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

[JRaquatics]

Originally posted by chrissreef
I really wanted to see the xray of his head

I think I might need one.

[melev]

Why did you change it? I liked it.

[JRaquatics]

Originally posted by melev
Why did you change it? I liked it.

After you brought it to my attention all I saw was the object protrudin from the pelvic bone. I also have about 10 different avatars that I rotate. Keeps things interesting.

[melev]

I just stick with one forever. It's an identity thing.

[JRaquatics]

I like to keep my Identity in shambles. I am all for the upgarde.

[tinnghe]

how loud does ur ballast sound when
it is running?

[JRaquatics]

I can't hear mine at all and I have all 3 of mine next to each other. Did you ever call Dave at CoralVue about your ballast?

[Cove Beach]

Yes moving them in will fade the shadows of the cross braces, it did with mine. It will also give you more par in the cross/intersecting light. I would place fans on the sides of the canopy blowing accross the water. If you have them all blow in then the heat will exit through the top of the canopy. This is how I have mine set up and it work pretty well.

Late last night i was pondering the suggestion to move the outboard lights inward, and that i was getting a lot of light spillage onto the ends of my canopy. I measured the space between my LBs and its almost 4 inches. After checking my scraps left over from my DIY lumenarc project i found i had enough reflector material to cover the lower area of both end panels. After putting them in place i was surprised to find that it got rid of the cross brace shadows! I thought i might have to angle it but leaving it flat did the job.

[Macimage]

Do you mean you somehow put the reflector material in the 4" between each pendant?

Joyce

[Cove Beach]

No i put it on the vertical side panel of my canopy. If you skip back a couple pages you can see in the picture i posted that there is light from the outboard pendants hitting the sides.

[Macimage]

Ok, I was confused!

Thanks!
Joyce

[Gomer]

Anyone else end up with a bad finished lumenbright where the holes don't line up well and the mogul bracket is severely crooked (not bent)?

I'm hoping this is just an isolated incident since everyone else seems to love theirs.

[kuyatwo]

out of the three large lumenbrights i bought only one doesnt line up correctly... three of the of the four screws line up...I just redrilled the hole on the fourth one rather than drive back to lfs to replace them.

[Gomer]

In this case it would be 4 holes on the mount, and the 2 holes for the feedthrough...
:/

[JRaquatics]

That sucks Gomer. I think it is an isolated incident and would return it from were you bought it and get your self a good one.

[summer6]

I've read 29 pgs so far, which is really helping me understand MH lighting,but had to jump over to ask a question.
Planning a 4'x4'x2' open tank/viewable 4-sides/sitting in the middle of the greatroom.
I was leaning toward getting a sleek pendant either MH/T5 or all T5's but now am unsure if it's the way to go since I've always loved the look of MH and will want to spread out into sps corals.
The lumenbright reflectors with the reeflux bulbs look amazing.
1. Would I need 4 of the large LB on this tank?
2. Can 2 pendants run off of a dual coralvue MH ballast, or do they each need their own ballast?
3. Is actinic suppliment necessary? I do like the white, natural light- but what's the general opinion on that?
4. Can the LB be dimmed to gradually start-up and down?
5. Anyone running these units outside of a canopy?
6. Lastly I'd need to make some kind of attractive platform to hang the 4 lights, plus hide the ballasts - and I wonder if anyone's done this or not.
Thanks for your help.

[RobynT]

I have had this thread bookmarked for many months, waiting for the time when I will be able to upgrade and start using the LB's. I am a real novice when it comes to MH and I'm totally confused by all the options available. I was wondering if anyone can point me to a thread or threads that might explain some of the differences (DE, HQI, etc) why you need to use certain bulbs with certain ballasts etc. I guess I'm looking for MH 101 lol!!

[melev]

Originally posted by RobynT
I have had this thread bookmarked for many months, waiting for the time when I will be able to upgrade and start using the LB's. I am a real novice when it comes to MH and I'm totally confused by all the options available. I was wondering if anyone can point me to a thread or threads that might explain some of the differences (DE, HQI, etc) why you need to use certain bulbs with certain ballasts etc. I guess I'm looking for MH 101 lol!!

I wrote this for my site about six months ago, prior to getting on the Lumenbright bandwagon, so if anything looks odd, it's because the page needs to be updated:

Lighting consists of three parts: ballast, bulb, and reflector. The combination of these three makes the difference between good lighting and great lighting.

Some basics:
Electronic ballasts are smaller, run quietly, and reportedly save money in electricity usage (~10%).
Magnetic ballasts are larger, have an audible hum to them, and get pretty hot.

The ballast must match the bulb, no matter what. A 250w ballast is for a 250w bulb - always. You can not, nor should you, try to light a 175w bulb with a 250w ballast.

There are (or were) probe start and pulse start ballasts. Matching the bulb to the ballast can be tricky.

For me, there is really only one choice: IceCap Electronic ballasts. They light virtually every bulb, and their warranty can't be beat.

Placement:
MH bulbs should be 9" to 12" off the surface of the water.
Each bulb covers a 2' x 2' area, unless you use the Luminarc reflectors mentioned below. They can spread light over a larger area.

Wiring:
Mogul sockets have two wires usually, which connect to the ballast. It doesn't matter how these are connected; either way will light the bulb. Adding a ground wire to the reflector and/or socket is a wise option, mainly for safety.

Bulbs:
SE (singled ended) mogul bulbs can be screwed in to ceramic mogul sockets.
DE (doubled ended) bulbs snap into ceramic or plastic retaining clips.

Note: DE bulbs always require a piece of tempered glass beneath the bulb to block UV from burning / bleaching corals.

I've used both, but primarily like SE bulbs because of the greater options (brand & color spectrum) and their lower price. DE bulbs are more frail, and can be damaged during installation.

Wattage:
SE bulbs: 175w, 250w, 400w, 1000w
DE bulbs: 70w, 150w, 250w, 400w

Bulb Kelvin Rating:
Bulbs come in various 'colors'.
6,500K is yellow, and unpopular. People used them to get fast growth out of their corals.
10,000K is a popular color with good penetration (or PAR)
12,000K is another popular choice, with some blue
15,000K is more blue.
20,000K is very blue.

PAR is a way to measure intensity; how much light will punch through the water. 10,000K bulbs have much more PAR than 20,000K bulbs.

People that use 10,000K bulbs tend to use Actinic VHO lighting to supplement the blue and get a nice overall look.

I've used several brands of bulbs over the years. I really like XM bulbs and ReefLux bulbs. Ushio is another good brand at a higher price.

Reflectors:
Spider reflectors are inexpensive and popular. It is what I use now, and cost ~$35 per reflector & socket.
Luminarc III reflectors are reportedly 300% better at spreading light, so you get more light for your money. These reflectors are huge (16" x 16" x 8"), and cost ~$125 each.

This is a picture of how my lights have been set up for three years. The light rack rolls back and forth for better access in the tank.



Hope that helps!

Like I said, it needs updating since I'm no longer running those spider reflectors.

[melev]

Originally posted by summer6
I've read 29 pgs so far, which is really helping me understand MH lighting,but had to jump over to ask a question.
Planning a 4'x4'x2' open tank/viewable 4-sides/sitting in the middle of the greatroom.
I was leaning toward getting a sleek pendant either MH/T5 or all T5's but now am unsure if it's the way to go since I've always loved the look of MH and will want to spread out into sps corals.
The lumenbright reflectors with the reeflux bulbs look amazing.
1. Would I need 4 of the large LB on this tank?
2. Can 2 pendants run off of a dual coralvue MH ballast, or do they each need their own ballast?
3. Is actinic suppliment necessary? I do like the white, natural light- but what's the general opinion on that?
4. Can the LB be dimmed to gradually start-up and down?
5. Anyone running these units outside of a canopy?
6. Lastly I'd need to make some kind of attractive platform to hang the 4 lights, plus hide the ballasts - and I wonder if anyone's done this or not.
Thanks for your help.

WIth a 4 x 4 x 2 tank, I'm not sure. The easiest thing would be 4 reflectors because I know it would cover everything. I would use all 250w bulbs.

Two pendants can run off a dual ballast because there are two cords coming out of the ballast. You'd need two dual-ballasts to light all four.

You may not need actinics, depending on the color of the MH bulbs you choose. 12,000K usually don't need actinics, but if you really love blue, you may either want to move to a higher Kelvin or add actinics.

The Coralvue ballasts allow dimming, but not controllable like a sunrise and sunset effect. It is something you physically do by twisting a knob to the intensity you want. When a MH bulb turns on, it fires up and then over the next 5 or 10 minutes brightens to its full intensity. When a MH bulb turns off, it is off immediately.

The ones that are painted black with glass inserts don't need to be hidden in a canopy. It comes down to what you want to see. There are a variety of ways to hang lighting, and seeing what lengths we go to as we use our imaginations is half the fun.

[Deuce67]

Just some updated pics. 9 month mark to be exact using full size LBs.

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]



[IMG][/IMG]

[summer6]

Originally posted by melev
WIth a 4 x 4 x 2 tank, I'm not sure. The easiest thing would be 4 reflectors because I know it would cover everything. I would use all 250w bulbs.

Two pendants can run off a dual ballast because there are two cords coming out of the ballast. You'd need two dual-ballasts to light all four.

You may not need actinics, depending on the color of the MH bulbs you choose. 12,000K usually don't need actinics, but if you really love blue, you may either want to move to a higher Kelvin or add actinics.

The Coralvue ballasts allow dimming, but not controllable like a sunrise and sunset effect. It is something you physically do by twisting a knob to the intensity you want. When a MH bulb turns on, it fires up and then over the next 5 or 10 minutes brightens to its full intensity. When a MH bulb turns off, it is off immediately.

The ones that are painted black with glass inserts don't need to be hidden in a canopy. It comes down to what you want to see. There are a variety of ways to hang lighting, and seeing what lengths we go to as we use our imaginations is half the fun.

melev, this gives me a lot to think about. A disadvantage of using the LB without a canopy is making it harder to add actinic's for the dawn to dusk effect if that's what I end up wanting.
I notice that your set-up has the actinic suppliments.
Do you honestly think that the LB reflectors are best used in canopy or are they just as effective on an open tank?

[chrissreef]

summer6

- i agree with Marc... 4 250's and 4 reflectors. The LB is the best reflector for canopy or open top... you want the most light going into the tank and that's what the LB does best - it "bleeds" the least amount of light.

I would say 4 400w's but then you'll need a chiller even more where as the other you may be able to get away without a chiller.

my tank is 36 wide and i'm using 2 400w with lumenbright large reflectors (not minis) and even though it's not fully up (rock cycling now) - the coverage looks good. Since your 4' wide, you'll want LB minis.

also, i'm not using actinics - if anything, i might add a 250w 20k bulb at some point... but i like the 12k reeflux spectrum so far.

[dja1980]

Originally posted by RobynT
I guess I'm looking for MH 101 lol!!

There used to be a really good thread on RC that helped me a lot, but it looks like it may have been removed. Fortunately, I googled it and found that the "meat" of the thread had been posted elsewhere...

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-61298.html

[jknecht]

I've been thinking about replacing my new LumenMax pendants with Lumenbright pendants for the sheer convenience of not having to raise and lower my light rack to work on the tank. My question is what to do with the T5's. To simulate sunrise and sunset I run 4 - Super Actinic T5's in the morning. Then I stagger the on times of the 3 LumenMax's during the day with no T5's. In the evening the MH's are off and the T5's are back on. My question is should still try to keep the T5's 3 or 4" inches from the top of the tank or can I run them 12 or 13" off the water? If I still have to run the T5's low; I will still have to raise the light rack or remove them to work on the tank which would defeat the purpose of switching my pendants. Sorry for the drawn out explanation but just want to see what everyone else is doing with their T5's and Lumenbrights. Any advice? Thanks

[JRaquatics]

I don't run t5s but if your just using them for the look and not for actual benneficial output then raise them up. You will have to remember that you are going to have alot more light directed in your tank with the LB reflectors. I love not having to move light to get to my tank, IMO this is one of the greatest things when it comes to making tank maintance an easier chore.