Cali Kid Corals

Metal Halide brand question

Otakuthugster

Otakuthugster

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Looking for some input on 20K, 150watt, HQI bulbs. The bulb'll be the only lighting source for my 27-ish gallon tank.

Here are the brands I'm considering, from most expensive to least:

  • [li]Aqualine AB - $105[/li]
    [li]Megachrome Blue - $90[/li]
    [li]Radium - $90[/li]
    [li]XM - $69[/li]
    [li]Blue Life SPS - $67[/li]
    [li]Ushio - $65[/li]

With such a big spread in price range, would anyone know exactly what I'm paying for, regarding the more expensive brands (i.e., longevity, consistent color temp, or even just advertising costs)?

Also, if anyone has experience with these or any other brand, could you make a definite recommendation for one over the others? I don't mind paying over a hundred bucks for a bulb; it just has to be a quality bulb.
 
Well if you have a nice HQI M81 ballast the Radium will put out almost twice as much light as most 20K bulbs. If however you have an electronic ballast, not as much of a difference. I think there was some talk in another thread about using those cheapy eBay bulbs, however your mileage will vary on those.
 
I have experience with the last four choices, for me it's a toss up between the XM and the Ushio. The Ushio is crisp with a solid purple (420nm) punch, the XM is a little more purple/blue with more 460nm blended in with the 420nm. If it is your sole lighting source I like the XM, the Ushios look AMAZING with 460nm supps ("7100K") though. The Blue Life to my eyes is much like a Phoenix with a washed out blue, it lacks crispness, and I'm not sold on the Radium, it seems like their magic bulb is the 400w SE, the others are just OK.
 
So I'm gonna go with the XM bulb. I want the blue look, and I don't want to add additional supplemental lighting - my electricity bill is enough as is. I'll let y'all know how it goes when I get it. Thanks for the feedback.
 
I'm running a 20kk XM now (250 SE) and am quite happy with it. Very similar to the radium (though not as much green pop)
 
I had the 15k, 150watt, XM before. The color temperature was where I like it, nice and white, but I wasn't getting much color out of my corals. Thus, I switched to a Custom SeaLife 20K. It brought out the colors a lot better at the sacrifice of a blue hue, but that blue-ish tint faded out within 4 months.

Ideally, I still want a straight, crisp white from my bulb with a good bit of color pop in my corals. But I don't think that's possible right now with 150wat HQI's. If anyone's seen the tank in the back of Tropical Reef Aquarium on Taraval St., that's the look I want. But then again, they're running 2x400watts.
 
So I just got the XM 20k, 150watt HQI bulb, and all I got to say is DAYMN, this is a pretty good bulb. It's crisp white with a tiny, tad, bit of purple (just like you said, tuberider) but not overly blue-purple to the point where the lighting looks overly artificial - exactly what I've been looking for. I've tried the JBJ 14k, XM 15k, and Coralife 20k, but none of them had the right amount of white light plus blue tint. I just hope the color stays consistent for a good duration of the bulb life.
 
Darn, the XM 20kk has lost a good chunk of its blue tint, and a few of my corals that were once vibrant have started to fade. I'ma try the Aqualine AB. Just ordered it from marinedepot, and I'll let you all know how it goes when I get it.
 
[quote author=A_Lee link=topic=5884.msg90753#msg90753 date=1237578499]
I dunno ... but I really like my 150w Phoenix; I am using it as a stand alone light source for my tank :)
[/quote]

Do you have a thread, where I can see the tank? I'd love to see the results from that bulb.

Also, I'm not entirely sure, but I think my ballast may be overdriving the bulbs since they are losing the blue tint relatively fast. It's the one that comes with the JBJ nano-hqi. Don't know much about ballasts, so any feedback would be great.
 
I do not have a tank thread :(
I'll see if I can remember to throw up a FTS when I get home.
I can't promise that if I post a picture that it will be a true representation of the bulbs colors, depending on white balance.
 
It's gonna depend on which ballast you're using the bulbs on.

With my Giesemann, with the Reeflux 20kK bulbs and two actinic T5s, I'm getting a 14kK'ish look. With the Iwasaki 50kK bulb that I was running before, it looked very 10kK'ish (or even slightly less). The Giesemann ballast runs the bulbs at a totally different temperature than my Aquamedic ballasts.

I'm gonna try the 20kK Radium next to see how they look. The Reeflux 20kK bulbs are really growing on me though.

This is on 3/7/09 with the Iwasaki 50kK with actinics.
UF_babysbreath_030709.jpg


This is on 3/18/09 with the Reeflux 20kK with actinics.
UF_baby'sbreath_031809.jpg
 
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