Metal Halide and T5 Grow Corals Better Than LED and Cost Less

[oreo54]

I bet that bulb was a beauty...not

Colour Temperature & CRI:

CCT: 5900K

CRI: Ra 85

Not too far from 6500k.. Sad about the huge green spike though..
If it was a true "black body" radiator @ this K temp probably couldn't tell the difference between the 2 (5900 and 6500K)..
Does closely match "natural sunlight".. You know for those that feel we can't "do better" than nature..
If you ignore the green mercury spike.

6500k power star..



view of the 5200k version..

Illuminate Your Space with RX7s Metal Halide Lamps - Svetila.com

Discover efficient and powerful illumination with RX7s metal halide lamps, providing bright and reliable lighting solutions for various applications. Upgrade your lighting experience today.

www.svetila.com

Illuminate Your Space with RX7s Metal Halide Lamps - Svetila.com

Discover efficient and powerful illumination with RX7s metal halide lamps, providing bright and reliable lighting solutions for various applications. Upgrade your lighting experience today.

www.svetila.com

 

[Bpb]

I didn't have experiences with dimmable halides yet. I did have with T5s.
Let's wait for Dave to reply. Keep us posted.

Dave said the 125-190-250-275 ballast is NOT suitable for the 175 watt bulbs. Only 250 watt. I asked why/if people would ever dim a 250 watt bulb down to 125 watts. What would be the point and wouldn’t that damage the bulb?

 

[A. grandis]

Dave said the 125-190-250-275 ballast is NOT suitable for the 175 watt bulbs. Only 250 watt. I asked why/if people would ever dim a 250 watt bulb down to 125 watts. What would be the point and wouldn’t that damage the bulb?

That's what I thought. And it's probably a good idea to start at 250W to dial plus or minus. Very interesting! Thanks for the update and please let us know any additional info.

 

[Bpb]

That's what I thought. And it's probably a good idea to start at 250W to dial plus or minus. Very interesting! Thanks for the update and please let us know any additional info.

I followed up my question with this one “so does the 250-250hqi-400-400super lumen electronic ballast only mean to be used with 400 watt bulbs?”

He replied with yes, the 400 watt adjustable electronic ballast should ONLY be used with 400 watt bulbs to be dimmed lower. Do not attempt to use 250 watt bulbs on this ballast. Only use the 250 watt electronic ballast with 250 watt bulbs”.

That’s the first I’ve heard such a thing. I’ve always heard of people using their adjustable 250-400 watt ballasts with any bulb in that range. I guess I and everyone else doing that was wrong. Or perhaps they had their ballasts designed differently than your galaxy or lumatek or luxcore or icecap ect ballasts

It just seems odd to me that someone would dim a bulb down to half it’s stated wattage...

 

[CNDReef]

It might just be a safety thing so you don’t accidentally bump up a 250 to 400

 

[A. grandis]

I followed up my question with this one “so does the 250-250hqi-400-400super lumen electronic ballast only mean to be used with 400 watt bulbs?”

He replied with yes, the 400 watt adjustable electronic ballast should ONLY be used with 400 watt bulbs to be dimmed lower. Do not attempt to use 250 watt bulbs on this ballast. Only use the 250 watt electronic ballast with 250 watt bulbs”.

That’s the first I’ve heard such a thing. I’ve always heard of people using their adjustable 250-400 watt ballasts with any bulb in that range. I guess I and everyone else doing that was wrong. Or perhaps they had their ballasts designed differently than your galaxy or lumatek or luxcore or icecap ect ballasts

It just seems odd to me that someone would dim a bulb down to half it’s stated wattage...

There is a misunderstanding going on... He was refering to a DIMMABLE ballast from Hamilton, not ADJUSTABLE (or SELECTABLE) ballast. The adjustable ballast needs bulbs according to the proper dialed chosen wattage (250W or 400W). Using the dimmable, you'll need the bulb to follow the wattage of the ballast (400W only).

400W dimmable ballast from Hamilton (only 400W bulbs):

Ice Cap selectable 400W ballast (250w or 400W bulbs):

 

[Bpb]

There is a misunderstanding going on... He was refering to a DIMMABLE ballast from Hamilton, not ADJUSTABLE (or SELECTABLE) ballast. The adjustable ballast needs bulbs according to the proper dialed chosen wattage (250W or 400W). Using the dimmable, you'll need the bulb to follow the wattage of the ballast (400W only).

400W dimmable ballast from Hamilton (only 400W bulbs):

Ice Cap selectable 400W ballast (250w or 400W bulbs):

Makes perfect sense

I wonder what the effect would be of dimming a 10,000k 250 watt bulb to 190 watts then. Would that destroy the bulb? Never really hear about people dimming their halide bulbs

 

[A. grandis]

Makes perfect sense

I wonder what the effect would be of dimming a 10,000k 250 watt bulb to 190 watts then. Would that destroy the bulb? Never really hear about people dimming their halide bulbs

Dimmable halide ballasts have been around for a while. I think to use a Hamilton ballast with Hamilton bulb is the way to go. I also would only bring wattage down. I believe that would do less damage than overdrive. I would think overdrive a Radium on a dimmable 250W ballast would be fine. Each bulb has it's own ballast recommendation, so I would use only Hamilton bulbs with that ballast.
Dimming is very handy when adding new corals to the system. That way we can play safe, specially if the coral is coming from LED or T5 only systems.
I gotta go work. Have a great day.

 

[CNDReef]

I have a dimmable reefbrite 250 and it really doesn’t do much on the par or the eye. Really had to pay attention to see it go from 100% to 50%

 

[Dana Riddle]

I have tons of UV data, gathered with a UVP radiometer and sensors for UV-A (peak 365nm), UV-B (peak 320nm) and UV-C (254nm.) In fact the very first article I had published in Aquarium Frontiers back in the 90's was about UV.

Something isn't right here. Let me check my notes.

 

[oreo54]

Something isn't right here. Let me check my notes.

Yea does seem low..

Ambient estimate..
UVA fluence of about 20.5 W m2 and a UVB
fluence of about 1.2 W m2 (Shick, 2004). These levels are
similar to those measured in the field at 1–2 m depth.

 

[Vette67]

Makes perfect sense

I wonder what the effect would be of dimming a 10,000k 250 watt bulb to 190 watts then. Would that destroy the bulb? Never really hear about people dimming their halide bulbs

i have an old 10,000K 250w Hamilton bulb I’d be more than happy to sacrifice in the interest of experimentation. It’s all yours, if I can get it to you.

 

[oreo54]

Had another minute to find some more background info.

https://www.globalgarden.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Grow_Lamp_UV_Hazards.pdf

In general, lamps that generate UVC radiation (200-280 nm) include a glass outer shell or a blocking plate intended to filter out the UVC light. Fluorescent lamps generate UVC internally but are coated with phosphors to absorb the UV radiation. Little detailed information is being provided by manufacturers on the exact amount of UVA, UVB, and UVC radiation emitted by their lamps. Anecdotal sources from the Internethave provided some information. For example,one 315 W Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) lampis specified as producing 3.45 mW/cm2 of UVA, 0.01 mW/cm2 of UVB, and 0.03 mW/cm2of UVC. The latter irradiance value is equivalent to 0.3 W/m2 and according to the NIOSH/ACGIH limits of exposure this would limit the time of exposure to 100 seconds. Obviously there is a potential hazard for any lamp that emits this level of UVC radiation and growers need to be made aware of the dangers

https://www.iuvanews.com/stories/pdf/archives/060401Heering_2004.pdf

 

[Bpb]

i have an old 10,000K 250w Hamilton bulb I’d be more than happy to sacrifice in the interest of experimentation. It’s all yours, if I can get it to you.

Certainly be interested in testing it out to see what kind of par it puts out. PM me. I can probably email you a label for cheaper than you’d pay flat rate If you have a box already

 

[Bpb]

Anyone ever run a day now and then with no main lights? AC is struggling and house is hot. Not sure we will be able to get someone out tomorrow and it’s supposed to be 90 in the area

 

[Backreefing]

Anyone ever run a day now and then with no main lights? AC is struggling and house is hot. Not sure we will be able to get someone out tomorrow and it’s supposed to be 90 in the area

You will be fine without halides for a day or two . You could run them 3-4 hours , depending on the aquarium temperatures.
that sucks your ac is busted , maybe throw a window ac in the room with the aquarium .

 

[Bpb]

You will be fine without halides for a day or two . You could run them 3-4 hours , depending on the aquarium temperatures.
that sucks your ac is busted , maybe throw a window ac in the room with the aquarium .

Good idea but it’s in a huge room and I’ll be at work all day tomorrow. Hopefully I can get someone to come out tomorrow. Probably just Freon pressure low

 

[A. grandis]

Turning halides off for 1 or 2 days... No problem at all..

 

[Dana Riddle]

Yea does seem low..

Here's the corrected chart. Note the correct metric is microWatts per cm2 (not microWatts per m2.) To convert microWatts per m2 to microWatts per cm2, multiply by 100 and vice versa. Hence, the Hamilton lamp (at 5") produces about 13w UV-A and 0.69w UV-B. This is for this particular lamp only.

Anyone ever run a day now and then with no main lights? AC is struggling and house is hot. Not sure we will be able to get someone out tomorrow and it’s supposed to be 90 in the area

We lost power for over a day and a half during a snow storm, but aquarium temp went only just below 70 and everything was fine.

 

[NYCMAN]

I am nearly 3 years in on my 200G. I started with 4x GHL Mitras. Loved them. Slim profile, incredible programming and color. I ran them as bright as possible in the 21K to 17K range, sunrise to sunset. The one minute increment on dimming and the clouds were very cool. It grew soft, LPS and SPS and looked beautiful. Two years in, about a year ago, I took them down and went with a Hamilton Cebu Sun fixture. 3x250W MH and 4X80 T5. Added a Reefbright 80W LED blue light to the canopy. The MH were Hamilton 20Ks and recently switched to Giessmann 17.5Ks. T5s are Actinic and Blue. Since then, my tank has exploded in growth. All three types of corals. Literally no room for any new frags. I have two other 200G tanks in the room and since then the the unchilled temp on those tanks went up to 80-81F year round. The heaters in those thanks have been removed. I chill the tank with the MH down to 77F. I made the switch for fun and excitement, to experiment with lighting. I run Kessills and GHL Mitras on the other two tanks. The Kessill shimmer is incredible. Very pretty lighting. That tank is freshwater African Mbuna. I went with Tuna Blue to give it a blue look. The blue shimmering light, with white mid day, really displays the Mbuna colors. The other tank is also freshwater, heavily planted, running the GHL Mitras for freshwater. A garden that requires monthly pruning.