Help deciding on MH lighting HQI vs. Mogul spider reflector

[skennelly]

Hey All,

I need some help deciding on what type of MH pendent to order. I have already decided that I am gong with 2 x 250 watt Ice Cap Ballasts, but I can't decide if I should go with a HQI double ended bulb pendent setup or a regular mogul base with a spider refector.

HQI is a bit more expensive, but I don't mind spending the money if its really worth it.

Please offer your suggestions.

Thanks,
Sean

[Diver_1298]

Do you have any particular brand of bulb you are looking for? As far as the reflector, I would go with the one that reflects the most light downward in a pattern that spreads it across your tank evenly.
What color temp are you looking at 10k 14k 20k?

Jim

[skennelly]

Jim,

First off for reference its a 90 gallon 48L x 18w x 23h.

I don't have a bulb brand picked out, but I was thing XM or Ushio because I've read good reviews on those.

I'm planning on running 2 x 110 watt actinic vho's along with the MH so I think I would go with a 10k MH bulb.

Which type do you think would give the best reflection...I want the MH light to be as even as possible.

Thanks,
Sean

[Tangster]

I ran a 90 for many yrs with 2 175's and 2 VHO and it was a great system easy to cool with 1 good 4in 220 CFM fan and nice sps and soft and lps corals the height make it easy to set softs and lps on the mid to the midway and then lower light demanding sps and more demanding ones up near the top. I like the USHIO's been trying some X.M's for a few month not impressed with them all that much.. But thats just my experience and opinion some would use 400 w and or 1,000 watts M/H and all the tubes they could fit LOL But it worked well for me.. God luck

[Diver_1298]

This is the information I am borrowing from Sanjay's reef lighting pages
Select from Performance Data
The 250W XM 10k bulb Single ended outperforms the double ended one on all ballasts. The single ended one puts out the most par or ppfd on the hqi ballast and 2nd best on the magnetic ballast with a ppfd of 182 and 137 respectively.
It's par (ppfd) performance is lower on the electronic ballasts. This bulb was really made for a magnetic ballast.

The Ushio is a well made bulb also. ( I have owned both )
The 250W ushio 10k single ended bulb performs better on the hqi ballast as well with a par (ppfd) value of 159 and a par value of 118 on the magnetic ballast. again underperforming on the electronic ballast (85 ppfd)

The double ended bulb 10k bulb from ushio does not perform as well as the single ended either, around 103 ppfd without a uv shield.

Price wise, the best price I found on the XM 10k was $54.95 with a $7.95 shipping charge and the 10k ushio was $79.95 with about the same shipping charge.

Hope this helps.


Jim

[skennelly]

Jim,

It does help Alot. I think I will go with a singled ended bulb. For the price different it doesn't seem worth it to by a HQI setup.

Thanks,
Sean

[skennelly]

Jim,

Any idea what bulbs do perform well with electronic ballasts? I want electronic because I don't want any noise and I want the ability to secure the ballasts to my canopy ( the outside of the canopy ).

Sean

[Diver_1298]

XDE 250W 10000K DE 1
EVC 250W 10000K DE 1
These two bulbs had the highest ppfd value for the icecap electronic ballast

I have never owned a pfo hqi ballast, this ballast put out the best ppfd values on all the bulbs tested. I'm not sure if it is noisy or not. Does any one else have experience with this ballast. For that matter an enclosed magnetic ballast is not all that noisy anyway. I have mine in a watertight enclosure and the only time you can hear them over the noise in the room is when they turn on and fire up the bulbs.
Anyone else have opinions on metal halide ballast noise? or placement....

Jim

[Diver_1298]

Cnidarian Reef: Joe Burger's 180 gal Reef Tank
Here is another link to 250w bulb tests and comparison of ballasts electronic and pfo hqi...

Jim