Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board  

Go Back   Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board > General > Reef

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old 03-07-2006, 05:14 AM
Delphinus's Avatar
Delphinus Delphinus is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Calgary
Posts: 12,896
Delphinus has a spectacular aura aboutDelphinus has a spectacular aura aboutDelphinus has a spectacular aura about
Send a message via MSN to Delphinus
Default

They never supported them except for the 250's. And the warning about yellow has been around for years but honestly I've never had a problem.

I'm not saying run out and use Ushio's on probe starts, but just recounting my experiences with them. Theory is one thing but seeing is another.
__________________
-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 03-07-2006, 05:16 AM
midgetwaiter midgetwaiter is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Calgary
Posts: 546
midgetwaiter is on a distinguished road
Default

I'm playing a game of mystery ballast myself at the moment. Fun isn't it.

Seeing as though they are ESU ballsts your best bet would be to ask them about it.

http://www.esuweb.com/knowledge/modules.php?name=Forums
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 03-07-2006, 05:32 AM
Bartman's Avatar
Bartman Bartman is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Langley, BC
Posts: 293
Bartman is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Willow
xm, hamilton, iwaskai and venture bulbs will all fire in that hood, ushio's will not.
So here's the $million question. I've never had MH lights before and this is a new tank. I plan on mostly softies and maybe some LPS. The fixture has 2x175w MH and 2x40w actinic. I think I would like bright, vibrant light (for myself, visually). There's 5 brands of bulb listed above. Which should I choose?
__________________
Best Regards,
Scott.


Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 03-07-2006, 05:42 AM
Willow's Avatar
Willow Willow is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Richmond, BC
Posts: 1,485
Willow is on a distinguished road
Send a message via MSN to Willow Send a message via Yahoo to Willow
Default

i would go xm 10k. if down the road you want to go with a bluer bulb you could try a 14k or 20k bulb but the 10k is a white bulb with lots of par for a 175. if you could find the iwaski 14k 175 they are claiming it is almost as bright as a 250 and closer to a white bulb that blue if you want more light.
__________________
Given sufficient thrust pigs will fly just fine.

90 Gallon LPS tank - Challice, Acans, Favia, Diplo and Zoos
125 Gallon SPS Coming Soon!
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 03-07-2006, 07:22 AM
TheReefGeek's Avatar
TheReefGeek TheReefGeek is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Posts: 1,503
TheReefGeek is on a distinguished road
Default c

Any specs on the 20K XM?
__________________
Rory

Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 03-07-2006, 02:43 PM
mr_alberta's Avatar
mr_alberta mr_alberta is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Edmonton, AB (University Area)
Posts: 2,506
mr_alberta is on a distinguished road
Default

I never knew Iwasaki made anything above 6500K

Venture bulbs are most likely the cheapest ones out of the 4 listed. While I've never seen them personally, those who have them seem to like them. XM bulbs are nice and bright though. You need to be careful as there was supposedly a bad batch that came out a while ago that was prone to cracking

The XM 20000K is a blue bulb with very little par...that's what I've read so far anyway.
__________________
32"x32"x20" Cube-ish tank
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 03-07-2006, 02:56 PM
TheReefGeek's Avatar
TheReefGeek TheReefGeek is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Posts: 1,503
TheReefGeek is on a distinguished road
Default

According to this site, the XM 20K has higher PPFD than the 15K, check near the bottom of the page, there is a comparison chart.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/6/aafeature2/view


I am also surprised that the name brand ballasts seem to get lower PPFD on average, than the "standard" magnetic M59 type ballast (not sure what brand "standard" is though!)
__________________
Rory

Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 03-07-2006, 03:51 PM
Delphinus's Avatar
Delphinus Delphinus is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Calgary
Posts: 12,896
Delphinus has a spectacular aura aboutDelphinus has a spectacular aura aboutDelphinus has a spectacular aura about
Send a message via MSN to Delphinus
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_alberta
I never knew Iwasaki made anything above 6500K
They've had an insanely blue bulb as a 150W size for a number of years which sounds neat but there seems to have been not enough interest to generate importing other sizes. They call it a "50000K" (although of course it's not really). I've always wanted to give one a try but have never gotten around to it. It's a medium base socket (not mogul or DE) though.
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch..._Code=mh70-150

There is also this new one (14k) which looks pretty neat. Like Willow I want to try some of these soon:
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...y_Code=mh-175w

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bartman
So here's the $million question. I've never had MH lights before and this is a new tank. I plan on mostly softies and maybe some LPS. The fixture has 2x175w MH and 2x40w actinic. I think I would like bright, vibrant light (for myself, visually). There's 5 brands of bulb listed above. Which should I choose?
I'm with Willow on this one. You might want to start with a 10k and see how you like it. A "good" 10k should fit your description of a "bright vibrant" light (think "crisp white" or "white with a hint of ice blue").

A good 14k bulb isn't too bad either. I did try the venture 14k's though (in the 250W size) and I found them to be overwhelmingly blue (think disco blue). (Just my own preference, others may like it, but it was a bit of a culture shock for me coming off 6500K's). I ended up trading them in for some Venture 10k's and I am happy with the colour of those bulbs (I do have actinics alongside so that did influence the overall blue-ness). But in the past I've had other 14k lamps (in the 175W size) and found them to be a nice colour. I find 14k's are good all by themselves, but the problem is they tend to have a lot lower PAR. I have 10k's over one tank by themselves (Ushio 175) and 10k's over another (Venture) with actinics and I think I like the look of actinic supplementing slightly better. And you can have a cool dawn/dusk effect. But of course, it's all personal preference.
__________________
-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!

Last edited by Delphinus; 03-07-2006 at 03:55 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 03-07-2006, 04:47 PM
Willow's Avatar
Willow Willow is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Richmond, BC
Posts: 1,485
Willow is on a distinguished road
Send a message via MSN to Willow Send a message via Yahoo to Willow
Default

i called pa and asked what they thought of the iwaskai 14k's. jason told me they had one running on a tank and it was *very bright*. he said it was a shade bluer that a xm10k but not by much. if i was growing sps with 175's that what i would want i guess. my disply now is all lps and i was looking for more colour so i tried out the xm 15k. it really pops the colour out but time will tell if anything ever grows again.
__________________
Given sufficient thrust pigs will fly just fine.

90 Gallon LPS tank - Challice, Acans, Favia, Diplo and Zoos
125 Gallon SPS Coming Soon!
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 03-07-2006, 05:11 PM
Delphinus's Avatar
Delphinus Delphinus is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Calgary
Posts: 12,896
Delphinus has a spectacular aura aboutDelphinus has a spectacular aura aboutDelphinus has a spectacular aura about
Send a message via MSN to Delphinus
Default

Dang it Willow, I think you just convinced me to spend some $$$ that I was saving up for other things. I think I'm going to try these Iwasaki's. Oh well, worst case scenario, they won't live up to the hype but at least then we'll know. I'll let you know how they work out (assuming pa has them in stock right now I'm going to go order 2).
__________________
-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 01:04 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.