Center and right are 250. 175 is left side. Even without the oversarurarion of a cheap cell phone camera, in person it’s difficult to tell the difference. Even I’m surprised its that difficult to tell. Thanks for the compliment!
I wasn't going to get involved in this one because I don't have that Radion hardware... but I think you basically need to know how many pounds the hardware was designed for. One thing to keep in mind: German hardware should be stronger than chinese ones. I'm not sure about the quality of the Radion hardware, but they were made with light weighted Radions in mind. I know I can swap the ATI fixture with the Giesemann using the same mounting on the ceiling. I had to change the gauge of the wire though. The spectra was heavier than the Sunpower.Another question for you guys. Do you think this wire hanger for the Radion rail kit is equivalent to the one that came with my Giesemann kit? Im pretty sure the Giesemann fixture is about 25 pounds. The radion rail kit has rails that are 90” and can hold multiple radions. It will make the switch much faster if i dont need to switch them out...
Ecotech:
Giesemann:
LOL! The way I can tell here is looking at the bottom of my tank and the back glass shadows close to the bottom. And when I had the 175W running for many months the zoas on the bottom weren't as vivid as they were under 250W. The top had amazing colors with both bulbs. The difference is minor, yes! Also, my yellow zoas didn't show the natural strong yellow pigmentation and they are at the water surface!!! So... My tank has also tall rocks and the 250w bulbs keep the zoas closer to the rocks.
I'm confident they'll be fine. I only ever hung Radions from them, but I put a decent amount of weight on them with my hands to see if they were strong enough to trust. I usually put a piece of plywood over my tank when making such changes so that a woops stays a woops and nothing more.Another question for you guys. Do you think this wire hanger for the Radion rail kit is equivalent to the one that came with my Giesemann kit? Im pretty sure the Giesemann fixture is about 25 pounds. The radion rail kit has rails that are 90” and can hold multiple radions. It will make the switch much faster if i dont need to switch them out...
Ecotech:
Giesemann:
I'll tell you what I did. For 20 years, I ran my VHO (or T5, they are both fluorescent bulbs) and my metal halides at the same time. A few months back, I replaced my reflectors and the new halides put a LOT more light down to the sand, noticeably more . So for fun, a few days after I put in the new MH bulbs, I turned off my VHO's. And I couldn't tell a difference between the VHO's on or off when the MH bulbs are running. So now I set the timer to turn off my VHO bulbs 15 minutes after the halides turn on and they turn on 15 minutes before the halides turn off. So even though I got bigger halide bulbs using more wattage, when I factor in turning off my VHO bulbs (2 x 160 watt bulbs), I am essentially saving electricity with this halide upgrade. Was not my intention starting out, but that's what happened.
Thanks. I actually just picked up a par meter so ill see how it goes. I also figure because the Infiniti does not have active t5 cooling it might save the bulbs to not run them at the same time as the halide... it would have been cool if giesemann added some fans and vents for the t5 like ATI does!
Thanks for the info! I will read.
I had a similar problem with my lights tripping the gfci. I converted the gfci to a regular circuit.
Trying to avoid that. I suppose i could move the gfci outlet to an upstream spot in the circuit and partially unprotect part of it for my lights but would rather not. The odd thing was i could switch them on with Apex at a random time and it would not trip but i had it on a timer for 6pm to come on and it would trip. Other things were also coming on at 6, like my fleece roller and my DOS for awc. I put the MH to come on at 5:55 instead today and it came on without a problem. Maybe i just need to be sure to completely isolate the on time from anything else drawing power, even my DOS. Im going to watch it this week and see how it goes. I do have another circuit nearby but it is also gfci. I did email premium aquatics today and they said to reach out to coralvue so i opened a ticket. I will see what they say. Im going to see if they will let me pay the difference and switch to the 400w version as i found some older posts that say people have had better luck with that one. Meanwhile the tank looks great when that Phoenix fires up and i cant wait to get it going for 6 hours a day!
Those corals you got from the store under Radions were struggling. Now, as you have noticed, halides emits light in a very similar way the sun does. That's why metal halides are the best if we want to simulate natural conditions! Yes, those corals will develop amazingly and they will show their signs of better health, true pigment production and a more natural look, with their nice colony formation. If every one here believed in your words they would also come here and testify, after changing to halides. Problem is that most people today want to set their minds in saving electricity and other excuses. Yet, they spend tons of money buying expensive LED fixtures and cartoon named corals, just to struggle.
