Reef nutrition

Changing lighting? - MH and LED opinions wanted

If you have a free weekend Jake will be presenting at SCMAS tomorrow night in SOCAL. ON Saturday he'll be at the SCMAS field trip to Ecoxotic's showroom.
 
I liked what I saw with the Ecoxotic LEDs, I debating whether or not to use them on a customers tank, the only issue is the tank depth, it's real deep.

Time to email Jake :D I'll let you know what he says :)
 
Crabby -

Since you just saw my set up I thought I would chime in. I am running 4 250 watt bulbs. 2 xm 10 10 and 2 radiums. They are only all on for 2-3 hours a day. I see the best growth when I change out the bulbs and when I used to change VHO's - now I run the Reefbrite strips and don't change the VHO's and the growth is pretty stable.

You have a PAR Meter? Check the PAR now, then put the new bulb in and check the PAR - if its more raise the lights if you can till its equal. If that doesn't work you can manually break them in but leaving the lights on for short periods and upping it weekly. Like starting at 30 min or an hour.

Hope that makes sense!
 
Thanks for the PAR meter suggestion - I think I can find one to borrow.

I can't change the height of the lamps. Perhaps I'll try the dual fire 10K/20K bulbs for a while...do I remember correctly that some of your bulbs are dual fire? Where do you buy them?
 
Thales said:
Crabby -
I am running 4 250 watt bulbs. 2 xm 10 10 and 2 radiums.
Click to expand...

Nope Crabby he's not running any TwinArcs as neither of the brands he listed make them. Reef Brite holds the patent on them, but now some Asian company is offering them as well (most likely in total violation of the patent). Pretty sure you can get the real deal from Premium Aquatics.

http://reefbuilders.com/2009/04/08/twin-arc-metal-halide-lamp-advanced-lighting-solutions-close-personal/
 
OOPS - I am a liar. My 10 Ks are reefbrite 10K's now. Sorry for the confusion. I get them from a guy in the Tenderloin...
 
But 10/10 TwinArcs, not 10/20, right?

How do you like them? Notice anything odd about them?
 
Crabby said:
Thanks for the PAR meter suggestion - I think I can find one to borrow.

I can't change the height of the lamps. Perhaps I'll try the dual fire 10K/20K bulbs for a while...do I remember correctly that some of your bulbs are dual fire? Where do you buy them?
Click to expand...

I think I read somewhere about acclimating new bulbs with window screening, like a layer or a few, covering the water, and then removing one layer every few days or weeks or something like that, and you can keep the lighting schedule the same. I switched from Reeflux 10k to Phoenix 14k, so I didn't do any acclimation.
 
Cool. One of my grad students lives in the Tenderloin - are you serious about getting them there?

FYI, I found them for sale @ $116/bulb here:
http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28_35_682&products_id=4987&osCsid=3229821dbd89a7e7b8502f445abe4ea1

and

http://premiumaquatics.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PA&Product_Code=RB-TA400-10-20&Category_Code=mh-400w

Do you have a cheaper supplier?
 
yellojello said:
Crabby said:
Thanks for the PAR meter suggestion - I think I can find one to borrow.

I can't change the height of the lamps. Perhaps I'll try the dual fire 10K/20K bulbs for a while...do I remember correctly that some of your bulbs are dual fire? Where do you buy them?
Click to expand...

I think I read somewhere about acclimating new bulbs with window screening, like a layer or a few, covering the water, and then removing one layer every few days or weeks or something like that, and you can keep the lighting schedule the same. I switched from Reeflux 10k to Phoenix 14k, so I didn't do any acclimation.
Click to expand...

Good idea!
 
tuberider said:
I liked what I saw with the Ecoxotic LEDs, I debating whether or not to use them on a customers tank, the only issue is the tank depth, it's real deep.

Time to email Jake :D I'll let you know what he says :)
Click to expand...

Did you hear back? The stunner strips look great - could line the edges of my lumenarc reflectors with them - but am worried that light penetration would be low with no lenses.
 
LED's and Halides do not make good bed fellows. Be sure if you use a LED that is has the ability to cool off and not be effected by a major heat source like Halides.
 
Crabby said:
tuberider said:
I liked what I saw with the Ecoxotic LEDs, I debating whether or not to use them on a customers tank, the only issue is the tank depth, it's real deep.

Time to email Jake :D I'll let you know what he says :)
Click to expand...

Did you hear back? The stunner strips look great - could line the edges of my lumenarc reflectors with them - but am worried that light penetration would be low with no lenses.
Click to expand...


Not yet, I snailed on emailing him.

Gresham is correct, I've mitigated heat issues in one tank by gluing silicone oven mit material to the MH fixture that way there's no heat transfer, the canopy has tons of fans as well.
 
tuberider said:
Crabby said:
tuberider said:
I liked what I saw with the Ecoxotic LEDs, I debating whether or not to use them on a customers tank, the only issue is the tank depth, it's real deep.

Time to email Jake :D I'll let you know what he says :)
Click to expand...

Did you hear back? The stunner strips look great - could line the edges of my lumenarc reflectors with them - but am worried that light penetration would be low with no lenses.
Click to expand...


Not yet, I snailed on emailing him.

Gresham is correct, I've mitigated heat issues in one tank by gluing silicone oven mit material to the MH fixture that way there's no heat transfer, the canopy has tons of fans as well.
Click to expand...

Heat sink definitely necessary. I was considering watercooled using copper or aluminum tubing, but the silicone mat is a good idea.
 
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