under a 400, it will run the very real risk of going white!! Period.
Man, all this rambling made me feel like Tony. And I noticed my left and right hands fighting for keyboard control....scary!!

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by reef_raf

I sent Pat, the owner of PFO, an email this evening to see if he can clarify all of this.

And Pat's reply.

"Brad,
I have a whole box of Radium bulbs that have been run on all sorts of
ballasts. Everyone I've talked to who sells these bulbs eat the
defectives. So what will Radium Warrant? Currently I think none.

Which ballast is correct? Ah a European ballast. So that means none of
the American ballasts.

Which ballasts do I recommend they run on? For maximum light output as
well as color output we recommend our HQI style ballast."