Neptune Aquatics

Radium Bulbs

hiepatitis

hiepatitis

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My Helios were getting older so I bought a pair of Radium 400w to run on my Galaxy electronic ballasts. I thought they'd be much bluer. Anyone know if they will burn in bluer?
 
That's the reason I bought two from OT (Thx Derek) I want to see the shine !! but Mike, any HQI ballast? I have IceCap and Galaxy, which one would be better?
 
Don't take my word on that HQI bit, I've never used the bulbs but recall hearing about that which has kept me away, although Bryan runs Radiums (or used to?) I think he was fine with them.

Neither IceCap nor Galaxy are HQI ballasts, they're electronic. HQI is the magnetic ones that overdrive bulbs.
 
I have 2 250w Radiums on my tank, and I am running them with ice cap ballasts. I love them. From What I remember radiums do not like Magnetic ballasts.
 
I just put a Radium on a brand new Lumatek 250w digital, I also thought I heard that Radiums do not like magnetic ballasts. I'm pretty sure Jeremy told me the older icecap electronic ballasts will not fire a radium
 
Sanjay just did some testing on the Galaxy using the Radium 400w. Seemed to get decent PAR. I don't mind blue bulbs so I thought I'd give these a shot since they are suppose to be even bluer on electronic ballasts.
 
Radiums are indeed best run on HQI ballasts. Older IceCaps under drive the bulb causing premature splattering in the envelope, the newer ones along with Galaxy and Lumatec overdrive the bulb more than the old ones so they work fine, although you won't get the PAR that you do from an HQI.

Helios from what I've seen are bluer than the Radiums, the Radiums are a very crisp bulb.

AFA Radiums and magnetic ballasts, they do not like to fire on probe starts, just pulse starts, and they are still under driven on the pulse start. Basically the 250w Radium wants to be a 300w+ bulb, it's really not a 250w bulb ;)
 
The Lumateks do not overdrive the bulb.

All HQI means is that it is pumping out a lot more watts than it says :D, that's why you see the highest PAR ratings with HQI ballasts. Take a look at DE bulbs they are "HQI", a 150w can run upwards of 180w and is sucking up a lot more juice than anticipated.

One of the other differences is the switching, a conventional ballast runs at 60 cycles, the newer electronics are ~1000. What that means I don't know :D, I'm just regurgitating what PGS Dan told me on that one.
 
tuberider said:
One of the other differences is the switching, a conventional ballast runs at 60 cycles, the newer electronics are ~1000. What that means I don't know :D, I'm just regurgitating what PGS Dan told me on that one.
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Well I'm kind of tuned in a bit to that 60Hz hum... annoys the hell out of me! But that being said electronic ballasts are distinctly different from magnetic ones in that when a bulb ages the natural tendency is to pull more current which ends up keeping the bulb glowing at a more consistent brightness, however with magnetic ballasts this can cause premature wear and tear on the ballast as it has to pump harder to make the bulb shine, electronic ballasts on the other hand have the nifty circuitry to put out a more consistent output of electricity so the ballast could last longer (however if something goes wrong they're a larger PITA to fix :D), downside is the bulbs get a bit dimmer than magnetic ballasts at the end of life, but IIRC the color shifting is much less.

That being said i rather like magnetic ballasts because of that reason, you could hook up a kill-a-watt meter and see how many watts its drawing and use that to tell you if the bulbs need replacing rather than just some arbitrary time frame, and its doubtful you'll physically tell that its dimmer (how bright was it 9 months ago?? :D)
 
I'm in Mikes boat. I hear a 60hz hum miles away.

jeremy I think I may have your bulb choice for a SE 14KK 250w MH. I should get a few in a few weeks and I'll make sure to get you one (or two?)
 
GreshamH said:
I'm in Mikes boat. I hear a 60hz hum miles away.

jeremy I think I may have your bulb choice for a SE 14KK 250w MH. I should get a few in a few weeks and I'll make sure to get you one (or two?)
Click to expand...


I'm running two and would be happy to pay player price :D

I've finally run the gamut of bulbs, not all of them, but most. The only bulb that I really liked and had a nice 14k look sucks PAR wise (Reef Optix), it looks real dim too, but man did it ever have an even color with a nice blue spike, much like the maligned PFO 13k. Great color, crappy output.
 
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