New Lumen Bright Reflector. ... any info on them

[JRaquatics]

Glxtrix where's the #'s? I am interested to see your results.

[glxtrix]

lol sorry to keep you guys on seats edge...I just picked up the PAR meter from my bud about 20 min ago. I'll test when i get home tonight and post either tonight or tomorrow. Man I cant wait to see these numbers!

[salmon alley]

salmon alley I'm running the Iwasaki 15K

Sweet! That's what I'm thinking about using. Can't wait to see the numbers...

[glxtrix]

IMO if youre running 175's (well thats the only wattage the iwasakis come in) they are turly amazing bulbs! On the ARo ballast they kick a 86.9 ppfd! Thats right up there and beats some 250's! Not too shabby if you ask me. I've been running those bulbs for a year now, just got my new set...as long as I'm running 175's I'll never change from these bulbs. Alright, heading home now. I'll post numbers tonight.

[JRaquatics]

Originally posted by bubbletip2
These three shots will show you a couple different things.

First you will see in each the actual "spread" of a single Lumenbright mini 14.5" from the surface. As you can see and can also look back at the full tank shot that the spread is pretty significant and very doable even at this height. You can actually see in these photos by the hard lines the light clearly illuminting a large section of the tank. By raising the reflector the section of the cone of light at the surface of the water will become wider crossing light into and under the next reflector.

Don't be fooled by silly talk of laser beams and a lack of spread when referring to a LumenBright. These things are for real. The numbers will show that the spread is also very evenly distributed throughout Jeremy's rock work - more to come.

The second thing shown here is actual color balanced examples of 3 different bulbs and how they look under a LumenBright on an electronic CV ballast. It will be pretty obvious how illuminated each bulb truly is and will be backed up by the PAR numbers we took today. More to come as well...

Blueline 250w 10K bulb(How old is this bulb Jeremy?)


Coralvue 250w 12K Reeflux: 1 month old bulb(Jeremy?)


EVC 250w 14K: 1.5 month old bulb


As you can see the 12K is simply brighter and has a more natural appearance as opposed to the other two bulbs. I do notice that these 12K bulbs really do pop against a blue background. I myself will be scraping my back glass over the next week to apply a blue coat to better help with white balancing photographs.

Sorry for the delay, I had to find out how old the bulbs were. Should have just look at the date that I placed on the bulb box itself.
The Bluelines were 6.5 months old. With a photo period of 7hrs a day.

The Reeflux have been running for a month now at 9 hrs a day.

[glxtrix]

when you say 14.5" from surface, is that the actual bulb or the bottom of the relector? I know its prolly been stated in this massive thread somewhere and I should remember but I dont, lol. I think its the bottom of the reflector???? right????

[drudude]

pritty sure its the bottom of the reflector.

[bubbletip2]

When I think of measuring the distance from the light source, I am thinking the distance of the bulb from the surface of the water. I only speak of the bottom or top of the reflector when trying to figure someone's canopy dimensions into housing the reflector. The heat element(bulb) is what I am concerned with.

glxtrix, since you have been here for the ride, could you do me a favor? Make sure to measure the hottest spot 1" above the surface. Pretty much rest the Apogee sensor on the water. The numbers should be high everywhere under the reflector - find the highest number that sustains. Also let us know how high off the water (from bulb) you are. Thanks man.

I should have some time tonight to get these numbers punched in... I have to punch in 4 different set ups...

[salmon alley]

slightly off topic.. but which apogee meter are you using for these measurements and where's the best place to buy one?

[bubbletip2]

http://webtrolley.org/mivastore/merc...egory_Code=BQM

This is the same meter used in Dana Riddle's study of the comparison between it and a Licor meter(I think it said the Licor was $2000 or more).

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/7/review

[Rickyrooz1]

Does anyone have the new Double Ended version of the Lumen Bright?

[gary faulkner]

Just read the whole thread.
Very interesting.
Will definitly have to consider these on my new build.

Thanks to all who contributed.

[ksed]

Rickyrooz

Have you decided whether to go with Lumenarc or Lumenbrights.
Or are you going to wait for LED's. I'm undecided.

[chads 385]

Let me just say to Mike (Acro Nut) thanks again I can't believe the difference between the Lumnarc and Lumnbrights. I just got some Lumnbrights from Mike to replace my lumnarcs and the difference is huge I got my lights at 16" above my tank and I have more light now than I did when I had my Lumnarcs at 10"and the spread is unreal evan better than the lumnarcs. Also my chiller dont run near as much it went from running 3 to 4 times a day to once a day.
Thanks for all your help Mike.

[Rickyrooz1]

Originally posted by ksed
Rickyrooz

Have you decided whether to go with Lumenarc or Lumenbrights.
Or are you going to wait for LED's. I'm undecided.

I plan to go with Lumen bright. LED's are out of my price range.

[glxtrix]

Alright guys the results are in. Pretty impressive numbers if you ask me for 175's. Sorry bubbletip i just noticed your questions, I did get the hotspot from the bulbs with the meter resting on water surface. However I didn't get the from bulb measurement, although I did measure how far the bottom of the reflector is from the water.... thats 7" assuming you have the minis as well, I guess you could figure out where the bulbs are sitting then (sorry I'm at work and not in front of them right now) However I could get the measurement tonight when I go home if you want me to. If you guys have any other questions feel free to let me know. Thanks. Oh yeah and tank is a 140g 55x24x24. I might try to see if I can raise my canopy at all and see how it effects the numbers....I'll get to that sometime this week and post results.

[firethefish]

I've been following this thread for a long time now and have decided that these are the lights I want for my 120G. I know somewhere in this thread it was mentioned where to buy these but I can't remember. Could you save me from having to go through 100's of posts? And, is mike (acro nut) the one most people are using (again, I would need his info to contact him)?

One more thing. My tank is 48Lx2Wx2H. Should I be looking at the 250W 15K reeflux or the 175W.

[firethefish]

The tank size should have been 4'Lx2'Wx2'H. Thanks for the help. This thread has been very informative for a newbie into reefs.

[setec69]

Call Mike and Reef Specialty. 773-851-3861. That is where I got mine.

[JRaquatics]

Originally posted by firethefish
I've been following this thread for a long time now and have decided that these are the lights I want for my 120G. I know somewhere in this thread it was mentioned where to buy these but I can't remember. Could you save me from having to go through 100's of posts? And, is mike (acro nut) the one most people are using (again, I would need his info to contact him)?

One more thing. My tank is 48Lx2Wx2H. Should I be looking at the 250W 15K reeflux or the 175W.

There are a few venders that sell these reflectors. But I recommend Mike @ Reef Specialty. (773-851-3861. He has done alot of work testing these reflectors and lighting combos. I would personally go with 250 watters. Mike will now be doing his own test on these 175watt iwasaki 15ks. It is great that Glxtrix is getting these numbers but in order for him to recommend 175w he needs to be 100% that these results are accurate.

[bubbletip2]

Wow Glxtrix Those numbers are impressive, much different from our 250 numbers. I will post soon...

Are you using a Iwasaki 15K or 14K? Can you check the box? I don't know if anyone remembers a year ago looking at Sanjay's site and seeing a 175w 14K bulb that showed the 87pppfd. Now I only see the Iwasaki 15K bulb and it is at 87ppfd If anyone remembers please report. I know at the time in Sanjay's lighting thread which is probably 150 pages ago he had not yet tested the 15K. This was after he showed some impressive numbers on the 14K. I was going to buy one because of it. I went with the EVC 14K 250w setup that he showed as 71 ppfd as I figured a 250w ballast would be ideal if I needed to upgrade.

I really want to get to the bottom on any info. on the Iwassaki 14K and 15K. Premium Aquatics still sells the 14K and I have not seen it anywhere else except Ocean Encounters where I got my EVC bulb and ballast. Now there are Iwasaki 15K's everywhere and pretty expensive $90-$100 a bulb I am curiuos how overdriven these bulbs are.

Hey Mike no worries man, I will test them out for you. I know you will be a daddy today so I figure you will probably be pretty busy Congrats by the way. I am looking into a LB mini setup for my 30g cube and want to try these 175's out because I think I made a mistake with the 250w EVC 14K's - the numbers are not impressive to say the least. And the bulb is so dim looking in comparison to the 12K's.

Hey Glxtrix - if you are 7" from the bottom of the reflector, you should be roughly 11" from the bulb to the surface. Rasing them will definitely show a better comparison to everyone else's testign so far as we are all 14.5" to 16" fom the surface. Not to say you shouldn't keep your 175's 11" as I would probably have done the same. Having 3 reflectors in a 55" long tank I am sure is helping these numbers along. Can you do us a favor and just turn on your middle reflector and take a test of just one bulb. I know I keep saying this but I have 3 shots with 3 different 250's that just show one bulb lit up. There comign right up... The crossover light can make everything in the tank look brighter.

[Flint&Eric]

just an idea for those of you testing these reflectors out, as it's some info that would i know i would appreciate...

simmilar to spot light stat's, could you show the spread at different heights? e.g. @ 6inches 24in diameter. @12in 36in diameter etc...



also, are most of you using the regular LB's? with the more recent info, how do the mini's compare?

[glxtrix]

these are the exact bulbs I'm running:

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp...S&Category=768

I'll check the bulb and box to see if it says anything different.

Here is Sanjays 14K Iwasaki results:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/12/review#h12


I'm not sure if the Iwasaki is actually selling dfferent 14 and 15K lights, they prolly are just being mistaken for the same K. Only reason I say that is because the lack of other wattage bulbs they make, they dont have these in 250 or 400, so why would they make a 1K differance in the 175W. I'll see if anyone I know has an answer to that. I'll raise my lights 4" and see whats happens. I'm thinking my numbers will go down just because the lack of power from the bulb to penetrate the water. Could be wrong tho. I'll also get some tests with just 1 bulb on as you asked for bubbletip.

[glxtrix]

oh yeah also a note to those out there that might think about runinng the Iwasaki 175's.....I had a spare coralvue ballast and it seemed to make the bulb flicker. Not good. Just an FYI. Personally tho I wouldnt run them on any other ballast other than the ARO...or the EVC if you could ever find one. Only ones I saw were 250W, which you could run 175's in there no problem, but you might as well do 250's if you have the ballast

[glxtrix]

Flint&Eric, I think were mostly using the mini's. I know I'am.