Radiums 250watt on HQI ballast vs. electronic ballast?

[Emster]

I am thinking about switching my tank over to the 250 watt radiums and was wondering if anyone as any experience with them on both a HQI ballast and electronic? Do they burn different colors and how long to they last on each ballast?

[FranktheTankTx]

I run a 250w Radium w/ SLS BlueWave 3 HQI. It looks great! Here's a pick with the tank empty.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn210/FranktheTankTx/MHInstall.jpg

[Emster]

Thanks Frank for the pic, tank looks really good, going to be nice, and I think you made a great choice in bulbs.

Anybody else have any experience with these ballast and life expectancy of the radiums?

[Blazer88]

From what I understand, running them on an electronic ballast will under drive the bulb and produce a much more blue color. I've always read these bulbs are meant for an HQI ballast and would last the normal 9-12 months. Here is my tank (only a few weeks old) on a Blue Wave 3 HQI ballast with no supplemental lighting.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/rparchen/Tank%20Build/IMG_6310-Edit.jpg

[Emster]

Blazer - thanks for that pic, your tank is really nice, and love the color of those bulbs. Thanks for sharing!

I have a PFO HQI ballast I'm going to be using to drive the radiums, for three years now the tank has been run on electronic ballasts with 14K aquaconnect bulbs.

[FranktheTankTx]

I really like the color of the Radium. That's a nice color on Blazer's tank!

I have even thought about purchasing a Current PowerBrite 12" strip of 4 LED 460nm to run behind my pendant to add a slight "pop" of the corals.

[tweetyfish]

for three years now the tank has been run on electronic ballasts with 14K aquaconnect bulbs.

Have you tried running the Aquaconnect's on the HQI ballast? I switched from IC ballast to Bluewave 3 M80 ballast and really like the brighter white with a hint of blue using the M80's. They always looked great with IC ballast but now they seem to make the colors of the corals brighter.

[matt 76]

I'm running 3 250 watt radiums on coralvue electronic ballasts with 4 160 watt super actinics here is a pic
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii41/rickyrouster1/20k003.jpg

[143gadgets]

Here is mine running 250w radiums on the new icecap ballasts. I'm also running VHO actinics.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/143gadgets/LIV_6754.jpg

[FranktheTankTx]

I have always loved your tank Chris - it almost made me go BB. I am putting about 1" of sand in my tank. But you have a very nice tank...

Seems like you have more frags in the bottom than last time I saw it?

[DB06]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13480737#post13480737 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Emster
I am thinking about switching my tank over to the 250 watt radiums and was wondering if anyone as any experience with them on both a HQI ballast and electronic? Do they burn different colors and how long to they last on each ballast?

Emmett, I have seen your setup, always thought it looked great. Curious as to why you are looking to do a change.

[Emster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13483521#post13483521 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tweetyfish
for three years now the tank has been run on electronic ballasts with 14K aquaconnect bulbs.

Have you tried running the Aquaconnect's on the HQI ballast? I switched from IC ballast to Bluewave 3 M80 ballast and really like the brighter white with a hint of blue using the M80's. They always looked great with IC ballast but now they seem to make the colors of the corals brighter.

Are you saying the aquaconnects are whiter on m80's? The aquaconnects are a little too white for my taste on my electronic ballasts but I get killer growth out of them.

[Emster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13489097#post13489097 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DB06
Emmett, I have seen your setup, always thought it looked great. Curious as to why you are looking to do a change.

There are a fews reasons why I'm thinking about switching, first I have a couple of good size corals that I believe get amazing colors under radiums(pink lemonade and shades of fall) and I believe I can get better colors out of the other acros. The other couple of reasons are they are cheaper then the aquaconnects and I don't really need anymore growth(radiums are still pretty good), my tank is pretty full and its becoming a problem. I will try and get a pic up of it and you can see what I mean.

Wow guys thanks for posting pics of your tanks, they look great. Gadgets love that tank!

[Emster]

Here is a pic of the aquaconnects with actinics....

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/emh4th/IMG_0893.jpg


I'm looking for a little more blue then this and hoping I can eliminate some of the actinic supplements. Anybody have any ideas and how often you need to change out radiums on HQI ballasts? Right now I'm having to change out my aquaconnects every 9 months, hoping the radiums last longer.

[Emster]

Anybody else have any experience with these bulbs and ballasts?

[grigsy]

I have run Radium 250 watt on a Hamilton M80 HQI ballast and I liked it. I prefer HQI ballast for Radium 250 watt bulbs over electronic.

[IRISSERVICE]

I run 250w radiums on new style Icecaps and like them...I came from Aquaconnects on Icecap...I love the Aquaconnects,but bulb to bulb consistency was bad for me. Radiums are nice blue

[Emster]

How often do you guys have to change out the radiums?

[IRISSERVICE]

I change mine every 7-8 months

[palabok]

I changed my Radiums on SLS HQI ballast every 6 months. I actually love the Helios over the Radiums.

[hyperfocal]

I'm running Radiums on an SLS Galaxy electronic ballast. They're definitely bluer than they would be on a magnetic.

[VaderWS6]

I'm thinking about switching to Radium 20k's as well. I currently run 250 watt SE XM 10k's on an HQI ballast with Lumenbright mini's, but they're just too bright. I love the intensity, but some of my sps toward the top of the reef aren't happy with it. What do you guys think the PAR of the Radium bulbs would be on an HQI ballast with my Lumenbright reflectors? Enough for decent sps growth? I thought about running Radiums for 7 months, and then XM 10k's for 5 months.

[miwoodar]

I was running a Radium on an older Coralife e-ballast on the right side of this tank. All bulbs were ~8 months old. LA type reflectors. The left ballast was a generic probe start hence the SPS 20K bulb being used over there.

The 180 number was significantly shaded by the digitata.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n231/miwoodar/PARValues24-Jul-08.jpg

[Emster]

So far it looks like the radiums need to be changed out every 6 to 8 months from the replies so far. Man I was hoping to get at least 9 months out of them, anyone else go longer then 8 months?

[miwoodar]

It's more of a problem with the 400's because they are made to be run at much lower wattages than American ballasts provide. My 250 was over 8 months old and I was still getting 600 PAR at the top of the tank and pushing 400 near the bottom center. With PAR like that, I'm not planning on replacing the bulb any time soon.

[Emster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13516743#post13516743 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by miwoodar
It's more of a problem with the 400's because they are made to be run at much lower wattages than American ballasts provide. My 250 was over 8 months old and I was still getting 600 PAR at the top of the tank and pushing 400 near the bottom center. With PAR like that, I'm not planning on replacing the bulb any time soon.

Thanks for the good info. So how long do you think you can go with the 250watters?

[VaderWS6]

So would I still get good growth with 600 PAR? I wonder what the PAR would be with Lumenbrights?

[miwoodar]

MH's supposedly loose a good bit of PAR in the initial couple of months then run pretty steady for the next year or more, maybe as long as two. If they are being overran I would expect them to last much less time. I wish I actually owned the PAR meter I used for that test so I could follow my PAR over time.

There's no reason to go any higher IMO. If I go to anything stronger I would go to 400 Radiums. It would be for larger PAR in the darker regions of my tank though, not to add more to the area directly beneath the bulbs.

I was getting a nearly an inch of growth per month with many of the acros in that pic.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1/view?searchterm=riddle

[spleify]

Here is another good read. About half way down there is a table that show each bulb tested on different ballast.
Looks like the Radium does best on the HQI ballast.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/jb/index.php

HTH

Spleify

[miwoodar]

Good link Leif. Also of note is the section on the testing method. These tests were conducted sans reflector. Adding a reflector would have significantly increased the PAR across the board.

"I finally settled on a 2' x 2' x 2' square box (seen above). Its inside was painted flat black to minimize the amount of light reflected back to the sensor. The mogul socket was mounted horizontally, approximately 5" from the ceiling of the box. The quantum sensor (a sensor used to measure PAR) was placed 8" below the center of the arc tube. I chose 8" because this seemed to be a common distance that people keep their MH lamps from the water's surface. To minimize voltage spikes and aberrations, a voltage regulator was used on power from the wall's electrical socket. A watt meter was plugged into the voltage regulator and the ballast plugged into the watt meter."

[Emster]

Okay so I just pulled the trigger and ordered some radiums, going to be putting them on HQI ballasts. I have high hopes for these bulbs, I LFS near me is getting killer colors out of there radiums, hoping to get the same results. Will let you guys know.

[Emster]

Got the radiums on a HQI ballast tonight and I love them so far! Nice blue crisp color. Anyone else have any experience with these bulbs please feel free to post, would love to hear about your experiences.

[kdblove_99]

Only ran it on HQI and it is still my favorite bulb to date! people changing them out after 6 months are throwing away money. You can easilly get 9 months if not longer. I remember seeing a posty recently that Gcarrol has used them for 18months

[Nuuze]

Since over driving them shortens their life, anyone ever use a 400w bulb on a 250w ballasts?

I have a Sfiligoi XR4 fixture that can power both 400w/250w by moving a jumper and been testing different bulb wattages. One day I forgot to move the jumper back to 400w and powered a 400w bulb at 250w.

Just a thought. :)

[IRISSERVICE]

tried it, way to dim..needs 360w

[Emster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13594081#post13594081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kdblove_99
Only ran it on HQI and it is still my favorite bulb to date! people changing them out after 6 months are throwing away money. You can easilly get 9 months if not longer. I remember seeing a posty recently that Gcarrol has used them for 18months

Yeah I think I'm going to try and get 12 months out of them.

It has been 5 days now since I put them on the tank and it looks like they are burning in just a little more blue. I think I can always add a little more white with a VHO 50/50 if I feel I need too.

They look great and so far I'm happy with them, only time will tell if I get the same growth and better colors but I swear I can already see some of the acros getting brighter colors.

[uhuru]

recently ordered a 250w x 2 galaxy ballast on sale from scott @ aquarium specialty, look forward to using this on some radiums, seems the galaxy runs it a bit closer to HQI spec than other eballasts

[VaderWS6]

One of my acros has always had light green polyps, now they're turning a light blue! :) Still hasn't recovered from the XM 10k partial bleach, but when it does I'm sure the color will be awesome.