Switching to MH on 6' 125 Gallon

[Kfactor]

I'm thinking of switching out my Radion XR30 Gen 2's to MH. I'm currently running them at 70% on the AB+ schedule along with a 61'' Aquatic Life Hybrid running 2 blue+, 1 coral+, and
1 actinic. PAR is around 450 at the top of the rockwork. Id like to keep the Aquatic Life fixture and use 3 reefbrite 15" MH Pendants in place of the Radions as they will fit in the Aquatic Life fixture since they are only 8.75" deep. It is an in wall setup and I am thinking of removing the front bulb closest to the wall and adding a Orphek Light Bar to the front angled back to the center for more of a dusk and dawn effect.

I plan on using 250W 14k Ushios but am unsure of which ballast would be the best option?

Are the Reef Brite Ballast that BRS sells any good?

Also what would be the best way to acclimate my tank to these new fixtures?

I'm sure there will be a significant increase in PAR so I am thinking maybe start out running the MH for 3 or 4 hours a day then work towards 6 or 7 over a few months?

I have attached a picture of the current setup if that helps.

dream setup right there

 

[Hokie125]

Thanks! @Kfactor
It has been a lot of trial and error but I am pleased with the way it is right now. Unfortunately if I did a build thread on it, it would have taken 4 years as much as things have changed just in my short time in this hobby.

 

[Bpb]

Thanks for the the info @Bpb. I got in touch with Tullio at ReefBrite today and he did a very good job at convincing me to pull the trigger on 3 of his 15" pendants! I really like the idea of them running much cooler than traditional pendants and with the twinarc bulbs it seems that you are basically getting two bulbs in one since they alternate firing. As far as the color and spectrum goes compared to an Ushio, that I will have to find out! He still insisted that they be changed out roughly once a year but with the design he chose they have very minimal loss of efficiency as they age. I'm going to pair them up with the ReefBrite 250W Ballast and their 14K/14K twinarc bulbs. He also informed me that a 12" mounting height should be optimal but did recommend starting them higher and working them down to that.

@Braver69. I'm willing to bet that halides will be around for much longer than we think. There is still a huge market for them and after talking to Tullio and Luke at Premium Aquatics the sales for halides have went up recently. I personally think reefers are starting to realize that LED's alone just not enough to grow a wall to wall Acro tank without some form of supplement, or have way more than the recommended amount of LED's mounting them higher than recommended as well. I absolutely love t5's as I am running them now in the Aquatic Life fixture but hate the static look of them when I run them by themselves. I need some sort of shimmer even if its the disco balling of the Radions

Sorry to be so long winded! I haven't been this excited about my tank in a while. One last question though? I'm still having a hard time picking which light bars I want. I'm thinking with the mounting height of 12'' the Orphek OR3's may be the best bet since they have narrower lenses than the ReefBrite XHO's. I like the mounting hardware better on them as well. Kind of bummed that they don't have a dimmer option yet but that appears to be coming soon. What do you guys think? Even better if you have some pictures!

I look forward to seeing the install!

 

[Hokie125]

I will definitely post some pictures up. I'm going to rent a par meter from BRS as well and share what I find.

 

[Bpb]

@Hokie125

Don’t know if you saw this but Reefbum did a review on the reefbrite units. Very promising. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

 

[Hokie125]

Honestly I have watched it a couple of times, lol. Its really the only decent video review on them. I went ahead and ordered 2 Orphek OR3 150's today and should have them soon. Hoping to have everything setup within a couple weeks.

 

[Kfactor]

@Hokie125

Don’t know if you saw this but Reefbum did a review on the reefbrite units. Very promising. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

I want those so bad

 

[A. grandis]

I want those so bad

Get one for you. Pay little by little with your credit card.
Life goes by very fast!

 

[Kfactor]

Get one for you. Pay little by little with your credit card.
Life goes by very fast!

If I can find them in Canada I will be putting them on my new build !

 

[Kfactor]

Why is there no vids on this light ? It’s hard to find any info or places that sell them

 

[Bpb]

Why is there no vids on this light ? It’s hard to find any info or places that sell them

Because it’s a newish metal halide product and the types of people that are using it arent YouTube personalities or even very active on forums. I’m sure they sell enough of them to keep making them though. I regretfully didn’t give them a chance early on when I first heard about them

 

[Hokie125]

There not much info at all on these fixtures. I believe its where they are fairly new and do not get all of the marketing hype that LED does.

 

[Kfactor]

Ever since I saw them in here I really got me think of getting them for my new build . The on!y thing I don't know what bulb to get and wattage my tank is a 80 g 4'lx2'wx16"tall and want to do do dominated.

 

[X-37B]

Yea I got my fixtures about 3 years ago. This post is the first I have heard about them.
I may have to pick one up and put it on my 36x24x12 frag tank to replace the 150 hamilton with a 250.
Locally if you dont speak led none of the experts wants to hear about it, lol.

 

[Hokie125]

If your goal is SPS/Acropora top to bottom I would recommend 250W. If you are going to supplement with blue LED's then maybe 14k. Also mounting height could be a concern. I'm planning on having mine 12-14" off the water

 

[Hokie125]

I am hoping to have a review up by the end of next week with PAR numbers with 2 OR3 150 Blue Plus LED Bars. Ill be using the 14k Twinarc bulbs from Reefbrite and their 250W Ballast.

 

[A. grandis]

@Reefbrite has nice fixtures with a new look and using a cooler way to use halides. The ballast uses less wattage and therefore emits less heat. The fixtures' design allow an amazing passive cooling. Their Twin Arc bubs complete their line. Tullio told me the PAR is still basically the same as many of the other brands and this new technology they developed is great. Everyone I know that tried didn't look back. I was trying to order a system a while ago, but had to choose between the Spectra and the Reefbrite. I knew they would stop importing the Spectra and decided to get it instead.
I will most likely get their halide system running some time in the future. So many people had only great things to say about them. Still love Hamilton fixtures too. They are all great!

Reef Brite Metal Halide - Reef Brite

Reef Brite Metal Halide Pendant runs cooler and produces more light output than other compact metal halide system available.

www.reefbrite.com

Reef Brite Halide Hybrid - Reef Brite

Reef Brite Metal Halide Hybrid with XHO high power LED supplemental lighting. Enhances color while promoting growth in photosynthetic organisms.

www.reefbrite.com

Reef Brite Twin-Arc™ - Reef Brite

The Reef Brite TWIN-ARC™ metal halide lamp is one of the most exciting new developments in aquarium lighting in over a decade.

www.reefbrite.com

 

[Kfactor]

If your goal is SPS/Acropora top to bottom I would recommend 250W. If you are going to supplement with blue LED's then maybe 14k. Also mounting height could be a concern. I'm planning on having mine 12-14" off the water

I would say higher would be a little better easy to clean and maintain the tank

 

[Hokie125]

That's right, I only have one way into my tank and its though the back. Don't want to be moving my fixtures around every time I need to do something.

 

[Hokie125]

Finally got everything in, was rather shocked that I got everything in this week with all of the shipping delays. What was even more surprising is how much light these bad boys put out. Definitely going to need to do some acclimation which I really hope some of you MH gurus can help me out with. Here are some PAR readings I have taken with the MQ-510 I rented from BRS.

This is with the Radion XR-30 Gen 2's at 70% AB+ and Aquatic Life Hybrid with 2 B+, 1 C+, and 1 Actinic. All ATI. This was done at the beginning of last year, and noticed that the PAR had dropped by almost 100 at each of these locations as of today. So take 100 off of this. Either I was running a different intensity or different program. Not sure why they were different this time around. Hopefully you guys can see the numbers, it looked much better on Microsoft Paint!

RB 15" Pendants, RB 250W Ballasts, RB 14K Twinarc, with 2 Orphek OR3 150's mounted at 10" off the surface

ReefBrite only

LED only

And ReefBrite and LED's at the highest I can go at 14"

So my questions is? How best to implement an acclimation schedule? I'm thinking keep it at 14" off the surface, run the LED's from 10am to 12pm, MH on at 12pm off at 6pm, LED's back on at 6pm then off at 10pm. I would like to work the LED's in the entire day but I think it will be too much to start with. Then slowly lower the lights over the course of a couple months back to 10" to keep the light spill down. Hopefully Im making sense! Also don't worry over the fish, they are still in there. They really did not like the PAR meter wand. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!