400W radiums. anyone here use em?

[smokinreefer]

hey darren,
not that i've seen those bulbs running before, but if i could...i would run my lighting like the way you have planned out. for the types of corals you have and your tank design...i feel that you will get good growth and awesome color.
JMO tho

[Jack]

Can anyone out there have any opinions on the 400W 10k MH bulbs? Big difference from the Iwasaki?

I have to replace my bulb soon, which should I go for? Iwasaki or 10k? I have 2x 40w NO Actinics.

[Delphinus]

I had gotten away from being a student as well. Till I was booted out of the Navy and they said they would pay for more.. can't pass that up.


Kinda off topic but ... you know, I've been out of university for about 7 years now. I still get nightmares where I'm walking into a final, and I suddenly realize that I have skipped every single class of that course in that semester, so I was walking into a final not knowing a doggone thing. Eeeyikes. :eek: Seven years later!

[One_Divided]

Well it looks like you're getting pretty damn nice growth and colour out of the 250 as is. I guess it depends on where you wanna put the money.. I wonder how much more it costs per month to run a 400 over a 250. Probably be about the same if you are running a short photo on the 400.

Why is it that we always want to keep upgrading when things are already working well? It's the addiction I guess... :rolleyes:

[stephane]

Hi Darren seem like my email get you curious!

This link are from Dr mac Coral farm all is
coral are farm under Radium, 20k

http://www.drmaccorals.com/sys-tmpl/oursystems/

There a ton of pic there I will send other Pic
comparison to

[stephane]

Here are some radium pic!!!!!!!
awsome!!!!1







There are some link

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...adium+and+user

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...ghlight=radium

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...ghlight=radium

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...ghlight=radium

[stephane]

Originally posted by One_Divided:
Well it looks like you're getting pretty damn nice growth and colour out of the 250 as is. I guess it depends on where you wanna put the money.. I wonder how much more it costs per month to run a 400 over a 250. Probably be about the same if you are running a short photo on the 400.

Why is it that we always want to keep upgrading when things are already working well? It's the addiction I guess... :rolleyes:

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">yeah but with the radium you skip all the
fluo and still have the best color

I have read a lot of post from radium owners and
I dont ever remeber one at all that are not absolutlie happy on the other hand I read all sort of setup and combo and it seem like people alway try to improve in some way and not 100 happy , that why I want to give them a try, not that I dont like my Iwasaki setup but IMO the radium from what I have read and pic I have seen are realy amazing!

[stephane]

I tink I have finaly found a sheap HQI ballast for the radium I will post when shure

For those of you interesting by the Radium 20k I could probably have them for the price of an Iwasaki

Look other tread of a guru amaze by is new radium
note that they absolutly not need any actinic

http://www.canreef.com/ubb6/cgi-bin/...c;f=1;t=000717

[Delphinus]

Looks like someone else has found out about the 430W HPS ballast trick :D

There is no such thing as "400W HQI". That's just PFO's label on a product they sell, which apparently is just a 430W HPS ballast. Advance makes one (part#=71A85E6) and so does Venture (part#=V90C2050). The Venture ballasts are available over here in Calgary for about $100 at the hydroponics stores ("Bumper Crop" my secret reefing supply store, because they sell much the same things any LFS sells, but much cheaper.). I haven't been able to find the Advance ballasts yet (but to be fair I've only called two stores so far).

I might try this myself in the future, but I don't have the ability to try anything at the moment, due to severe drought of funds.. :(

PS. The really "cat's meow" ballast for these are the Blueline e-ballasts. Smallest power draw, highest PPFD output.

[ 31 May 2002, 12:22: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[stephane]

I found new pic coparison

Full tank with brand new 20k


Full tank with 20K after a two week period


Left side of tank with Ushio 10K


Left side of tank with brand new 20K


Left side with 20K after two week period

From dave grigor:
A couple of points to add.
The 10K Ushio pictures includes 1X110W 50/50 & 3X110W actinics.

The 20K pics are MH only no supplementation.

Ballasts are the 400W Blueline.

I have some closeups of a number of different corals that I took just before replacing the 10K with the 20K. Will take new pictures about 4-6 weeks to see it any coloration changes.

The biggest difference thus far from the 10K to 20K is the green colors and LPS. With the 10K the greens turned light in color closer to a yellowish look. With the 20K bulbs they instantly looked much better and showing early signs of regaining the green color. ( Look closely at the green pagoda cup on the left side for comparison ).

Also ever since I started using 400W ballast LPS never have reacted well. Most notable the open brains. Since switching to 20K all LPS look and expand better than ever before.

I did loose one SPS that was on the substrate. You never know for sure but I think the lighting intensity wasn't enough on the very bottom to support it. I fragged what was left and place higher up and doing just fine......

During the summer months I switched from running 3X400W down to 2X400W for heat and electricity reasons on the 6 foot tank. There is a noticable difference in brightness from the 10K to the 20K ( to the human eye ), PAR values from what I understand are pretty close. I beleive now that I don't have to run the 4X110W VHO and cooler months ahead, I will fire the middle 400W back up after next payday when I can get order another 20K bulb. Another reason for adding the center MH is so I can expand my higher light SPS more towards the center. As you may have noticed I am pretty much out of real estate and I just recieve 3 corals heads and 4 frags from Dr. Mac, 14 new frags from lonestarcorals, and a new clam ( Stocking up just before Winter hits as coral selections are sparse here in MN during winter ).

- Dave

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