best ballast for DE lamps?

[JimD]

I have one in a ROlll pendant with an M80 ballast and its extremely bright!

[Ram_Puppy]

RO3's are very nice!

[matt]

It looks like I'm going with the M80. Next question, what bulb would you choose with no actinics, just a single pendent, for a mixed reef/mostly SPS tank? Looking for ideas on the best color really. I'll check out Sanjay's site to see if he's tested the bulbs I get interested in.

One thing for anyone who has not looked at those tests, it's amazing how much PPFD (measure of light intensity, liike PAR only supposedly more accurate) you lose going to higher temp bulbs. Like from around 100 for some DE10ks to under 40 for some 20ks.

One last question; what kind of ballast is in the geisemann nova pendents, and to anyone that's got one, is it worth the extra cost for that set up?

[TexasTodd]

Hey Matt, what size and dimensions, will the new tank, or tank this is going over, have?

If your tank is large enough, nothing beats the LumenarcIII pendants with a SE bulb...nothing.

If you're set on DE then the best combo I've seen are the Coralvue 20kk DE...you can see them live in 400w version up at CB Pets over their SPS tank...super nice color and bright still.

Best SE bulb without actinics is Coralvue Reeflux 10kk. Must be the "Reeflux" version though.

T

[GaryP]

Matt,

With no actinics I would suggest you take a look at the spectrum of the bulbs as well as the PPFD. Color is nice, but the corals will never develop good color without a good 420 nm peak. I have been having problems with my VHO actinic ballast and I just got it up and running a few weeks ago. The corals are really starting to color up from the added actinic. Its amazing. That's another thing I don't like, besides the PPFD, about 20K. The spectrums I have seen on the 20K have almost no 420 nm. Its almost all in the 450-460 nm range.

I am using XM 10K now. I chose them for their broad spectrum as well as 420 nm production. What I did not know at the time was that they also have some consistency problems. One of the bulbs I got last fall was pretty yellow when I first put it on, but this has seemed to reduce since it has burned in. That may have more to do with my eye becoming accustomed to the color then the actual spectral output.

[gjuarez]

Reeflux 10k for best color IMO. I dont like the bluish look, but I do like the crisp white a just a small hint of blue.

[matt]

It's a corner tank, about 30" wide, maybe 20" from the corner overflow to the front, kind of an odd shape. 20" deep. I'm definitely going DE 250W, no actinics.

[matt]

Another question; is there anything special about the geisemann ballasts? I'm trying to decide between the geisemann nova pendant and the PFO with geisemann bulb.

BTW, on Sanjay's site it looks like the ushio 10k and the geisemann 13k bulb test out to almost identical color temp with the M80, around 10k. The XM 10k is quite a bit lower in temp. Go any higher, any of the 15k-20ks, and the PPFD plummets. Also, the ushio and the geisemann have a nice spike at right around 420 nm, where the 20ks all seem to spike at 440-450.