Lighting Help

AndreT

AndreT

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Hi Guys,

I am on the verge of changing MH bulbs and would like some advice.

First some constants:

* I have room for 1 150W MH bulb.
* Ballast is a 150W [INSERT_WELL_KNOWN_GERMAN_BRAND_DISTRIBUTED_BY_RADIANT_THAT_I_CANT_REMEMBER_HERE].
* I have space for maybe supplementing 1 of the following options:
---- A Rio Mini LED Deep Blue light to supplement.
---- A 6,500L 1ft T5 (Sylvannia).
---- A 1ft T5 that is marked as a Marine Blue (unknown brand).
* I have my sights on a small electric blue clam. My setup is now 7months old and I feel mature and stable enough to be adding such an animal.
* I want to keep some SPS.
* The setup is about 40cm high.
* Maximum depth of any coral will be about 35cm, but lampholder (normal DE downlighter) is about 15cm from water surface.

Current bulb is a bit of an unknown entity to me, so I don't want to take any chances. Plus it's quite old. So I'm gonna be changing it regardless.

My question is this, what bulb do I go for?

My feeling is to get a Venture (cheap) 10,000K 150W bulb and supplement with a Rio Mini LED Deep Blue Sea light.

My setup can be seen HERE. (Just go to one of the last pages for pics.)
 
Gali if you want to keep the SPS species they generally come from the top end of the reef very close to the water surface and generally are used to very bright light. For these you would have to look in the 10 K range, you can also get deep water species that are used to the blue light in the 16-20 K range. If it were me i would go 10 k halide with actinic suppliment
 
I don't think the LED light will give much of a spread of light so I'm a bit hesitant to recommend it as a form of supplementation. A fluorescent tube would be much better, maybe even one or two of those blue energy savers, I have seen them used before but not too sure what they look like.

If you do go for the Venture, ask for the 10Kplus
 
Cool, problem is that I don't think you get actinics that small. Best I can do is use one of those 14W T5tubes, 1ft in length. But I don't thionk it's actinic, it just says marine blue.

Definately going for the venture thought.
 
O, it was me that used those blue energy saver. It works, but you need quite a few of them.
 
gali can you not lower your MH?
 
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I originally bought 2 venture 150w 10k globes when I started. One of them started going on and off and I replaced it with a 150w 15k with no name on the box.(bought it at imacsa) The globe was cheaper than the venture and the light is fantastic. As long as I can get them I will not change to anything else. Dunno if I'm allowed to mention from who I bought, what i can say is that its from a sponsor.
 
Herkie, please tell us the brand name, price and sponsor. And can you possibly post a pic please? Is it blueer than the Ventures?A
 
I am obsessed with PAR mostly and colour secondary. It is difficult to find a lamp that satisfies both criteria. Do you have PAR ratings for these lamps? Or maybe the sponsor can do a PAR test and compare to BLV and AM. If it is who I think it is, they do have a PAR meter. Also lifetime of the lamp may be shorter on the cheaper lamps. So a extended test over 1 year would really be nice.
 
Hill It is a fact known already that the Ventures have about half the PAR of BLV's and don't last so long.

But the possibility exist that I don't even need any light as our power has been out since 7 last night and reports say it will only come back on tonight some time.
 
But it will still be nice to know as I will need to replace my lamps sometime.
 
Sorry for taking so long to reply, I got this globe from Andrew. Is it ok to post his business name here? The light I get if I compare the colour with the venture is definitely quite a bit more blue than the venture. I'm not sure how to describe this, all I can think of is that stuff in the tank seems to be more crisp.
 
Yes Herkie, I assume you are saying Andrew = millepora = Eco Aquatics ?
 
I wish he would take PAR readings and compare to BLV and AM just to give us an idea.
 
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