Venture 150W MH vs BLV 150W MH

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Hill

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I know this debate has been around before on SARK. And Viper is even considering or has already moved back to Venture bulbs. Having just moved my corals over to my new tank I found myself needing one extra MH. I had two older approx 8 month old venture lamps lying around so decided to use one while I wait for the BLV.

First a little history. My first venture lamps were purchased because they were pretty cheap. At first they seemed to work fine but over time my xenia started to lack something. On reading up I found that one of the most important aspects of their care was lighting. So I tried 2 BLV lamps. Within days the xenia recovered and I was quite happy.

Now I must add the Ventures are 10 000K+ and the BLV are 14 000K. The BLV's now are about 8 months old as well.

So back to last night. At switch on I immediately noticed the venture looked very blue while warming up. The BLV's looked quite yellow. After a while the BLV's to get a lot whiter. The Venture also became whiter. But to the naked eye the venture remains a lot bluer. (So Viper you were right)
So colour spectrum wise the Ventures are slightly whiter (bluer) than the BLV's.

But one of the most important aspects of a good aquarium lamp is PAR. Photosynthetic Available Radiation. And this is where I feel the BLV's have the edge. (Unfortunately I cannot prove it as I do not have a PAR meter.) But my experience with my Xenia and coral health suggests the same.

So basically what I have decided to do is run 5 x 150W MH over the tank. And no longer supplement with T5's. The BLV's will run at positions 1,3 and 5. And the ventures at positions 2 and 4. The venture must still have a fairly useful PAR rating and will add the nice crisp white light to the BLV's.

I hope this ends up being beneficial for the tank.

And I hope that I have maybe cleared up some confusion about the two lamps from the past.

Comments guys? Remember this is my experience with the two lamps. And in the end of the day I feel they are both good lamps.
 
Hi Hill,

About 2 years ago SRS777, James Friend and I, ran a couple of test on BLV, Venture and some T5's. SRS had the data written down but I remember that at the same depths (though different tanks) the BLV had a par rating of about 50micromoles/m2/ ps and the Venture like 23. The Venture was basically outstriped by a set of T5's but if your spent the same bucks on the Venture (say getting another globe) the PAR ratings were beter.

The Ventures gave many of my corals and SRS's much better colors but virtually no growth.

On CCT (color correlated Temperature) different ballasts do cause shifts in color on the lamp. Some ballasts say for e.g. Icecap will burn a 10 000K BLV at about 7500K. The manufacturer claim is virtually no help.

Please review this site also: http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

Click "search by performance data" select "lamp and ballast" select only 150W for example and and it will give you results for all 150w lamps tested (sorry no Venture in there.) Of lamps easily found in SA it rates the 10 000K BLV highest with the M81 ballast (the magnetic ballasts mostly used by us here in SA, but we don't get the PFO brand, that's another topic though!). Second best here in SA (of the easily availables!!) is the Sylvania 10 000K but that'll burn way yellower than the BLV.

Anyway hope this helps, there is a lot more I could mention but rather ask questions :).
 
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Hill said:
(So Viper you were right)
Click to expand...
:slayer::slayer::slayer: :yeahdude:

hehe, just kidding :whistling:

Very nice post there Hill.

I still have my 3 x 14k blv's but will be supplementing with 3 x 4ft actinic tubes, should hopefully have them up and running this week so I am looking forward to a change in colour.

Keep us posted on how it works out for you and a pic or two wouldn't hurt ;)
 
He He and here we were thinking the senile old fool was hallucinating. :lol:
 
Well I added my 2nd 4ft actinic tube today, I did have one at the back of the tank and I added the new one at the front of the tank, WOW, what a difference, the water definitely looks whiter and the substrate looks so much brighter as well, I am very happy :D
 
Now you just need 2 x ft's perpedicular on the ends and you in the Money :D
 
Yeah you're right, but do you think a 2ft T5 will be sufficient for 75cm deep?

I must say I am very impressed at how these blue T5's have helped in supplementing the colour of the BLV's, colour is looking really nice now.
 
Muppet I didn't know you only had 1 actinic. No wonder you moaning.
I run 1 x 54W, 2 x 39W and 1 x 140W VHO to get the right balance..
 
ok, I'm gonna start my own thread about this, I have a couple of other questions I want answered as well and don't want to sidetrack Hill's thread.
 
Oops sorry Hill. BTW did I call you a muppet out loud..
 
viper357 said:
ok, I'm gonna start my own thread about this, I have a couple of other questions I want answered as well and don't want to sidetrack Hill's thread.
Click to expand...

Ok, so where is this thread because I can't find it?
 
ive seen so many tanks run on blvs and looked so good.it just need to be supplemented with enough actinics
 
WOW. Only saw the thread now, good one Hill. Will also be keeping in mind when I do go for Halides. Was thinking of 2 150w blv's, but maybe I should think of doing 3, 2 blv's and a "softer" venture 150 w. Supplemented with 2 54w t5 actinics, way to go...
 
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