bulb/watts help

[erebus]

ok I bought one of Bills DE pendants so now I have a choice do I buy a 400w or 250w ballast?

My tank is about 30" deep and has a 150w 10k light now so either one will be better.

I just wanted to get some opinions on what others would do.

I also won't have any suppliment lighting for awhile.

Here are the bulbs I was thinking about:

250w
Reeflux 12k
Phoenix 14k
Helios 20k

400w
Reeflux 12k
Coralvue 14k

[erikharrison]

Do like Bill did. 30" is deep and a 400 will give you a world of possibilities!

[erebus]

yeah I think that's the way I'm leaning. Once I saw 400w DE Reeflux bulbs on Marine madness (I didn't know they made 400w DE).

[Fish4life]

Ya, go with the 400w. I like running a single ended 400w radium on an hqi ballast. I understand that your pendant is double-ended. Just throwin it out there. I would go with either a reeflux DE or a phoenix 14k de.

cheers,

kurt

[erebus]

Does phoenix make a 400w DE?

[Bill S]

First of all, I'd find out for SURE if Coralvue makes the 400w in DE. Their website does NOT show it, and when I last "talked" to David about it, which was over a year ago, he didn't think they were economically viable, 'cause they would run $160 each.

Second: Choose your ballast wisely. If you decide to go 400w, you REALLY need to choose an HQI ballast, or it won't drive your lamps correctly. It's my understanding that the DE HQI 400w lamps are really designed to run off of a 220w HQI ballast. This is the primary reason I'm getting rid of these pendants. That, and the selection of 400w bulbs stinks. I've tried them all, and NONE can hold a candle (pun intended) to the 400w SE bulb selection.

Third: 250w only put 63% of the heat out that the 400w do, and you will only get a little bit better depth penetration from the 400w. A few inches.

Fourth: If you go 250w, your bulb selection is excellent AND you'll get much better quality light out of your lights than you will with the 400w selection UNLESS you do all of the above.

See, my quandary was, replace the ballasts (I have Coralvue Electronic ballasts) or replace the pendants. Since I have an enclosed top, it was more cost effective for me to replace the pendants with reflectors, and go to a SE bulb.

Just my opinion, though.

[erebus]

Well after talking more with Bill I plan on going with 250w Helio 20k.

I'm mainly going with the 250w because I plan to upgrade my tank soon and it will not be this deep.

And I'm going with the Helios after seeing Bills tank. The colors were amazing. Since I've only been using a 150w I'm hoping I won't loose any growth with the 20ks.

[erikharrison]

Bill is a wise one in that dept! I have yet to read about anyone else with de 400w, so that justifies him as our local expert ;)

[caferacermike]

Honestly at one point I was about to rebuild my fixture (which I did but debated at 250 or 400DE) to 400wDE. It was the poor selection of bulbs that caused me to back out and stick with 250w. Basically everything Bill said.

[erebus]

Has anyone used the 12500k helios?

I was looking at Sanjay's website and the PPFD was 125.5

[erebus]

I was think about getting the raw "250W -HQI, Advance Magnetic M80 Metal Halide Ballast" from hellolight. Is there anything I should be worried about or do I need to do anything special (fans or heatsink)? Does anyone use one?

[JimD]

Just remember that the M-80 ballast will overdrive most bulbs, generaly shortening their usable lifespan and they run much hotter than say an e-ballast. Unless you intend to run like a Radium or any other bulb that needs to be over driven, Id probably make another choice.

[erebus]

I plan on using HQI helios

[erikharrison]

go for the electronic! :) You don't want a superhot ballast. This is Texas, remember? :D

[caferacermike]

LOVE my Icecaps. There was an ad on RC 2 days back for 2x 250W Icecap ballasts for $50 each. Probably sold as fast as he hit the "post" button, but it's worth a try. Even when I tear my tank down in a few months I fully plan to keep those ballasts, just to have them around.

[matt]

If you want maximum intensity from the 250W DE bulbs, the M80 ballast is the way to go. If you look at Sanjay's site, many of the DE bulbs put out almost 20% more PAR with the M80 as opposed to electronic ballasts. Sure, they get hot, but they're remote, so big deal. They're not too bad, heat wise. They do use more electricity, that's a definite. As far as shortening the usable life of the bulb, I have heard that but to my knowledge nobody has ever proven it. (Maybe I've missed it)

[erebus]

I agree with you matt but I ended up getting a good deal on a coralvue eballast. I also went with the helios 12.5k bulb. As soon as I get them up I will post pictures.