150HQI vs 175 Mogul
 

OK, which would win? Coralife 150W HQI pendant
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/mh...+1+x+150W.html

Or a Mag ballast 175W Mogul base? The Mogul base at present is a lamp shade style pendant, but even if it had say a U bend reflector?

I got both now, but the HQI I think the bulbs are old, like a couple years?? doesnt seem very bright

150 watt HQI will blow away a 175. the 175's are not a stellar size for MH. I had a 175 for about 6 months, then I upgraded to a 250 watt and it was night and day.

Steve

Steve, would you include the 175w Iwasaki 15k in that mix? Its suppose to be as bright as many 250,s. I have a 150w HQI and I would not say it overly impresses me. At least with the 14k bulb I,m running.

My 175w Ushio 10k bulbs on Icecaps, were as bright if not more, thus I,m thinking something like the Iwasaki would be. Of course I could run the 10k that came with the fixture. Much brighter but not impressive colors.

Another problem I find with the standard 150w HQ fixtures, is their smaller type reflectors. I,m having trouble getting enough spread for my 28in.tank. So again, I think a good 175w bulb in a Lumenarc, would be brighter overall?

I've heard the 175 Iwasaki is the way to go if your going 175.

You can also buy a Sunlight Supply LumenMax 3 for your 150 watter......... they come in 150 watt DE fitting.

Cheers,
Vic

I just bought a 250watt Lumenmax 3 for my Solana cube and its a great reflector. Only a 20x20x20 cube but the coverage is great. I have SPS on the bottom that are doing fine as well so far. I am using the Phoenix 14K on a Galaxy E-ballast and love it.

well if you want to through a HPS bulb into a MH discussion :mrgreen: I am not familier with the iwasaki blue bulbs, a side from they were aperantly an ugly blue when they were released, then nothing. so no word of a lie, I have not seen anything on them untill you just mentioned them so how good can they be.. :wink:

I had the USHIO 175 watt 10K's and while they were not bad I have seen many 150 watt HQI bulbs that would blow it out of the water, it was only marginaly brighter than T5's so how good can that be :mrgreen: seriously though, I would put 175's inbetween the PC/VHO/T5 and 150 and up HQI. now there is one factor that might mislead some with the 175 as it is a mogal bulb it has better coverage than a DE bulb so it makes the tank apear brighter, but the intensity is below a 150 HQI.

Now what are ou going to keep, the only differance I noticed is my digitata went from a slow grower under the 175 to crazy fast growth with the 250 SE on HQI ballasts. but if you have a 175 another problem is selection, a 150 HQI has far more bulb choices.

Steve

Well, based on Sanjay's data 150W HQI ballasts actually draw around 190 - 210 watts and most 150w DE bulbs put out around 60 PPFD with the Icecap 6500K (very yellow) putting out the most at 78 PPFD. These are all shielded results because you have to run shields with DE bulbs.

In contrast, an Iwasaki 15K SE bulb on an 175W electronic ballasts draws about 165-170 real watts and spits out PPFD in the very high 80s all while having a 14500K colour temperature (where most reefers want it).

In other words, you're using LESS electricity but getting MORE PAR out of an Iwasaki 175W bulb than any 150W HQI DE bulb. By all accounts, the Iwasaki is an extremely crisp white after burn in.

I was going to say something about the PAR and shielding... but fkshiu got it already.

Mogul halides will usually beat double-ended bulbs because doulbe ended bulbs MUST have a shield for UV, while mogul-based bulbs do not. Though HQI's usually are brighter/stronger, that shield will almost always cause the bulb to fall in the poop-hole compared to an identical mogul-based bulb.

This is all if your talking about the PAR - which should be a big part of what matters in choosing the bulb for coral response.

Cheers,

Chris

I'm currently running the Iwasaki 15k and just switched to a Vertex 175w e-ballast from a PFO pulse start tar ballast. I don't have a par meter but the Iwasaki bulb is significantly brighter with the e-ballast over the tar. Having said that, if you're comparing par output between a 175w Iwasaki mogul and 150 hqi bulb, you'd have to factor in the ballast choice as well.

don't forget also that most electronic ballasts under drive bulbs. we did a test on a DE bulb powered by a electronic Icecap ballast and the same bulb powered by a M80 ballast and the M80 put out about 23% more PAR. now this was a 250 watt HQI but it is something to put in the back of ones mind.

Ok so where can I find more info on the Iwasaki's? I never realized there were people using them anymore as you never hear about them.

Steve