Understanding Radium Metal Halide Lamps

[Jeremy B.]

Originally Posted by jamesbm1001

I apologize in advance as it is not my intention to hijack your thread, but I am considering my lighting options for a 180 I'm getting ready to start building. One thing that makes it hard to just jump on board with one lighting technology vs another is not really understanding all the in's and out's of each. I feel I've gotten to a point where I'm fairly comfortable with everything but metal halide lighting though and I cannot seem to be able to find my answers elsewhere. The question I have at the forefront of my mind right now is how to reduce the complexity of design and improve efficiency. Is it possible to power multiple lamps off of a single ballast by running them in series as you would LED or T5HO? If this is too off topic please let me know and maybe you can just send me in the right direction. Thank you

You will need one ballast per lamp, you can not run multiple lamps off a single ballast. There are "dual" ballasts that do exist which are one physical piece, however there are two internal ballasts inside that enclosure.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help out.

[jamesbm1001]

That's unfortunate but what I thought to be true, just couldn't find the answer elsewhere. I'm looking at setting up a 3 150 watt DE halide system with the Hamilton cayman sun system, I have the option for included ballasts or to purchase my own. It is my understanding that any electronic ballast will work, but an m81 ballast is the only magnetic ballast that will. Is that correct and if I want service life and repairabity would the aqua medic hqi cube be a decent ballast?

[Jeremy B.]

That is correct that the only magnetic that will work is the M81. Any 150w or 175w electronic will work just fine for you as well. Generally speaking, electronic ballasts are non-repairable, but they are much smaller and more efficient versus a magnetic. The magnetics are core and coil ballasts with a capacitor on them, so repair is pretty easy if ever need be. The AM Cube ballast would work just fine for you.

[jamesbm1001]

Again I apologize for being off topic but I have another question if you'll humor me...I found a vendor selling the aquamedic reeflex 150 cube ballast paired with 175 watt mogul base bulbs. Does that even work? And if so, does that ballast drive pulse start or probe start bulbs?

[Jeremy B.]

The AquaMedic Reeflex Cube 150 is an M81 (hqi) magnetic ballast. This ballast runs much closer to 175w, so running just about any 175w mogul base lamp on it is not a problem at all to do so. The same can be said for running a 150w double ended lamp with an electronic 175w ballast.

[moondoggy4]

Thanks for a great thread. Now we need one for all of the reflectors out there.

[dotcommer]

Jeremy,

Thanks for creating this thread very informative.
I have a 300 Gallon tank that is 10' x 2' x 2' and currently have a mixed reef that will be SPS dominant. I have the canopy set up on linear actuators that can be raised up an extra 2 feet when needed.

I purchased a 4 MH Light systems from fellow reefer who had them on his 10' x 30" x 30" 540 gallon tank (he decided to move to LED for heat issues ). I know that 400Watt on a 24" tank is a bit overkill.

Two of the ballasts are the switchable 250watt/400watt Lumatek ballast, one is a vertex and the other is a Galaxy.
I am running the Radium “B” (20K) bulbs.

Before reading your thread I didn't know how important the ballast were. Is running 3 different ballast really bad?
Should I look to purchase two more of the Lumatek ballast? Below are the specs for them?
Lumatek 400 Watt 120V/240V Multi-Wattage Ballast
Dimmable Electronic Ballast
Dual-Voltage - The only E-Ballast with the same light output on 120V or 240V
Multi-Wattage – Powers 250W, 400W and HQI Lamps
The Super Lumens setting on the 400 Watt Ballast provides 10% MORE Light!

Last question is recommendation on supplemental lighting when using these radium bulbs ie: Actinic , VHO or blue LED's ?
A local shop using Radium 20K recommend the Reef Bright Actinic Blue LED for the supplemental. What are your thoughts on supplemental lighting?

[martinphillip03]

Jeremy, Excellent thread.

Marty

[Jason Lester]

Originally Posted by Jeremy B.

Yes, both Hamilton Technology and AquaMedic still produce a 250w M80 ballast.

Is AquaMedic still producing a 250w M80 ballast? I can't seem to locate one.

[rc1626]

No but Hamilton Technology still does.

[SPS_Addiction]

Thanks for this write up. Helps a lot. There seems to be a slow return to halide and T5's from the LED craze, so this write up is awesome.

[mbauma]

Yeah, good reading.

I have a Giesemann 48" Spectra coming on Wednesday and can't wait to set it up and get rid of my canopy and hydras.

[biecacka]

Just for knowledge, what is a pulse start bulb? A probe start bulb?

Corey

[rickyb]

Jeremy, thank you for your contribution.

I'm glad I didn't get rid of my 400W PFO HQI ballasts I purchased with the tank years ago. Time for resurrection!