Xanium X2's

[StirCrazy]

Does anyone have any information about thease bulbs? I have seen a couple pics but that is about it. I can't seam to find any techinal info about them to see how they stack up against other bulbs. so if anyone has some info can you let me know please.

Steve

[Bryan]

I am interested in these bulbs as well. From what I a have been reading on the various bulletin boards the color is similiar to a USHIO but abit brighter. Apparently the color is very nice. As for PAR or how long the bulbs last no data yet. I am also tempted to purchase two as the price is not much more than the Iwasaki's

[Troy F]

The price is quite a bit more if you take into account that the higher k bulbs generally shift spectrum much earlier than the Iwasaki.

Dana Riddle is testing these bulbs right now and will hopefully be releasing some information soon.

[AquariumPros.ca]

Originally posted by Troy F:
Dana Riddle is testing these bulbs right now and will hopefully be releasing some information soon.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Check out HERE (http://www.aquariumpros.ca/userfiles/xanium175w.pdf) for some early data.

HTH

[StirCrazy]

AJ, is that for the 10000K or the 15000K bulbs?

Steve

[Bryan]

15K

The full thread is on the Compuserve Fishnet Forum

Originally posted by StirCrazy:
AJ, is that for the 10000K or the 15000K bulbs?

Steve<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

[StirCrazy]

ok, I am starting to like the reports on thease bulbs aand the price is right.. the only problem now is do I go 10000K or 15000K, if I go with the 400 watt 15000K I can use my 10000K 96 watt PC's to whiten them up a bit but now the kicker is .. do I have my actinic lights come on.. then my 15000K MH's, THEN my Pc's in the afternoon to get a blue less blue, even less blue efect as they come on.. or do I still fo with NO, PC's then MH, so I wil get a blue, whitish, then more blue..

does any of that make any sense? LOL

Steve

[StirCrazy]

just when I thought i had it all figured out, I start reading on fishnet LOL, acording to both Richard Harker and Dana Riddle the Iwasaki bulbs can easaly go 18 to 24 months between changes. a quote from Dana
"If I were to start a coral farm and use artificial light, I would go with a 400-watt Iwasaki 6500K in a pendent luminaire and shielded for UV. I would replace the lamps every 18 months (or sooner if i can a compelling reason to do so)."

From Ritchard
"Again, one can't generalize about bulbs. A one year old Iwasaki will still produce more PAR than a brand new Ushio 10K 250w bulb and at the end of the Iwasaki's second year, it will produce even more light than the one year old 10K. But if you reverse that and compare a one year old 400 w 10K to a new Iwasaki 250w bulb the reverse is true."

I think lighting has now take over 1st place on my list of the single most confusing aspect of reefing. do we go with bad colour, but good growth or do we go with nice colour and ok growth.. if we want to provide what is best for the corals shoulden't we all be using 5500K bulbs? (something to think about)

Steve

[canadawest]

Steve, I'm confused so humour me....

Didn't you mention in another exhausting thread about MH vs HQI or something that you had decided not to buy any new HID lighting for another 6-12 months?

If this is true, why the h&ll do you even care about these new "magic" MH lamps on the market? I mean seriously, like anything else in this hobby, it will take time to prove itself.

While I have been studying HID lighting now for the past 6 months, and am planning to add some when I have the funds, I don't spark debates over which is better, or best, or coolest when I am only sitting on the pot and have no intention of "number 2" right now. :eek:

While I can appreciate the interest in the new lamps, wouldn't it be best to let something BRAND NEW on the market get some testing and exposure first before asking a bunch of questions?

Eventually YOU are going to have to make a decision on your own based on an opinion that YOU form which will be based on either fact or popular opinion. If there is one thing I've learned in this hobby in the past 15 months it's that new "revolutionary" items are rarely worth the materials they are made out of. Not to say these new Xanium lamps are a gimmick, but time will tell us the truth.

Ok.... whew got that off my chest, who wants a beer? :rolleyes:

[Troy F]

AJ, who ran those tests?

[StirCrazy]

ya.. I am not going to run out and buy them I just saw such a hype being made over them that I wanted more info.. like you said I am going to be waiting about 6 months, but I fugure that will let me look at the different types of bulbs better and compare them some more.. HQI is nice (and still at the top of my list) but I have some isues withit in the way of mounting it in my hood. If I can find another bulb that will give me close to the same amount of output and still look good I just might get that instead.
This also goes to show how screwed up this lighting isue is.. hell Dr. Ron advocates PC's over MH.

I usaly do my research and then make a desision but this is one area that truley has me screwed up. Hell do I even realy need MH? from what I have been reading laitly I could just add another two 96watt PC's and be fine. there have been several dessusions out there I have been reading that are saying that the MH crazy has been way over stated.. is this going to stop me from buyng some sort of MH system.. problably not..

the Tests do look interesting on thease new bulbs so far. Dana Riddle is suspecting that the 15000K bulbs are actualy 40000 to 50000K, I never realized how screwed up the markiting was for bulbs.
also I have learned that the Xanium are a new asian entry into the market so the might be something to watch.. mabe we will starrt seeeing better bulbs at cheeper prices? mabe not...

Steve

[Troy F]

do we go with bad colour, but good growth
No, you go with what is pleasing to you. For what it's worth; the Iwasaki bulbs look just fine with a little actinic supplementation.

or do we go with nice colour and ok growth
Again you go with what best suits your intentions. If you can afford to replace bulbs more frequently and don't care how fast your corals grow; buy a higher kelvin bulb.

if we want to provide what is best for the corals shoulden't we all be using 5500K bulbs?
Nope, we'd all be using the Iwasaki bulbs or not keeping them at all ;) .

[Delphinus]

I want to second Troy's thoughts ...

Don't make it too hard on yourself! Go with whatever floats your boat. I think the best thing to do is, try something for a year or six months, and decide how you like it. If you like it, continue; if you don't, then try something else. Don't worry if it's "99% right for you" or "98% right for you." I think you'll need to experiment around a little in order to find the solution you find best.

The hype surrounding the Xanium bulbs does make them sound promising, but in a few months time we'll have a pretty good idea of what people think of them... So I guess it depends if you want to take the risk of being on leading edge of the evaluation process, or step back a bit and let something prove itself in the field first.

I do hear promising results with people who mix bulbs. Anthony Calfo's book on coral propagation describes what he thinks as a promising solution and it seems to be a mixture of 20kK's with 10kK's or 6.5kK's. I've heard people on RC trying this as well and liking the results. So Steve you may be onto something with your idea of mixing the bulbs like that....

[DJ88]

Dana Riddle is suspecting that the 15000K bulbs are actualy 40000 to 50000K <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">If they are this K then they are getting out of the blue temperature range and will be more violet than blue. At 39000K the color noticeably shifts into the violet spectrum.

FYI. FWIW

[ 12 April 2002, 08:05: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

[StirCrazy]

ya, from the picutres I have seen there is a large violet hue to he look of these bulbs
(that is the 15000K ones)

Steve

[stephane]

IMO if you go whith Iwasaki stay in the 250w
they are realy bright (more PAR than most 400 watt and easy to get them bluer whith actinic

an on the xanum I tink all those photo from jim norris on RC are false no one in my life could ever make me tink that this is real

a 400w Iwasaki are no way that yellow when supplement with 7 VHO actinic this guy photo here are only bulshit
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?s=&postid=506266 IMO

Here are pictures of day one picture 2813 is my 120 on the left and 65 gallon on the right. This picture the 120 has 2 400 watt 65k sakis and 7 110 watt vho actincs. The 65 gallon has two 400 watt x bulbs from hellolights. Picture 2814 is full shot of the 65 gallon and picture 2815 is a full shot of the 120gallon.
Jim

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

[ 15 April 2002, 00:30: Message edited by: stephane ]

[stephane]

http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=1940

this the pic of my tank 2x saki 250 + 4 actinic NO 40W drive by a ice cap I know that 400W are a litle biit more yellow but 7 actnic
definitivalie someting is rong there

[Doug]

Cmon guys. You would think its a sin to try, let alone want a decent light at a decent price, esp for us.

Have most of us not tried them all. My 400 65K is yellow, not white, no matter how many times people tell me its white. My 250,s were a very nice crisp white & I wish I had not got rid of them, but thats not the case. So I am just talking 400,s here.

10K, very nice, but $200 a bulb,cmon. :eek: At $130/bulb, its worth a chance to test these. Like we have not wasted money on our tanks before. :D Heck they can sit on the shelf with the others I have tried, if they turn out to be crap.

Sure my 400 watt 55K, thats currently running is white & cheap @ $80, but its not what I, nor my corals are looking for. I have posted many times how good the corals look and grow with a 400 watt 12K plus 65K n/o supplementation. Thats the look I want without all the hassle.

I thought of 20K plus HQI or electronic ballasts, but I am tired of changing and giving away ballasts, etc. I was going to try them on my PFO ballast until the new bulbs came out, so I figured why not.