Hey folks, new to Maast. have mh bulb quest.

[acrofreak]

Hey everybody, New to the Maast forum.
I'm looking for opinions or experiences or if you have ever heard of Aquaconnect 400w 14k bulbs. I'm in process of putting a 400w mh lighting on my 70g sps tank. Anybody out there know about these bulbs. Thanks for all input.

Great forum also

[JimD]

Aquaconnect and Phoenix bulbs are basicly the same just manufactured in different countries. Both are considered to be a "stand alone" bulb that requires no additional actinics. Im using a 150w Pheonix on a nano and so far its so-so, I still like the 10k/vho actinic combo much better.

[matt]

I just looked on Sanjay's site and the performance of aquaconnect 400W 14K SE bulb is not much like the phoenix 250W 14K DE. The phoenix is 20% higher in PAR, and the plot looks really different. The aquaconnect SE looks almost monochromatic at 450nm, which probably means it's a very blue bulb.

Personally, I like the 14K phoenix DE in a mini pendant over my corner tank, but I'm limited to a single bulb on this tank. If you can do mh and actinics it will overall look better.

[acrofreak]

Welcome!

what are your setup specs?

I haven't heard of the aquaconnect 400w 14k, I'm using 400W reeflux 10k's

It's a 70g., 36Lx24dpX19w. 30g sump,20refuf,Octopuss 200nw mod. 9w uv sterilizer, p04 reactor. Approx. 80-90# figi Lr. 2-4" dsb. eheim 1250.approx. 300gph return,1262 eheim 9oo gph cl. 2 mj mods only 400s, soon will 900 or 1200s 1 150 10k de in pfo pend. 300w vho super attinics.

Just traded in all my lps corals, going sps and some micromussas and lords. Been doing lps since 1990, got bored of it, going after a sps dominate tank. going to run a 400w 14k in a lumenarc pendant. Should get the coverage I need and keep some lower light stuff in lower outer edges of tank. I have about 18 diff. acros right now all small frags and mostly from ORA and some from Sue Truett. The lighting set-up I have right now just won't color them up, good PE. All perimeters a good. no3, p04=0 450 ca, 9-10 alk, ph 8.2 mg 1300

[acrofreak]

I just looked on Sanjay's site and the performance of aquaconnect 400W 14K SE bulb is not much like the phoenix 250W 14K DE. The phoenix is 20% higher in PAR, and the plot looks really different. The aquaconnect SE looks almost monochromatic at 450nm, which probably means it's a very blue bulb.

Personally, I like the 14K phoenix DE in a mini pendant over my corner tank, but I'm limited to a single bulb on this tank. If you can do mh and actinics it will overall look better.

I may use the pheonix or ushio 14k, or maybe the reeflux

[GaryP]

Welxome to MAAST acrofreak. Its good to have you on board.

[acrofreak]

I just looked on Sanjay's site and the performance of aquaconnect 400W 14K SE bulb is not much like the phoenix 250W 14K DE. The phoenix is 20% higher in PAR, and the plot looks really different. The aquaconnect SE looks almost monochromatic at 450nm, which probably means it's a very blue bulb.

Personally, I like the 14K phoenix DE in a mini pendant over my corner tank, but I'm limited to a single bulb on this tank. If you can do mh and actinics it will overall look better.
Matt, who carries Phoenix bulbs, I've looked online everywhere I know to look, No luck, can help?

[Enigma13]

Hellolights.com had Phoenix last time I checked.

[caferacermike]

I got mine from Hellolights. The deal was super easy. About 5 minutes online and then 3 days later a package arrived.

Welcome.

[acrofreak]

Hellolights.com had Phoenix last time I checked.

Yeah I checked with them not anymore, hamilton, ushio and xm

[cpreefguy]

hmmm
hello lights had sweet deals on the 14k 150w Phoenix at MACNA...

[TexasTodd]

Phoenix doesn't make a 400wSE bulb.

The AquaConnects are supposed to be great bulbs. Hard to find and they cost about $150 each.

Best bulb out there IMO is Reeflux 400w SE 10kk on 400w HQI ballast.

Todd

[matt]

I got mine at Premium aquatics. If you're going for maximum PAR, I'd consider an XM10K in a lumenarc overdriven with a 400W "HQI" ballast...it's in quotes because I've heard from a fairly reliable source that the ballasts sold in this hobby as 400W HQI are not actual HQI ballasts, but they mimick the effect that HQI ballasts have on bulbs. The guy that makes the lumenarcs is not a fan of these ballasts; he claims the good old M59 is the best for the bulbs. Lots of people love the reeflux bulbs.

Regarding the coverage, the lummenarc's claim to fame is that it focuses the light over a very clean square pattern. Since your tank is like 2 squares next to each other, if you want perfect even light distribution across your whole tank, your best bet is two lumenarcs. If you do that, you could get the smaller "mini" lumenarcs which would give you room for some T5 actinics, and you could easily bump down to 250W which would allow you to get the true HQI ballast, or even just M58, and have PLENTY of light.

There, I just spent several hundred $ of your money.....sorry!!!

[acrofreak]

Thanks Matt, now I'm broke.

[TexasTodd]

Matt, true.............the "HQI" ballasts at the 400w level are actually 430w HPS ballasts. High pressure sodium. They do overdrive most bulbs, but the affect is also usually very desirable.

The Reeflux 10kk goes from like 100PPFD to 170PPFD between a standard Mag and an "hqi".

Much agree on "the perfect set up!

T

[acrofreak]

Matt & texastodd, Don't you guys think that 2 x 250w with t5 is a little over kill. With a t5ho setup alone you can cook you acros if your not careful with acclimation. I'm not trying to argue I'm just thinking holy macrel that's a lot of light. I do want good light over my tank but what your suggesting is around $800 compared to $350 for 1 400w setup. There is someone here on maast who says they have a 2x250w setup with lumenarc for sale, pm'ed him no response yet.

[TexasTodd]

250's will work fine too. :)

Todd

[matt]

1 400W will work fine, don't worry. Your tank will be brighter in the middle than at the ends, but so what? On my old 45 breeder, a 36"X18" tank, I used 2 175W bulbs and the light was outstanding. If you do go with 250W bulbs, the only reason I brought up the T5s was for actinic support, i.e color. If you wanted to avoid any actinics, I'd suggest 2 phoenix 14k DE bulbs, and get the lumenarc DE reflectors

[acrofreak]

1 400W will work fine, don't worry. Your tank will be brighter in the middle than at the ends, but so what? On my old 45 breeder, a 36"X18" tank, I used 2 175W bulbs and the light was outstanding. If you do go with 250W bulbs, the only reason I brought up the T5s was for actinic support, i.e color. If you wanted to avoid any actinics, I'd suggest 2 phoenix 14k DE bulbs, and get the lumenarc DE reflectors

Thanks Matt, I'm not to worried about the light at the ends. I plan to keep some lower light stuff on the outer edges anyway. I plan to go with the 400w 14k aquaconnect bulb. Found them a www.aquaristics.com. A little pricey but they're the only true hqi se bulb out there and are designed to run on hqi ballast without worry of short life or loss of kelvin. Sanjay on rc testet them and they had best rating of all 400w bulbs.