Stichodactyla lighting

[djf91]

Your carpets will love it , and your electric meter will be singing that song by dead or alive -"You spin me right round baby right round..."

Haha it ain’t too bad! Not too much more than a properly lit LED tank. Emphasis on properly lit. The electric savings are a myth.

 

[D-Nak]

Radiums were the best. The burns I got from them, not so much. LEDs can do a decent job of replicating the look of a Radium 20k, but without a fear of burns and the damage to your wallet. I've actually kept a few ballasts with the hope of one day running a tank on halides. Are the bulbs hard to find these days?

 

[djf91]

Yes you can! They started making the bulbs again:

250 Watt Metal Halide Bulbs

Supplier of high quality aquarium products

aquabrightsolutions.com

 

[cet98]

Wow….metal halide.
That is a blast from my past and long after I sold or gave all my fixtures away.
The heat alone was unbearable for me back then and the power consumption was significant ime…
Now that I have made significant investments in AI Prime and ET Radion led fixtures, there’s no going back for me especially when I currently have 7 tanks and 2 recently setup QT tanks.
I remember the Radium 20K lamp as the “gold standard” back then but I really do enjoy the ability to set my spectrum based on my needs.
Par values are not a problem for me as I heavily favor shallow/lagoon style aquariums, so light penetration doesn’t tend to be an issue for me.

I appreciate all the input and will use the Mobius app to set a 20K light spectrum and see how the carpets react.

Thanks again everyone

 

[MikeyA]

Radiums were the best. The burns I got from them, not so much. LEDs can do a decent job of replicating the look of a Radium 20k, but without a fear of burns and the damage to your wallet. I've actually kept a few ballasts with the hope of one day running a tank on halides. Are the bulbs hard to find these days?

Absolutely agree, that radium color was just perfect. Oddly to my eyes though the 250w even overdriven still didn't have that sharpness that the 400w did. Of course you had to overdrive the 400s as well but that spectrum was unreal. And of course burning yourself on the bulbs was always a good time lol. And the heat those lamps could put out would warm up a room quickly.

 

[Ocellaris123]

Your gig will be fine in the 47, i light my gig and haddonis with ai primes and they do fine. My gig was completely bleached and it recovered under 2 primes. I also run orephek bars to supplement blues. Here are the schedules that work for me

 

[RobM76]

I’ve kept Gigantea under 10k halides, T5’s, and now an Evergrow it5012 pro (LED blues/UV all at 90%, red and green at 10%, white at 20%, though I have that ramped up to 35% at peak lunchtime hours).

IME as long as they get plenty of light, they’re not fussy about spectrum. The one I have now is 2 feet across, in a 3 foot tank, and gets PAR between 500 and 250.