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

[icantremember]

Thanks for the info thus far guys.

Where about is the bulb situated in reference to the top, or the bottom, of the reflector? bubbletip2, are you saying "...the big ones really require 16". I am assuming this measurement is from the bulb to the surface? If so, wouldn't my 20" of clearance allow the use of these larger reflectors? Is there any pro's to using the mini's over the larger units other than size? Just thinking aloud, it seems like I would want a broader light pattern versus narrower if the hood can accept the larger unit. No?

Now I just need to figure out if I am going to try to use these HQI's or sell them and get new CoralVue electronic ballasts.

It's like having another sports car...

[melev]

In the large reflectors, the bulb is 4" from the base of the reflector. So if you wanted the bulb 16" off the water, you would mount the reflector so the base is 12" off the water.

I don't know the numbers for the mini.

I've had mine for about a month, if you've been reading along. My lights are on 5.25 hours each, with the lights staggered every two hours to spread the light out from 12:00 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. When I first turned them on, it was only for 4 hours per light.

The PAR literally doubled in intensity from the previous Spider reflectors to the LuminBrites. None of my corals were harmed in the upgrade because I was very careful to not run my lights too long. And remember I'm running 250w - 400w - 250w over my reef with the 400w bulb being a 20,000K / Radium bulb.

If you do run these reflectors, you probably don't need 400w. Just my opinion. And if you already have corals or you plan to buy corals, plan on cutting the photo period down significantly and then waiting a week to increase it one hour, then another week to add another hour.

[JCTewks]

Originally posted by bubbletip2
...Electronics produce some big numbers especially under LB's....

Jim

Not to be a stickler for details, but unless you are specificall talking about the reeflux12K bulbs and electronic ballasts this statement is false...a certain reflector can not be any more or less effective or efficient because of the ballast that is driving the bulb in it, heck, the reflector doesn't even care what bulb is in it. It will still reflect in the same way it was designed to.

If you were takling about the reeflux12K/electonic ballast combo....well, disregard this post

[bubbletip2]

Well first Jeff,

Is there any other bulb but a 12K Reeflux? JJ

If you read what Inca had wrote you will see that he indeed currently has HQI ballasts, LB's and "12K Reeflux" bulbs, so I was responding to the bulb choice he made.

Hopefully that helps better understand my statement. To be honest Jeff, I wrote two pages for the guy and was a little frustrated when I lost everything I wrote. I guess I need to be more specific and careful what I write.

One thing I will say, is that ballasts don't necessarily influence a reflector, but the whole combination does. The manufacturer of Reeflux bulbs does not approve HQI ballasts on them but people keep trying them out. Then people complain that they don't last long enough and they are not running them by manufacturer recommendation. If you want HQI ballasts you need HQI bulbs.

Second, there is not a reflector on the market right now that I have seen that produces as big of numbers as these LB's do. Sorry but it is the truth. People are posting incredible numbers with 175's, the likes I did not think I would ever see. Thanks for that Glixtrix.

I did show numbers under 250's with 3 different bulbs on CV electronics and the results conflicted any testing previously done on these three bulbs. The 12K's were stronger. It is a great bulb and I am confused in reading posts on RC where people are discrediting the bulb when they are proving to be very useful for a lot of reefkeepers. I just don't think anyone is doing anyone any favors by ripping on the bulb with statements like, “I just dont see any advantages to the Reeflux.� Not naming names, but man these kind of statements are just personal attacks on a bulb that many people are happy to use over there tanks.

I understand that people will use different bulb/ballast reflector combinations. That is perfectly fine and always will be, but please don’t misdirect people for no good reason. This kind of behavior does not do anyone any favors.

Sorry Jeff, the majority of this post is not directed towards you. I have done a bit of reading lately on RC and am really disappointed with what I have seen.

OK now I am definitely done with my morning rant…

Jim

[bubbletip2]

Originally posted by icantremember
Thanks for the info thus far guys.

Where about is the bulb situated in reference to the top, or the bottom, of the reflector? bubbletip2, are you saying "...the big ones really require 16". I am assuming this measurement is from the bulb to the surface? If so, wouldn't my 20" of clearance allow the use of these larger reflectors? Is there any pro's to using the mini's over the larger units other than size? Just thinking aloud, it seems like I would want a broader light pattern versus narrower if the hood can accept the larger unit. No?

Now I just need to figure out if I am going to try to use these HQI's or sell them and get new CoralVue electronic ballasts.

It's like having another sports car...

First are your dimensions saying 24" high or 31" high?

The bulb sits 4" from the bottom of the reflector so with larges(9" tall), I guess technically at 20" you would be 15" from bulb to water if your water sat at the top of the tank. It typically is 16" because most people have a little space at the top of there tank before the water line. You could stretch the water line down if you like to create some virtual height.

What I am saying is that the big ones are "big" and are probably not necessary for most tanks. The minis can be placed at 14" and get a good amount of spread. This gives you 2 more inches to raise those minis up as your coral grows. In order to accomodate the larges I would recommend starting at 16" leaving you no room to raise the reflectors to accomodate growth. Because they are 2" taller than the minis, the bottom of the reflector will in effect sit 2 inches closer to the water. This is why I say 16" as opposed to 14" on the larges. Keep in mind that this is for optimal spread to start out with. With a reflector every two feet this is not really a problem, but with 400w bulbs you may want to be higher just to avoid heat and excessive radiation.

Just for reference, I have my two larges up at 17.5" right now. The numbers are still fantastic. I think the main thing here Inca is that you have to decide on your rock work to some degree. If your tank is really 31" wide and you are planning on growing coral on the back and front wall of the tank than I would say the large LB's will help catch the back of the coral keeping it out of the shade. If your tank is 24" wide, you will have no problems with the minis.

Your other option is to get the larges and mount them up as high as you can and then get some dimmable ballasts to be able to adjust your lighting to how your coral is doing. If it seems they are getting too much light, ramp the bulbs down a bit. If they are not getting enough than ramp them up a bit. Another virtual way to adjust your height.

Hopefully that helps...

Jim

[bubbletip2]

Originally posted by melev
Jim, whenever you type up something big, save a copy to notepad or the very least to your cache. When the post doesn't take, don't click Back. Click Refresh. Wait for it to post. If it still doesn't, click Refresh again. It will still be floating in the memory until the post finally appears. Don't hammer the refresh button in the browser, just do it if it didn't accept it and you get an error message. FYI, an alert box will appear about POSTDATA and you simply click Okay/Yes.

Smaller reflectors would be fine - I had a feeling that was the case.

Thanks for the tip Marc. Man was I upset last night and it is not the first time it has happened. I usually copy my post into a word document prior to submitting and had to learn my lesson again for not copying it somewhere else. I could say it will never happen again, but I doubt it...

From time to time the server seems to cut out when submitting and often times it seems like it goes through and the post is nowhere to be found. Oh well....

[icantremember]

Thanks for all the info. That gives me more than enough to run with. I am going to sketch up some scenarios this weekend and, hopefully, have a decision by Monday.

[Fusch13]

Hey....im back..

I have purchase a 120 gallon tank...its 4'x2'x2'...i plan on having mostly sps in the tank. I will building a canopy for this to hide the halides and t5 supplements....I am hoping to run two lumenbrights w/ 400 watt radium 20k bulbs on icecap ballast. My question is should i do two minis? and will that be sufficient enough....

Second, how tall will i have to make my canopy to pull the light 15-16" off water to get good spread?

Thanks guys for help...

[JCTewks]

bubbletip2: The thing that I find amusing is that the reeflux 12K bulb is one of the few bulbs out there that actually has higher PAR on an electronic ballast...typically, a magnetic (nonHQI) will fire bulbs brighter than an electronic...but that is definitely not the case with these bulbs.

My statement was not meant as an attack on you or these reflectors...I only posted that to keep a flood of newbies from spreading false information that "lumenbright reflectors ONLY work best when using electronic ballasts". Which would be an untrue statement.

BTW, Great job on all of the info in this thread and for babysitting it so dutifuly And, yeah, I think we've all learned the hard way a time or two about saving copies of long posts (right-click, copy )

[burton14e7]

Originally posted by Fusch13
Hey....im back..

I have purchase a 120 gallon tank...its 4'x2'x2'...i plan on having mostly sps in the tank. I will building a canopy for this to hide the halides and t5 supplements....I am hoping to run two lumenbrights w/ 400 watt radium 20k bulbs on icecap ballast. My question is should i do two minis? and will that be sufficient enough....

Second, how tall will i have to make my canopy to pull the light 15-16" off water to get good spread?

Thanks guys for help...

I did mini's on my 120 with 400 watters and the bottom of the fixture is 15" off the water.

[bubbletip2]

Originally posted by JCTewks
bubbletip2: The thing that I find amusing is that the reeflux 12K bulb is one of the few bulbs out there that actually has higher PAR on an electronic ballast...typically, a magnetic (nonHQI) will fire bulbs brighter than an electronic...but that is definitely not the case with these bulbs.

My statement was not meant as an attack on you or these reflectors...I only posted that to keep a flood of newbies from spreading false information that "lumenbright reflectors ONLY work best when using electronic ballasts". Which would be an untrue statement.

BTW, Great job on all of the info in this thread and for babysitting it so dutifuly And, yeah, I think we've all learned the hard way a time or two about saving copies of long posts (right-click, copy )

Hey JC,

I know you were just trying to keep it real and yes the statement could have been interpreted the wrong way. I kind of started my post with a joke so you would not take that post the wrong way as well. No hard feelings man and thanks for the complement.

[JCTewks]

Yeah, it's hard to see facial expressions and body language from a typed sentence I guess that's why someone created emoticons

[Macimage]

OK, I've read all 39 pages over the past 3+ hours and decided a I need to replace my Maristar fixture with 3 LB's.

The Maristar uses 3 250 DE HQI bulbs, but I wouldn't mind switching to SE. What exactly is the difference between the Reeflux 12k SE & Reeflux 12K DE??

I have a set of Blue Wave Ballasts and was looking at getting a set of Galaxy ballasts, but I haven't figured out the difference between them yet??

Should I get the CoralVue ballasts with the LB's or use the Blue Waves or Galaxy ballasts?

Also, do they all cost the same to run in terms of electrical usage? We have very expensive electricity here in Calif. and most of our electrical bill is in the over 200% of baseline cost tier penalty.

My tank is 6'L x2'W x 30"H.

I have a bigger tank going into storage (9' x 4' x 3') while we build our new home, however, it will be quite a while before it it completed. I'd love to get the large LBs so I can use them on that tank, but that probably isn't practical. I was thinking of two larger ones hung really high over my 225??

I have the height, as it's an inwall tank and we can hang them from the vaulted ceiling in the tank room.

Thanks for any comments/suggestions and clarifications!
Joyce

[glxtrix]

Originally posted by bubbletip2
People are posting incredible numbers with 175's, the likes I did not think I would ever see. Thanks for that Glixtrix.

Whoooo hoooo, thats me! Truthfully I'd love to try the Reeflux bulb, but at 175, they just don't compare to the Iwasaki's I currently run. Heck, even the 250's don't match up. I'd have to run 400's and thats just not an option for me. Tho would be kinda sweet At any rate, keep kickin guys, these reflectors are amazing!

[IndyMatt]

glxtrix, I run them too and they are amazingly bright! With actinic supplements the color is good as well.

[glxtrix]

Yes I agree Matt. I have 2x110W VHO actinics. I also recently bought 4 cold cathode tubes from ebay.....want to see if those do anything to add a little bit more color. Got those mainly because I ran out of room for more vhos.

[IndyMatt]

I use T5 Actinics, you should be able to add more of those.

What ballasts are you using for the VHOs and the Iwasakis?

One of my MH ballasts just went down.

[glxtrix]

The best for the Iwasaki bulbs is the ARO ballast....well really its the EVC, but I cant find those anywhere and its only a 1ppfd gain. The ARO can be found at several places. www.hellolights.com is where I got mine. I also run an ARO for the VHO's. I was thinking T5, but there is no color like that of a VHO. The cold cathodes I got are the purple color and they look similar to a VHO......hopefully thats the case Guess we'll see.

[glxtrix]

thing is I need to run them front to back, not side to side. With the LB's and the 2 vho's, I have no more room. There is how ever little room between the reflectors, but not enough for the T5 reflector.

[stunreefer]

Allright....I'm done reading this monster thread! Awsome info BTW!

So I was thinking fixtures intially for my new set-up because its open topped, and I dont want hella light spillage. I think I can make this work with the LB's as pendants, and maybe a floating canopy if necessary.

Anywho, the dimensions of the tank are 60"L x 44"W x 24"H, so I was thinking 4 LB minis. There are four holes ni the acrylic euro bracing in the top, and I figuired I'd mount one reflector above each hole. I would buy the CoralVue package (proly from Mike), which is the ballast, the reeflux 12K bulbs, and the reflector. I believe each hole in the top is around 18" x 18". I'll measure tonight and post. What do you guys think???



Also, I'm trying to figuire out my mounting options, and have seen a few people using what looks like aluminum frames to mount the lights on. Could you enlighten me as top what it is, where I could get it, and if its super expensive or not. I'm in the process of building a steel stand, and was thinking Id use scraps and flat steel to make a frame, but feel it would be really heavy.

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks in advance!

[JRaquatics]

I would paint some square stock and mount the light reflector directly to it and hang the bar with some aviation cable to the ceiling. That is an option if you didn't want a canopy.

[stunreefer]

Thanks Jeremy!

I just measured my holes at lunch, and they're all 24"x16", but the back two holes have the "corners cut" to fit around the overflow. Heres a pic when i first got the tank, laying on its side:

[glxtrix]

Man 60"L x 44"W x 24"H.....sweet tank! I personally would do 6 LB's on it. 3 across the front and another row behind them. You might be able to get away with 4, but I would think they would need to be raised to at least the 16" mark in order to get the spread even throughout the whole tank and that might even be pushing it.

[dja1980]

I was thinking 6 also. It would be so much easier to plan lighting if all tanks came in 2'x2' increments.

[melev]

I don't know. Six seems like a lot to me. However, I don't know if combining large ones with minis might be a good option. Like two larges in front and two minis in the back... That is a rough shape to light because of the cross bracing.