20K bulb for electronic ballast?????

[elegance coral]

I have a 400w MH system with electronic ballasts. I need some QUALITY 20K bulbs to run on these ballasts. In your opinion, what's the best bulb for this application?

I've used the cheap Chinese made bulbs and almost killed everything in the tank. I need some real bulbs.

Thanks in advance
EC

[jerpa]

The best would be Radiums. The 400W aren't meant to be overdriven. The electronic ballasts will be fine.

[Gary Majchrzak]

EC- I saw some Elos 14k's the other day. Not sure if they were 400watters but I'm gonna look into them. I think you would like them.

Right now I'm running 400w Ushio 14k's with VHO actinics. White /blue.

The Elos lighting I saw was a touch more blue than what I have and VERY nice IMO.

I used to run 400w Radiums on cap/coils and my SPS weren't particularly pleased. Neither was I, really... can't say I'm a fan of really blue lighting.

DOWN WITH CHINESE BULBS

edit: (uh oh... are Elos Chinese?)

[trueblackpercula]

I am in the same boat looking for a 400 watt bulb as well on an electronic ballast. I was using aquaconnect bulb and it was amazing just can't find one anymore. Gary can you post a picture of your lights? I also have a150 watts of vho 03.
Thanks

[Gary Majchrzak]

400w SE Ushio 14k + VHO actinics ("old school" lighting!)


I no longer run 5500k or Iwasaki (TRULY "old school")

[trueblackpercula]

Thanks for the view amazing tank you have. Why is it we are old school with the lighting? The halides and vho work amazing what could have possablly replaced them? That are better? Well in any case anyone know were I can get a aquaconnect 14k 400 watt single endedbulb or its equivalent ? Also is the megachrome bulb any good?
Thanks and sorry if I hackjack a little but we are both looking for the same answer.

[Gary Majchrzak]

"old school" because of the T5 and LED movement

The main problem I see nowadays is a trend to extreme blue lighting. It's gross

[Michigan Mike]

Radiums.
Go team blue.
Lol

[trueblackpercula]

Wow I thought it was me yes everyone has very dark looking tanks. I like blue but not all blue. The aquaconnect bulb is amazing wish I could get one.

[elegance coral]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I've read that Radiums aren't designed to run on electronic ballasts. What's your opinion on this?????

I'm trying to get away from using supplemental lighting. The two 400w lights work pretty well by themselves. At least on this system. The 14K's I'm running now are just a little to white, and the PAR seems to be a tad high for some corals. I'm thinking that if I change from 14k to 20k, it may just drop the PAR enough and give me enough actinic without the need for supplemental lighting. I'm just not sure which 20K bulb will work best with my electronic ballasts.

I'd like to run Radiums because of the reputation they have, but if they're not going to work properly on my ballasts, I need to find an alternative.

Thanks again
EC

[elegance coral]

Originally Posted by Gary Majchrzak

EC- I saw some Elos 14k's the other day. Not sure if they were 400watters but I'm gonna look into them. I think you would like them.

Right now I'm running 400w Ushio 14k's with VHO actinics. White /blue.

The Elos lighting I saw was a touch more blue than what I have and VERY nice IMO.

I used to run 400w Radiums on cap/coils and my SPS weren't particularly pleased. Neither was I, really... can't say I'm a fan of really blue lighting.

DOWN WITH CHINESE BULBS

edit: (uh oh... are Elos Chinese?)

I'm not a big fan of the really blue lights either. The 14k bulbs I'm running now aren't blue at all though. If I added some actinics, the color would probably be good, but the PAR would go up, and they'd take up space on top of the tank. I like all the room I have to access the tank with nothing but the two large reflectors hanging over it.

I'm trying to get enough blue to help color up the corals, without making them glow and look fake. This may be difficult to accomplish with just two bulbs though.

[Mirror Pond]

What about XM 20k? Can they be used on an electronic ballast?

[alton]

XM are probe not pulse start, not that they wont work on electronic but they are made for magnetic ballast

[Gary Majchrzak]

did you find 'em EC?

[Mekanic]

Originally Posted by elegance coral

Thanks for all the help guys.

I've read that Radiums aren't designed to run on electronic ballasts. What's your opinion on this?????

I'm trying to get away from using supplemental lighting.
EC

400's will work perfectly on e ballasts, it's only the 250's that require magnetic HQI ballasts. 400w radium on an e ballast I can assure you is the bulb you're looking for to run without supplementation.

250w radiums need to be driven at 330w. 400w radiums like 400w

[trueblackpercula]

How does the radium stand up to the aquaconnect bulbs? I need to change my aquaconnect and can't find a replacement so if radium is the way to go let me know, I have a 400watt icecap ballast.

[Michigan Mike]

Actually the 400w Radium is rated at 360w.
250w radium is specd to be run on m80 magnetic but it will run well enough ( maybe a little bluer) on most electronic ballasts, if it has a "HQI" setting, use it...but not on a 400w ballast as they are not supposed to be overdriven, but a lot of people really like to do it...they just last for 6 months before needing changed instead of a year or so.

[Alex T.]

A 400 watt Radium is actually a 360 watt bulb like Michigan Mike said. That said, an electronic ballast that runs closest to spec would probably be the older Blueline e-ballast from Champion Lighting...http://www.championlighting.com/prod...at=1277&page=1

If you want or desire a little (actually a lot) more par out of the Radium 400 watt bulb on an electronic ballast you may want to look into a Galaxy ballast, which actually overdrives the bulb to 458 watts, shortening the bulb's lifespan to about 10 months. I run the Galaxy and it's an intense bright light with blue tint. I also use to run the Radium on a Blueline e-ballast and it's a little more blue, but still pleasing to the eye. 20k is such an ambiguous term, and I really think the Radium is more of a 12-15k bulb depending on which ballast you run them on.

HTH

[elegance coral]

Thanks again everyone.

Originally Posted by Gary Majchrzak

did you find 'em EC?

Those are some high dollar 14K bulbs! I'm running 14K now and they're hideous. LOL I know all 14K bulbs aren't created equal, and these are probably much better than the ones I have now, but I'm going for the Radiums. If the PAR is to low on the radiums, I'll probably try these 14k bulbs.

By the time I'm through spending all this money on bulbs, I'll probably spend enough money to have changed over to LED's.

[Mekanic]

you're gonna be happy EC, I can't find a spectral plot or even any pics of the elos bulb. And the 400w radium is considered the holy grail.

I went from 20k XM's DE to the 250w radium and am SOOOO happy, had to run actinics with the 20k XM, everything is bright white but still has amazing pop with my Radiums.

[Gary Majchrzak]

I ran 400w SE Radiums on several ballasts and I wasn't entirely pleased.
After seeing so many different lighting arrangements I would not call 400w Radiums the 'holy grail' of lighting...
but overdriven Radiums (both SE 250w + 400w) are pretty darn good lookin'.

I like to burn halides a good long time and Radiums seem to have a shorter useful lifespan than a lot of other lamps.

When it comes time to replace my Ushio 14k's I'll probably research those Elos 14k's which look amazing in action.

[wayne in norway]

Elos say they've stopped making them so buy them if you see them. I like Radiums myself on an electronic ballast. Theres also a BLV that's 17K (> 14, 20) that's newish and interesting.

But I went to LED's.....

[Michigan Mike]

Originally Posted by Gary Majchrzak

I ran 400w SE Radiums on several ballasts and I wasn't entirely pleased.
After seeing so many different lighting arrangements I would not call 400w Radiums the 'holy grail' of lighting...
but overdriven Radiums (both SE 250w + 400w) are pretty darn good lookin'.

I like to burn halides a good long time and Radiums seem to have a shorter useful lifespan than a lot of other lamps.

When it comes time to replace my Ushio 14k's I'll probably research those Elos 14k's which look amazing in action.

How do you overdrive a 250w radium? Pretty sure you can only underdrive them by using electronic ballasts because m80 is spec for radium.or is using an m80 "overdriving"? All the graphs I have ever seen show m80 is more powerful than any other 250w ballast and it is the ballast type the 250w radium is spec'd to run on for best performance.

[Mirror Pond]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

How do you overdrive a 250w radium? Pretty sure you can only underdrive them by using electronic ballasts because m80 is spec for radium.or is using an m80 "overdriving"? All the graphs I have ever seen show m80 is more powerful than any other 250w ballast and it is the ballast type the 250w radium is spec'd to run on for best performance.

You really can't. That's why the M80 ballast with a Radium is such a great combination. I have run bulbs for up to 2 years with this combination with good results although I have never measured the drop in PAR.

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

How do you overdrive a 250w radium? Pretty sure you can only underdrive them by using electronic ballasts because m80 is spec for radium.or is using an m80 "overdriving"? All the graphs I have ever seen show m80 is more powerful than any other 250w ballast and it is the ballast type the 250w radium is spec'd to run on for best performance.

250w Radium on m80 was what I was referring to


Radium Primer