MH ballast/bulb?

[Ba19Ma88]

OK reef masters…

Long distance question, I am currently overseas and planning an upgrade when I come home. I am going to go to a 75 and talk all the stuff out of my 578 rimless (livestock) and turn my 57 into a large frag tank.

So my question is on lighting currently I have LED and will probably supplement the frag tank with t5 and maybe UV stunner strips.

The upgrade I am going to go back to MH and am looking at 2x250’s or 2x400s and I am going to go SE Radium (20K or 14’s)

What is the best ballast and I do want one that is dimmable for these if they make one. So again what’s the brand I should look for to run these bulbs?

Thanks in advance for any and all info
Bruce

 

[JohnK]

I hear a lot of people going out of their way to use old school M80 magnetic ballasts to drive 250w Radium bulbs specifically.

2x250 is more than enough IMO. 2x400 would not be any better but would probably lead to major heat issues.

 

[dz6t]

I use icecap electronic ballasts to drive a pair of Radium 20K 250w.
Electronic MH ballast are inexpensive these days, (such as eBay or Ballastwise.com), they runs about $79 new each, runs cooler and last a lot longer than magnetic ballast.

 

[dannyp02908]

I think the reason people are going out of their way for the M80/radium combo is for the color that it produces. For whatever reason, it seems that this combo provides a color balance unlike any other. I see alot of threads on reefcentral of people ditching the LEDs and going back to MH/VHO. Whats the point of buying an awesome coral from a vendor to get it home and have the color shift. Most vendors are keeping their corals under 400w MH bulbs in the 20K color range.

 

[stingythingy45]

I run a Sunlight Supply Blue Wave 7 250W HQI Dual Metal Halide Ballast(M80).
I've never tried radiums on it,but have used Ushio 14K,Ushio 10K,Phoenix 14k.
I back up the color with 2-54 watt 48inch T5 (Blue Plus)ATI.
Not dimmable,but they sure are powerful and have nice color.

 

[dz6t]

I think the reason people are going out of their way for the M80/radium combo is for the color that it produces. For whatever reason, it seems that this combo provides a color balance unlike any other. I see alot of threads on reefcentral of people ditching the LEDs and going back to MH/VHO. Whats the point of buying an awesome coral from a vendor to get it home and have the color shift. Most vendors are keeping their corals under 400w MH bulbs in the 20K color range.

Very good points!
VHO actinic is still the best on the market so far. Too bad people got away from VHO for years.

 

[mchartier]

I run a Sunlight Supply Blue Wave 7 250W HQI Dual Metal Halide Ballast(M80).
I've never tried radiums on it

You have the right ballast for them the thing is if I remember correctly you run DE bulbs, Radiums in 250w are only SE

 

[stingythingy45]

You have the right ballast for them the thing is if I remember correctly you run DE bulbs, Radiums in 250w are only SE

Yeah,I have DE pendents.So I'd have to change to SE for Radiums.
And after all the BS I run into trying to change DE bulbs,SE sounds like a nice change.

 

[mchartier]

I started with the same pendants and ballast (ran Ushio 14K bulbs) you have and swapped the pendants sunlight supply lumen max elite SE reflectors. I loved the color so much more than the Ushios note I did not run any supplemental light for either setup.

 

[stingythingy45]

Thanks for the info,Matt.
I think I'm going to look into changing out the Reef Optix 3 pendents to what you suggested.

 

[stingythingy45]

Matt,
Are they plug and play right into a Blue Wave 7?
I noticed that Marine Depot is out of stock right now.

 

[mchartier]

Yes they have the same connectors as the Reef Optix pendants, the Lumen Max Elites are big they are 19.5" by 17.5". I mounted mine so they ran the long way.

BulkReefSupply has them in stock http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/lumenmax-elite-mogul-fixture.html