Anyone with 400W 20K's...

[Sushiman]

Trying to decide which way to go on my upgrade. I want to do SPS, Clams & some LPS. Anyone here sporting the 20k's? Any Pictures? Could I come & see your systems? The few systems I've seen online look very nice with great colored SPS.
Looking for some feedback before I fork out the $$$$.

[Aquattro]

I'm running them, but pictures don't do them justice. You can come see them if you're a good swimmer :razz: . I believe a couple of people on the mainland have them; you really should see lighting in person before deciding. Remember, ballasts play an important role in the color of the bulbs.
I'm told they drop in intensity after 6 months, but I'm not quite there yet. I can testify to that in another month or so. So far, I'm really happy with the color, but they aren't as bright as my 10ks were. I put the 10k back in the other day just to see the difference and the color about made me vomit!! I'd have to take time to go back to 10k. A third 20k woulds solve my brightness problem, but I don't have the power available.!

[chwkreefer]

At the moment yet I still have a 75 gallon reef and I swapped out just one of my 175 10k ushio and put in one 400 watt radium on a son/agro ballast. The color is VERY NICE. However, like Brad said, the radiums will not be as bright as a 400 watt 10k.

So currently I have one 175 watt 10k still on one side of the reef and the radium on the other. I really find that the color of the radium is a very nice bluish/white. It makes the 10k look pretty yellow/green which is what I thought when I compared the 10k to the 6500's.

Photo's on the web will not give you an accurate enough picture of how they look. They tend to look whiter and brighter when you are actually are looking at a system (not a photo)

I certainly am planning on adding one or two more radiums to my 150 gallon reef that I will be setting up in a couple of months.

BTW I have Brad (& Stephane) to thank for the recommendation to go to radium. He was very informative and so I thought I would give it a try. I love the color of the light and unless I find I have to replace the bulbs way too frequently I wouldn't consider switching to anything else.

The key to the radium looking good though is to use the right ballast. If you have a hard time finding the son/agro 430 watt ballast in your area for a good price, I know a place locally that sells them for a very reasonable price. I'm out in Chilliwack.

Bill

[Sushiman]

[/img]reefbum.com

[Sushiman]

see what I mean? :shocked!:

[Aquattro]

see what I mean? :shocked!:

Yup, sure nic corals. Have you seen Mtndewman's tank? He has the same color corals under 10k bulbs. A local guy here (shane) has 1 20k and 2 55k with some really nice color also.
I think the main feature of the Radiums is that the whole tank has a certain bluish hue to it, which is something I like. I can't say with any certainty that my corals are nicer because of them.

Am I helping yet?? :biggrin:

[Sushiman]

That's a big 10-4 :idea:

[Doug]

I run 400w Radiums, driven by Bluewave pulse start ballasts. I just checked a side by side with one of my 6 month old bulbs abd a new one. No visable change.

However I dont believe they are as bright as the overdriven Radiums but certainly much brighter than driving them on a normal ballast.

As to how good they are, I reserve judgement on that. :eek: Because of changes in my tank, I have not had corals in there long enough to see. I can say my Iwasaki bulbs drown them out but are poo-poo looking. :lol:

[Aquattro]

However I dont believe they are as bright as the overdriven Radiums but certainly much brighter than driving them on a normal ballast.



I always thought that a pulse start was the same as a normal ballast, just with a different starting mechanism.....the SA ballast is brighter because it has more wattage running thru it. Anyone know for sure?

[StirCrazy]

Pluse starts ballasts can have different current/voltage levels also. that is why you cannot create a pulse start by simply adding a starter to a normal ballast.

[Doug]

Brad, when I run a Radium/Bluewave pulse start and a Radium/PFO normal ballast, {400w}, side by side, the pulse start is at least 50% brighter, if not more. The Radium on the normal ballast is identical to the 400w 12K Sunburst on the same ballast.

[stephane]

If you want color Radium on agro ballast is simply the best light for SPS I ever seen and tryhttp://zapzap.zwf.net/albums/Album-de-stephane/adv.jpg

[stephane]

Just forget I have mine for around 8 month and I tink they are still very good for another 4 month

[Doug]

Hi Stephane. Good to see you posting again. Must be pretty busy.

If I may, any idea why your bulbs are still good and many others on RC are saying theirs are shot after the same amount of time?

[Aquattro]

I've asked Steve to bring his PAR meter by, as I'mhitting 6 months now and we can see how much of a drop they've experienced. I don't think I can notice any change yet, but the meter will tell us for sure.

[stephane]

Hi doug

Sorry I dont have a clue but they are still realy bright and all my coral still grow and show beautiful color but I have not take any measure and dont tink I need to as everyting is find

I have not a deep tank only 24 inch and 6 inch of sand. Also my bulb are 5
inch from the water surface and the bulb are in optimal reflector also I was use them only 8 houre a day and found it is more than enought

Im not the only one to use those bulb more than 8 month I have see a couple of people that goes 12 month before to change whith great succes
so maybe those who swap the bulb after 6 month only swap it because they have been said to do so........just as people have change there salt
only because a couple have sais IO is not good :confused:

You know wath I mean????? another reef legend :lol:

ps: A lightning engeniring have said to me that we should put a fan direct on hour bulb and ballast to cool them down He said the hight temp is the enemy of those bulb and lower operation bulb will live a lot longuer so I will try it on my next set of radium

see you

[Bryan]

I guess I am in the minority here, but I plan on switching back to 250 watt iwasaki's with heavy actinic supplementation when the Radium bulbs run their life expectancy. I have yet to see any impressive color changes with the bulbs. Most of the SPS corals have changed to a milky brown color, and growth has slowed to a standstill. My mushrooms and zoo's don't seem to respond as well to the light.

I have had the Radiums since Feb and running them on the Son Agro ballasts. I appreciate the fact it can take a long time to see an effect with bulbs, but so far I am not that impressed.

The look of the light is beautiful, but after a while it begins to look artificial in a way.