400w Radium, or Reeflux 12K...which will have more PAR

[ptreef]

both would be used on a lumatek select a watt....

Swapping from XM 20k to something a little whiter, brighter and higher PAR!

[sirreal63]

They will be close in PAR but the Reeflux will be slightly higher. You can find the Reeflux bulb on Sanjay's site under CoralVue.

[ptreef]

I am trying to look at the site and it appears to be having troubles plotting, some script error?

Do you know how the USHIO 14k would compare? More PAR and whiter? Any yellow?

[sirreal63]

Don't try to plot, go to lamp and ballast.

[ptreef]

Well it appears:

XM 20k electronic is about 99 ppfd....HQI 115ppfd
Reeflux 12K electronic is about ~115-125ppfd / HQI ~140 ppfd
Ushio 14K electronic is ~150ppfd... HQI ~ 160'sppfd

Radium is like 100 electronic and 140's HQI

Considering tryin Ushio 14K and seeing if I can get enuf acctinic or blue from t-5's....
Hmmm

[Biocubehqi]

If you use the HQI, please note that ushio dosnt have a uv shield for that bad boy, I used it and didn't know this and burned half my rock, my fish that like to swim in the open and all my corals. Make sure you have protection from the uv!!!

[ptreef]

when you say HQI...u mean a DE bulb? All DE bulbs require the UV shield. The SE bulbs have the UV glass shield?

Or are u saying the Ushio SE doesn't have a UV shield on the bulb??

[Biocubehqi]

I'm not sure??? Haha all I know is I bought a double ended mh ushio 14k and it did not have a uv shield.... My poor clown and corals and my white rock are proof of this. Just food for thought, really look into the product you purchase. I wish I did more research, I wasted a lot of money and time on mine. Turns out when I put my glass top on it solved my problem. As the glass top acts as a uv shield....

[ptreef]

Ok, yeah you are referring to a HQI DE(double end bulb) these require glass shields to block the UV. But just putting a glass lid on tank, you and everything around your house and eyes are getting UV radiation. You really need the UV shield on the reflector or pendant to stop UV escaping into your surroundings.

SE (single end ogul bulbs have a UV shield built into their out case of the bulb and do not require a extra glass shield.

[dahenley]

i run a 400W 14k USHIO on my tank using a lumatek 250/250HQI/400/SL selectable ballast.
i used to run 20K XM bulbs and loved them. (im a blue looking kind of person)
i actually ran 3 400W bulbs on my tank, and 2 were 20K XM's and 1 was a Radium (all were run when i was using PFO ballast)
I asked people every time they came over and no-one could tell a difference under each bulb or pick out which was a Radium. I will say that a Radium did make a Red Chalice look better then the XM's but thats the only thing i saw that looked any different/better

I went to the 14K USHIO 's because its the bulb that "COPPS" uses on his tank. that was the only reason. (plus i had run XM's for 2-3 years and wanted a change)
The 14K's look WAY brighter. some was due to me replacing the ballast, but i ran a XM with the new ballasts, and the 14k's look so much better.

I have a Tubbs Pink birdsnest that was burgundy colored, and with the Ushio's its HOT PINK!!! smoking color! but some things dont look as good.
I will say that i took my VHO actinics off while re-doing my light rail and installing new reflectors, and just been too lazy to put them on. If i had the Actinics to add a little POP and Blue, then i would be SET!!! now i just have to get off my lazy butt and do it.....

[dahenley]

oh, i ran a reeflux a long time ago.... but it was DE, so i cant compare actually the difference between them. but i will say that they are close in colors. but the ushio is better looking in my opinion. (no yellow. but its super white!)

[ptreef]

Thanks for the reply. Did you notice better growth with the Ushio?
I plan to run t-5's for pop. I too am a blue tank guy, but with the XM 20's I needed some whiter t-5 to brighten up and add some whiter spectrum...

Figure I am better to get a higher PAR whiter bulb and then run acctininc/blues if when needed! Sounds like the Ushio 14k will be my next go!

You running these on regular 400w setting?

[ptreef]

Also I noticed some site list the USHIO as 400w 14k and other list it with the Aqualite tag as well? Same bulb either way?

[dahenley]

i would think they are the same????
I run mine on 400W (the normal 400W, not the SL setting)
I upgraded from a DIY Lumenmax reflector (the square ones) to a CoralVue octagon reflector. when i turned the USHIO on with the new ballast and reflector, i felt like i was holding the worlds best spot light!!!! (it was crazy bright.) then when i put it on the tank it was amazing how much of a difference it made.

I hope this helped??

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/james1307oak/IMG_20130522_104120_759_zps486871d8.jpg

[ptreef]

what is one the bulb?
UHI-S400AQ/14/CWA
or
UHI-S400AQ/14

SPECS:
Watts Ordering...... Lamp Description ......Temp ..Current ...Flux..... CRI...PAR/Watt.... Life... Ballast
400 ......5002094...UHI-S400AQ/14/CWA 14000... 3.6 ......18500.... 70.... ..95........ 8000...... M59
400...... 5001608.. UHI-S400AQ/14 ........14000... 3.2 ......18500.... 70...... 95 .......6000....M135*/M155

[ptreef]

after more digging looks like the CWA is designed for the std Magnetic balast M59...3.6A
So i will be fine with the regular USHIO 3.2A on my lumatek...?
The insides are different between the 2 but should have same color & PAR??

Ushio's site is pretty cool if you haven't looked at it.

[Jeremy B.]

The "CWA" designation behind the lamp means it's meant to fire off of an M59 probe start ballast. The non-CWA bulb needs a pulse start M135 ballast or M155 ballast to fire it. All of the lamps can be fired off of an electronic.

[ptreef]

So i will be fine with the regular USHIO 3.2A on my lumatek...? But won't I be overdriving it (~384w/3.2A) still on the regular setting of like 400w?

Which one should i be getting?

[dahenley]

i just looked at my boxes, and i have 3-regular and 1-CWA ones???? haha but i dont know if thats a good or bad thing. and i cant see the difference physically. and i dont have a par meter to check???

hopefully Jeremy can tell us what he thinks.

[Jeremy B.]

On an electronic ballast you will be fine with either lamp. The non-CWA lamps are what Ushio originally started with and what was first shipped to this market years ago. Those lamps do not have an internal ignitor and require a higher voltage for start up, thus the pulse start ballast rating.

[mos90]

i just ordered 2- ushio 400w 14k bulbs to replace radium 400's though i do like the radiums they seem a little dim and blue for my liking. i plan to keep 1 radium 400 in the middle for comparison.

i was running 250w 14k hamiltons but they were way to yellow.

i also have the lumentek switchable ballasts. should the ushio's run on 400 or 400sl?
are they dimmable if i wanted ro run them on 250hqi?

[Jeremy B.]

It depends on the Ushio that you get. If your Ushio is coded as "CWA" then it would run closest to spec by running your Lumatek on regular 400w setting. If the lamp has "M135" on it then the standard 400w setting would still be the closest for it, but it will be just slightly less light output than what the "CWA" Bulb is, maybe by 3% - 5%.

No MH bulb is made to be dimmable in the aquarium industry, and any lighting company in the aquarium industry that markets their ballast as a "dimmable" ballast is doing us hobbyists an injustice. Supplying such a low amount of power to the bulb will cause premature failure over a period of time if you continue to run it that way. A bulb is spec'd out to run at a certain wattage with a certain voltage to it. Both under-driving and over-driving a lamp can and eventually will cause premature failure to the lamp, as well as decrease the overall spectral life of the lamp. Having said that, we often over-drive our lamps to achieve a certain light output and color, which while it does decrease spectral life, we can still do it safely as we will change the lamp out due to a loss in spectrum life before the lamp will prematurely fail altogether.

[Pseudo69]

Jeremy,

What should the Radium bulbs be driven at on the Lumatek ballasts, 400 or 400SL? What is the difference and or benefits of either? I am running them on 400 normal and I get a nice blue/white color. Never tried the SL setting yet.

Thanks

[Jeremy B.]

Closest so actual lamp spec would be the standard 400w setting, however most of us try to achieve the look of the Radium on the old 430 Son Agro ballast which would be the 400SL setting.