Stircrazy and other lighting gurus

[marie]

Would 250w SE bulbs on an HQI ballast be better then going with a 400w system?



I also forsee another problem, how do I keep my vho's when the MH reflectors take up all the room over the tank

[Myka]

Originally Posted by marie

Would 250w SE bulbs on an HQI ballast be better then going with a 400w system?

Depends what you mean by "better"? The 250w SE on HQIs will be waaaaay more energy efficient. It also depends on whether you're doing 400w DE or SE. I would assume SE since there isn't much bulb choice in 400w DE. In that case, depending on which ballast and bulb you choose for both setups, the 400w SE setup is likely to only put out about 15-25% more PAR, but for 62.5% more energy.

midgetwaiter is right that the Ushio SE is the best choice. It runs the most efficient on an HQI ballast, and puts out the most PAR. The Ushio 10K is rather yellow though, so you may need to use stronger actinics to pull the color nicer.

I think you will be happier with the SE on HQI than with your current DEs, as I understand you only have 2 MH over a 6 foot tank. The coverage the SEs with have will be quite noticable in your case.

You need to check out this website: http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

You will find that the 250w Ushio 10K run on a PFO HQI ballast has the highest PAR in the 250w range.

Originally Posted by marie

I also forsee another problem, how do I keep my vho's when the MH reflectors take up all the room over the tank

The reason why I will never own a bowfront!!! The best bet is to pick a smaller pendant. Try the Lumenarc mini. BUT, (generally) the smaller the reflector, the less spread of light you will get. Honestly, you would be best off getting a third pendant and using the Lumenarc minis. Then you will have space for your VHO.

[marie]

At the moment I have 3 250w de metal halides and 2 165w vhos .


I'm happy with the colour and growth of the corals , the biggest problem I have and the reason I'm looking at changing things is the hamilton hood is very noisy (because of crappy fans) and the light spread is terrible

[Myka]

Oh ok...for some reason I was under the impression you only had two. When/If you switch to the HQI ballasts, you may have to go through a few bulbs before you find the color you want. If you go with Ushio 10K and keep the VHOs that you have the same, you will have a yellower light than you are used to. You will have to figure out a way to change that. Personally, I would use 4 T5s for actinic and put 2 AquaBlue+ type bulbs in and 2 True Actinics in. That would REALLY pull the Ushios whiter/bluer.

Check that website, and it will show you the PPFD (similar to PAR) of each bulb with the PFO HQI ballast. You will notice that when you go with a higher Kelvin you will lose PPFD very quickly.

[marie]

I really don't like the bluer look or even white. I like the bright sunny day look myself , what I don't like is having the colour red washed out.

If I could find a metal halide bulb that didn't make all my red colours look like dried blood I would toss my vhos in a minute In the mean time my vhos aren't actinics they are the uri 10ks which give the tank a nice pink colour

[Myka]

Ah, in that case you're like me! So I don't think ou have issues with the Ushio 10K, although I would bet you would want at least one of those VHOs to be actinic. The Ushio 10K is very yellow. You'll get hella PAR running those Ushio SE 10K on the PFO HQI ballast.

[fishytime]

Add a HOT5 retro fit kit and run a fiji purple bulb?

[PoonTang]

Originally Posted by marie

I'm happy with the colour and growth of the corals , the biggest problem I have and the reason I'm looking at changing things is the hamilton hood is very noisy (because of crappy fans) and the light spread is terrible

Why not try upgrading the fans first? alot cheaper than a whole new system.

[marie]

Originally Posted by PoonTang

Why not try upgrading the fans first? alot cheaper than a whole new system.

Well your a bit late with that suggestion .

New reflectors and bulbs are in and working wonderfully and its not quite a whole new system, I still have the same ballasts

[fkshiu]

I got rid of my old Hamilton hood and went with lumenmax reflectors on an HQI ballast. What a world of difference despite only having 2 MHs going now instead of 3. It's well worth the upgrade.