HQI's

[blueboy]

okay, so i'm mostly decided on my new lighting. i'm probably going with 2 250W HQI's. is my understanding correct that these should produce considerably less heat than the mogul type ? i really don't want to have to add a chiller also, but i am conserned about the heat. how much of an increase should i expect? this is a major investment, and i don't want it to lead to more $ spent(on top of the $600 pricetag on the lights). for those of you who may not know its a 4' 120G tank. thanks in advance for your help.

[scuba_steveo]

I think you mean 250 DE. HQI refers to the ballast. You can run DE bulbs with or without a HQI ballast. But the answer is yes, they do put off less heat mainly because they are enclosed in a pendent.

[blueboy]

so does HQI refer to an electronic ballast?(a display of my ignorance in this field despite months of research)

[scuba_steveo]

No, there are no HQI electronic ballast. That is not to say that an electronic ballast cannot run a DE bulb. They can and do well. And not all magnetic ballast are HQI either.

[blueboy]

also, how far from the water should DE's be?

[blueboy]

then what exactly does HQI mean?

[scuba_steveo]

I have seen countless lighting threads asking what each MH ballast is or what bulbs work on it. I orginally posted this in another forum to answer another member's question. I thought it was best posted here. If there's anything I missed, or have incorrect, please let me know.

250w example:

Probe start: ANSI: M58, core, capacitor
Pulse start: ANSI: M138, core, capacitor, ignitor
HQI: ANSI: M80, core, capacitor, ignitor
EYE: ANSI: H37, core, capacitor, actually a mercury vapor ballast
Electronic: ANSI: none, metal box with wires

probe start will run american bulbs with ignitors built into the bulbs like coralife and venture bulbs. some german and euro bulbs will run fine on these, but without an ignitor, the bulb struggles to light and bulb life may be decreased. also reliabilty goes down.

pulse start will run the german/euro bulbs (ushio, AB, radium, etc.) these bulbs don't have built in ignitors, so the ballast has the ignitor wired into the circuit. the ignitor provides the high voltages needed to fire the bulb. you can run probe start bulbs on these ballasts, but the two ignitors may try to fight each other and possibly cause a fire.

HQI ballasts are similar to pulse starts in their wiring and ability to run bulbs. the output is a little higher which is meant to run the double-ended bulbs (commonly called HQI bulbs). people run mogul bulbs on these and they run a little hotter and brighter because they are being overdriven. this in turn shortens the life of the bulbs.

EYE ballasts are mercury vapor ballasts. they are similar to a probe start ballast, but the only bulb you can run on these are Iwasaki 6500K bulbs (because these are actually MV bulbs, not MH bulbs like most think). the ballast will damage MH bulbs if you try to run one on it.

Electronic. ahhh, the great electronics. these will run any bulb at the rated wattage: probe start, pulse start, iwasakis, DE (double ended-HQI). if you think you might change your mind in the future, get an electronic. you can change bulbs to whatever you want and not have to worry about the ballast being the wrong type. electronics run cooler (a magnetic MH ballast will burn your hand if you touch the coil after it's been running for awhile). they also use less energy.

[scuba_steveo]

The above is from:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=201570

check out page 22 and 28

[blueboy]

wow, thanks steve. that is the most cocise and helpfull rundown on MH lighting i think i've seen. i'll be getting them from 360REEF so they're Coralife brand. electronic ballast, DE pendants. is anyone using these? how doyou like them?

[Ram_Puppy]

I am planning on getting 2 x 250W MH retro's from greg (360) w/ the electronic coralvue ballasts, I have heard nothing but great things, if I wasn't going with the coralvue ballasts, I would probably get Icecap.

[speakerguy]

HQI refers to the ballast

Actually, it technically refers to the bulb. I believe it is an acronym for mercury-quartz-iodide (mercury being Hg. Some people call it halogen-quartz-iodide, but I think that's wrong b/c iodide already is a halogen). HQI is also used to designate which ballasts appropriately drives such bulbs, but the term is derived from the bulb technology.

[Polkster13]

BlueBoy,

I recently purchased and installed a pair of DE 250 Watt 10K pendants from Greg of 360Reef for my new 150 gallon Frag Grow out tank. I also purchased 6-T5's for my 135 gallon main reef tank and 2-T5's for my 29 gallon QT tank. I have NO and PC running on my fuges. You (or anyone interested) is welcome to come over to my place and see the differences between these systems.

You can call me on my cell phone 512-680-6647 to make an appointment.

Frederick

[cvonseggern]

I'm running a single one of the Coralvue 250W DE pendants on one end of our 100g (other end is lit by PCs until I get the 2nd pendant). I get a temp increase of about 1-2 deg. over the course of the day. I find I can counter this very effectively by having a household fan, just the clip-on type, blowing over the output stack from the skimmer when the MH is on. The pendant is about 8" off the water.

Chris

[matt]

HQI refers to the ballast

Actually, it technically refers to the bulb. I believe it is an acronym for mercury-quartz-iodide (mercury being Hg. Some people call it halogen-quartz-iodide, but I think that's wrong b/c iodide already is a halogen). HQI is also used to designate which ballasts appropriately drives such bulbs, but the term is derived from the bulb technology.

This is a little confusing, but an excellent explanation; I believe what you're trying to say is that an "HQI" ballast is called that because it is designed to run an "HQI" bulb. I'm sure you're correct, but commonly the term refers to a type of ballast and I've never heard a bulb referred to as HQI in the aquarium hobby. I think that the HQI ballasts, which in the U.S. are designated as ANSI M80 and M81, have been basically matched up by the aquarium hobby with european high kelvin bulbs, including D.E. bulbs, even though those bulbs are not necessarily best suited for those ballasts; it's just that the typical american mh ballasts, ANSI M57 and M58 (I think) will not fire them at all. Plus, there are tests which show that using M80-M81 ballasts on many common mogule base aquarium bulbs (like ushios) burned them brighter and a little higher on the temp scale.

Supposedly, the ballast which will fire the most bulbs in the aquarium hobby is the M80 (250W) M81 (400W) ballast, like the PFO HQI. I don't know anything about the electronic ballasts, except that I've heard there is a serious compatibilty issue between the icecaps and XM bulbs.

Getting back to your question about heat, I think you probably would find that the DE pendents, 250W, will throw less heat than 400W mogule bulbs, and the light intensity is supposed to be similar. My next tank, if i ever find a permanent place to live, will definitely be open top using DE pendents for light. I think the open top bit is the probably the most important thing you can do to control heat, although pump selection is right up there as well.

Here's a link to one of Sanjay's many lighting tests, and there are several links from it to more info.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/feature.htm

[blueboy]

thanks ya'll for all your input. i just want to get it right the first time.

[MikeyBoy]

I just placed 4 of the CoralVue 400 watt Double Ended 10k Pendants over my 215.
I am placing 4 60" Blue Actinics T5's this weekend on the same tank.
I have been REALLY impressed with the Corlvue setup.
Ballast are the Electronic CoralVue tupe.
Man! 4 400's DE is a lot of light!!

[Jenn]

Frederick, I wish you weren't so far - I would love to come and check it out. Thanks for the offer.

Abe, after you get this set up, I would like to come see what you put together. I am in the same situation.

Geez! :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Jenn]

MikeyBoy, do you have a chiller on your setup? Will you take a few pics if you can? I would love to see that after you get the T5's on it. I just purchased the 2x54 watt T5 ballasts only and now get to put together my first DIY anything. I am sitting here looking at this thing and wondering what I got myself into. :wtf:

[Polkster13]

Jenn,

If you make it up to the meeting in February, you are more than welcome to drop by before or after the meeting to look at my setups.

[Jenn]

Sounds like a plan, thanks Polkster. I will also bring a few shots of my problem so you guys can tweek it for me. I have a 79" long tank and a funky built-in canopy which I am finding out is a little difficult to work with unless you want to drill holes in the roof for pendants.

[blueboy]

jenn, of course you'd be more than welcome to check out my setup. i don't know how long it will take me to get it all set up, i'm considering going ahead and getting a couple of T-5's for my actinic as well, so i'll be changing my lighting completely. not sure if my current canopy will work or not, maybe w/ a few alterations(good thing i'm a woodworker)

[blueboy]

also thanks for all the offers to come by and check out ya'll's set-ups, but greg said he had a sampler set up at the wharehouse so i can compare the diff bulbs.

[blueboy]

ok, i picked up a couple of 250 DE's from greg today. how did you guys mount these in a hood ? or are ya'll using them over open topped tanks. there's just the two threaded holes in the top for the hanging hooks, can i just drill a hole all of the way through the reflector and put a screw throygh from the inside? i'm a little reluctant to get too experimental with my new ~$700 purchase!

[JeffCo]

Don't drill a new hole, just use the holes that are for the hanging hooks. Go to home depot with the hanging hook bolt and find a regular bolt that is the same size.

[360Reef]

Abe,
You can mount these a couple of different wyas in a hood. The way I have done it i n the past is to go to HD and get screws that are the same size as the eye screws supplied with the pendant and screw it up from the top (from the top of your hood into the top of the pendant. You can also use L brackets secure the pendant to your hood. You definitly do not want to drill holes inside your pendant. Call me if you have questions.

-Greg