20k 250w HQI bulbs, which is the "best"?

[DarkXerox]

Well I am looking to replace my phoenix 14k. I saw Sanjay's spectral plot and it looked as if the phoenix mirrored the Radium 20k hqi plot, except in the purple reigon. I feel that purples in my tank are somewhat deficient, since I do not run my actinics (they trip my supersensitive GFCI outlet--etc.).

So what options do I have? I keep hearing that people like the radiums since they put out similar PPFD compared to the Phoenix (just slightly less) and since the Phoenix is basically a 20k bulb, I figured I'd try something in this realm.

I noticed that some people use 20 HQI Helios bulbs, how are they? Icecap makes 20k bulbs, Aqualine, Coralife, Hamilton, Blue Life SPS, and XM do as well. I saw Giesemann makes a ~22k bulb as well.

So I would say that it is between the Giesemann and the Radium from what I have read, but I want to hear what you guys think.

[GSMguy]

Careefer uses the helios and they look great in his pics and his corals color very well. but he has 400w

pheonix price made the decision for me switched from ushio 20k and growth is better.

[DarG]

Maybe im missing something but I didnt see a plot for a double ended Radium. Only single ended.

For the 250 watt DE's I dont think there is another bulb that will give you the par of the Phoenix and still be as blue in color. Looking at the Radium single ended version, it does have a decent actinic spike and that may help in what you are looking for without giving up much par ... IF they have a DE version and IF it mirrors the plot of the SE version.

You may want to look at the EVC 20000K as well. Dont know anything about it, just going by the graphs and what you seem to be looking for.

Sounds like your best bet is getting your Flourescents back up and running. That would give you more flexibility in color without having to pick that "perfect" halide which may just not exist for you.

[DarkXerox]

Yeah I would get the flourescents up but it is going to be way more of a hassle getting an electrician in to put the sockets back to non GFCI status. Depends on if my parents ever have the electrican out here again, maybe I could have an extra outlet installed for the flourescents.

In the meantime...

I guess the plot was for the SE radium, you're right. It would be a huge loss in PPFD.


I looked at the spectral plot of the Helios vs the Phoenix and it was pretty interesting.



I lose 26ppfd, but the spikes are huge in the purple area and even higher in the blue. Frankly I don't care about growth as much as I do with color, and I assume that I can make up partially for the loss in having cleaner water with my new Deltec skimmer and improving flow. Most people say sufficient flow is more important than lighting nowadays.

What do you guys think?

[DarG]

How are your flourescents set-up? Part of a combo fixture? Retro'd into a hood? Where are the ballasts mounted?

[DarkXerox]

It's a hamilton Protostar 24" 1x 250w HQI + 2x55w PC fixture so the ballasts are external. I never have been able to run the ballasts on a GFCI outlet and Hamilton told me that the PC's tend to trip those a lot. I ran the tank for 6months at school with a non-GFCI outlet and everything fired properly.

[DarG]

I wonder if you grounded the ballast case to the fixture itself, if that would help. You could even try it with an alligator clip on each end of a wire and clip onto the PC ballast case on one end and the reflector or fixture housing (if it's metal) on the other end.

[DarkXerox]

Hmm I turned on the actinics for the first time in over a year and it didn't trip the socket. Looks like one of the bulbs is dead but the other is workin. Guess i'll keep it.