this is worthy of the main forum!

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've been running my 250watt SE Iwasaki 6500k's for over four years! Look here:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=140285


current picture

TOTM article over a year ago (same Iwsasaki bulbs were being used!):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/totm/index.php

new tank build thread:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=819275

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Nuts. Ahhhh, to fly in the face of conventional "wisdom"

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by Der_Iron_Chef
Nuts. Ahhhh, to fly in the face of conventional "wisdom"

Maybe.
I lost my bulb change-out schedule and I was very surprised to see how old these things actually were!
Not many folks run 6500k Iwasaki nowadays....

[Kaos]

Awsome. Are you still getting good growth?

This helps prove what I've suspected for years, we don't know as much about this hobby as we think we do.

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by Kaos
Awsome. Are you still getting good growth?

This helps prove what I've suspected for years, we don't know as much about this hobby as we think we do.

I have a healthy Stichodactyla gigantea under one of the 6500k's

[Bebo77]

lol.. i wonder what your tank would do under new bulbs... but that def changes the idea that bulbs need to be change sout ever 6 months - 1 year...

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by Bebo77
lol.. i wonder what your tank would do under new bulbs... but that def changes the idea that bulbs need to be change sout ever 6 months - 1 year...

be careful about generalizations regarding all halides.
Many "EYE" users will agree that Iwasakis are in a league of their own...


this end of the aquarium is under one of the 6500k's

[ccorpse27]

Impressive!

[antonsemrad]

Gary, what is the deal with the EYE ballasts?

I am looking into getting a new MH set up, and I am going back and forth between the XM and the iwasakis.

A regular ballast will fire either or, right?

But the mercury vapor ballasts are recommended for the Iwasakis, correct?

What ballast is best?

I don't care about the yellow so much--- I find that I get used to whatever it is that I have. I am looking for the best bang (par) for the buck(electricity).

Thanx.

[Kaos]

Does anywhere still sell the 65K Saki's? And do they make them in a 175w version?

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by antonsemrad
Gary, what is the deal with the EYE ballasts?

I am looking into getting a new MH set up, and I am going back and forth between the XM and the iwasakis.

A regular ballast will fire either or, right?

But the mercury vapor ballasts are recommended for the Iwasakis, correct?

What ballast is best?

I don't care about the yellow so much--- I find that I get used to whatever it is that I have. I am looking for the best bang (par) for the buck(electricity).

Thanx.

I'm not a lighting expert, so those folks can correct me if I'm wrong (and please further clarify this information).
A 250 watt Iwasaki will put out the most PAR (usable light) if fired on a HQI ballast. See here:
http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm
There are specific ballasts ("EYE ballasts") manufactured for Iwasaki lamps.
I've chosen to power all my MH's with Blueline eballasts (for personal reasons) and there's no doubt I could get more PAR out of my Iwasaki halides if I were firing them with HQI, EYE or Icecap eballasts. (Again- see the table in my link.)
All the more impressive, IMO.

Originally posted by Kaos
Does anywhere still sell the 65K Saki's? And do they make them in a 175w version?

Yes and yes.
Sakis aren't currently very popular and you'll need to search around- it's not likely your LFS has them in stock!
Iwsaki offers a SE 175w 15K lamp.

To be fair, my aquarium receives a fair amount of indirect sunlight (through the windows near my aquarium) and I've never seen the results of running another type of MH lamp for over four years so I can't make a performance comparison. It's not likely I ever will, either- I need to replace MH's in a more timely manner!
Dr. Sanjay Joshi visited my aquarium a few weeks ago and I had a hunch beforehand that he might notice the sunlight.
Of course, he did.

[Flatlander]

Right on Gary. I always said there the best bang for a buck. My 70 cube reef in the '90,s always ran on a single 250w Iwasaki in a vertical pendant. Never changed bulbs under 2 yrs.

I forget unless I read the articles again, do you supplement much, as the pics seem to be a nice colour?

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by Flatlander
Right on Gary. I always said there the best bang for a buck. My 70 cube reef in the '90,s always ran on a single 250w Iwasaki in a vertical pendant. Never changed bulbs under 2 yrs.

I forget unless I read the articles again, do you supplement much, as the pics seem to be a nice colour?

I run two 72" VHO actinics and the center MH in my hood is a 400w 14k Hamilton. The end result is a very pleasing blend.
Running the 6500k's alone produces a look that leaves a lot to be desired (to say the least!) IMO.

BTW, Doug- nice to see you again!


I'm still using the same 6500k's that were over my aquarium when it was featured as TOTM in April, 2006!

[antonsemrad]

Thanks for the link, but, no EYE ballast info there.

I did a search, but didn't find much.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...ks+eye+ballast

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...664#post440664 An old thread.

No EYE ballast stuff on sanjay's website either.

It seems that no one uses mercury vapor ballast's in the hobby.
Perhaps I shouldn't either.

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by antonsemrad
It seems that no one uses mercury vapor ballast's in the hobby.
Perhaps I shouldn't either.

There are people using the EYE ballast out there.
The main drawback is that EYE ballasts can only be used with Iwsaki lamps. See in link:

http://www.championlighting.com/prod...roductid=18691

[Flatlander]

BTW, Doug- nice to see you again!
[/B]

Thanks. Guess I,ve just been reading to much and not much posting.

Guess those 160w actinics would take some yellow out. When I ran the pendant over that 70, is had no supplemental lighting. I never really noticed the colour until switching to higher "k" bulbs.

Then, when trying to run the Iwasaki,s over a larger tank later on, I had a hard time with the colour also. I actually tried a couple combos like yours on my 225, with 400w Iwasaki,s, {which I never liked as much as the 250w version}. Tried one in the middle, between Radiums and even ran the Radium in the center between two Iwasaki,s.

For those asking about ballasts, I always just used a plain old tar ballast on mine. Guess they are called probe start now.

[iatuscitizen]

Great looking system!

[BLockamon]

Do the EYE ballasts work with the new 15K bulbs?

[Gary Majchrzak]

good question. Anybody know the answer?

here's an interesting related thread:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...i&pagenumber=1

this is an interesting post inside that same thread:

Originally posted by LNell
I know that Sanjay used to have the 6500k Iwasaki's on his 180 and he said that he only had to change them every 2 years. Is it the same with these bulbs?

[Sanjay]

The common CWA mangetic ballasts that we use in the hobby are rated for metal halide and mercury vapor so they will work fine with the Iwasaki EYE lamps which were designed as replacedment lamps for mercury vapor. They also work fine with electroninc ballasts.

The new 175W Iwasaki 15K lamp is designed as a metal halide lamp. It works really well with electronic ballasts.

sanjay.

[Gary Majchrzak]

thank you, Sanjay.

For those interested, here's a link to Sanjay's reef lighting page:
http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

and a link to the metal halide bulb/ballast FAQ on RC:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=201570

[Der_Iron_Chef]

So....this may sound like a ridiculous question after all this hubub....but, you run the Iwasaki's based on PAR alone?

[Frick-n-Frags]

Originally posted by Der_Iron_Chef
So....this may sound like a ridiculous question after all this hubub....but, you run the Iwasaki's based on PAR alone?

[well PAR plus one of the largest % of actinic output too]
that's why I ran them to grow frags because they sure aren't the prettiest bulb out there. that's the deal, the Iwasaki 250's weren't regular MH bulbs. I just ran them until they quit (2-3 years) becasue they don't colorshift. one day their output drops way down and you know they are toast. I also ran mine off standard MV whatever M-47 advance ballasts that I found for $20 apiece.

No, I'm using my MH lamps this week (an SE sunburst and a DE ushio) because I'm not in mega-light mode so I'll take the better coloration (12kK SE and 10kK DE) and the loss of some PAR (the DE is seriously bright, but not the sunburst)

[Flatlander]

Originally posted by Frick-n-Frags
[well PAR plus one of the largest % of actinic output too]
that's why I ran them to grow frags because they sure aren't the prettiest bulb out there. that's the deal, the Iwasaki 250's weren't regular MH bulbs. I just ran them until they quit (2-3 years) becasue they don't colorshift. one day their output drops way down and you know they are toast. I also ran mine off standard MV whatever M-47 advance ballasts that I found for $20 apiece.

Same here. I had them made up at the local electric place.

No, I'm using my MH lamps this week (an SE sunburst and a DE ushio) because I'm not in mega-light mode so I'll take the better coloration (12kK SE and 10kK DE) and the loss of some PAR (the DE is seriously bright, but not the sunburst)

Thats my "current" reason also for using the 12k. I dont run any actinics over my cube. Interesting you mentioned the amount of actinc type wave length emitted by a 65k Iwasaki. I remember reading how much it really was.

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by Der_Iron_Chef
So....this may sound like a ridiculous question after all this hubub....but, you run the Iwasaki's based on PAR alone?

if this question was intended for me the answer is 'no'...