Metal Halide Reflectors

[HeyJay]

Piggybacking on this thread, will 2 of the larger reflectors be enough spread on a 60x24 aquarium? Thinking of going back to MH, hoping to stick to 2x 250w and a couple supplemental T5s.

I keep mostly LPS, not much SPS

 

[zalick]

Piggybacking on this thread, will 2 of the larger reflectors be enough spread on a 60x24 aquarium? Thinking of going back to MH, hoping to stick to 2x 250w and a couple supplemental T5s.

I keep mostly LPS, not much SPS

I would assume so. I currently have LumenMax Elite and my tank is 36" wide. These are much more spotlight than the cozumels and even then it would be plenty for a 24" wide tank. And the 250w will be plenty as well. I use two 250w on my 6'x3' tank and I think I'm getting 200 par at the bottom corners (27' deep) and 550+ right under the lights. I have them mounted about 14" above the water.

 

[Reefing102]

Piggybacking on this thread, will 2 of the larger reflectors be enough spread on a 60x24 aquarium? Thinking of going back to MH, hoping to stick to 2x 250w and a couple supplemental T5s.

I keep mostly LPS, not much SPS

While my opinion isn’t worth much as I have limited experience with metal halide, I would agree it should be plenty. If switching over SPS (towards the bottom) you may need 400 watt depending on depth of tank

 

[rc1626]

Received a reply from Dave at Hamilton the other day. They are now looking at August before the Cozumel reflectors will be available. I asked what the issue was for not being able to get them and his reply was supply chain issues due to pandemic. Cabo Sun are being phased out. All they will have are Cozumel Sun, Bali Sun and Cayman Sun HQI.

 

[madlos123]

I just received 2 reefbrite pendant, ballast and bulb today. I ordered it 3 weeks ago

 

[zalick]

Received a reply from Dave at Hamilton the other day. They are now looking at August before the Cozumel reflectors will be available. I asked what the issue was for not being able to get them and his reply was supply chain issues due to pandemic. Cabo Sun are being phased out. All they will have are Cozumel Sun, Bali Sun and Cayman Sun HQI.

Interesting..... Its been delayed now so many times. He told me July just two weeks ago. You'd think they'd know the time frame better by now.

 

[rc1626]

Well his exact words were not likely until August.

 

[Reefing102]

Thankfully, I don’t think I’ll need the Cozumel, though I know a lot of people seem to be waiting for them.

My follow up question is I want to get the 400 w in case of future upgrades but can I run a 250 w on the 400 w ballast? Will it blow the bulb or would I need to get an adjustable ballast?

 

[A. grandis]

Thankfully, I don’t think I’ll need the Cozumel, though I know a lot of people seem to be waiting for them.

My follow up question is I want to get the 400 w in case of future upgrades but can I run a 250 w on the 400 w ballast? Will it blow the bulb or would I need to get an adjustable ballast?

You will need to get the selectable 250 - 400W ballast then.

 

[reefinatl]

Yea I was going to add " history" to it.

Analyzing Reflectors: Part II – Double Ended Lamp Reflectors

In Part II of this series, we test a series of double ended lamp reflectors that were made available to us. Table 1 shows a list of reflectors examined as well as the lamp and ballast combinations used therein.

reefs.com

Very neat piece of old data. I just came into owning some sunlight supply reef optix iii pendants. I have par readings under my current absolute trash pendants. May get some readings under these sunlight supply ones for grins and giggles.

 

[reefinatl]

Piggybacking on this thread, will 2 of the larger reflectors be enough spread on a 60x24 aquarium? Thinking of going back to MH, hoping to stick to 2x 250w and a couple supplemental T5s.

I keep mostly LPS, not much SPS

Yeah. I get pretty solid coverage with junk reflectors on a 48" tank. A LPS dominant 60" would be no problem with some big reflectors. A couple T5s would even up the look if there was fade in the middle.

 

[A. grandis]

Received a reply from Dave at Hamilton the other day. They are now looking at August before the Cozumel reflectors will be available. I asked what the issue was for not being able to get them and his reply was supply chain issues due to pandemic. Cabo Sun are being phased out. All they will have are Cozumel Sun, Bali Sun and Cayman Sun HQI.

Seems like Hamilton will get their stock back with caution.
It is my strong opinion that they need to do some serious advertisement right now in order to grow theirs sales and reestablish their place in the market.
The main reason why LED companies do great selling their new stuff is because of their aggressive market strategies/ advertisement.
Halides won't need to be too aggressive because it's qualities will sell by itself, but they still need to advertise to spread the word.

 

[minus9]

I just received 2 reefbrite pendant, ballast and bulb today. I ordered it 3 weeks ago

Okay, we need a pic when it's all up and running. What bulb(s) did you go with?

 

[madlos123]

Okay, we need a pic when it's all up and running. What bulb(s) did you go with?

10k i have also actinic t5 thou

 

[MartinM]

Right now Hamilton has only 4 options for fixtures:
Bali Sun (175W, 250W and 400W) 15" X 11.75" X 5"
Cayman Sun SE (175W or 250W) 13.25" X 13.25" X 5"
Cayman Sun DE (250W and 400W) 12" X 12" X 5"
Cozumel (175W, 250W and 400W) is 20"X 20" X 9.5"
Only Bali Sun and Cayman Mogul are in stock at the moment.

I don't think there is anything wrong in having a Cozumel over 20"+ wide tank. The fixture is 20" X 20"X 9.5". I do like the spread the fixture gives, and I like the glass protecting the bulbs. The recommended distance from the water is from 8" to 10". It would work better for a wider tank though, like up to about ~30" wide, I guess.
I had a fixture similar to the Bali Sun that was 14 1/4 X 10 3/4" X 5 5/16" over my 55 gal during the 90's and worked great!!! Good 250W Iwasaki's time!!!

Honestly, best thing to do is first to decide the size of the tank you want to get, than you will find the best fixture to fit those measurements. Also, you need to decide if you want supplementation for the halides and how you're going to install.
Get that tank figured out and decide your fixture. Call Hamilton and tell them what you are planning to have. They will see what they get in stock at the time and give you the best advice.
Let us know what they said.

Any thoughts on which to get to illuminate a 60cm/24” cube with minimal/no spill (Living room Sofa placement) at 8-10” suspension height? Geisemann fixtures didn’t work, too much spill, and not the correct shape.

 

[Reefing102]

Any thoughts on which to get to illuminate a 60cm/24” cube with minimal/no spill (Living room Sofa placement) at 8-10” suspension height? Geisemann fixtures didn’t work, too much spill, and not the correct shape.

You may need to do a floating hood. In my experience you will almost always get some spill with halides, but @A. grandis may have more experience

 

[Kfactor]

i run reefbrites and love them and i love the look of the fixure

 

[A. grandis]

Any thoughts on which to get to illuminate a 60cm/24” cube with minimal/no spill (Living room Sofa placement) at 8-10” suspension height? Geisemann fixtures didn’t work, too much spill, and not the correct shape.

Any metal halide fixture, with the exceptions of some small ones that don't exist anymore, will give you spill, cause that is actually good for the spread of the light. The solution is to find the correct height for your system and make something to actually reflect that spill back into the system. The Giesemann fixtures are great! Do not spend more money purchasing any other fixture just because of the spill. Besides... our choices are very small right now. Hamilton is selling a lot and they are taking too long to replace the fixtures they will choose to keep.