Cheap bulbs Vs High Dollar
- Thread starter georgiaboy013
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I guess a lot has to do with the ballast. Run off a dimmable CoralVue 400 watt e-ballast in a Lumenbright Mini pendant 12 inches above still water, the Helios gave 760 PAR 1 inch under the water surface centered under the reflector, the Radium gave 1280. Readings done with Tim's Apogee quantum meter.
The PFO overdrives the Mogul bulbs, right? I just prefer the versatility of a dimmable ballast, because I can overdrive by 10%, or dim from full to
-35%.
Of all the 400 watt 20K halide bulbs I have tried, which are Plusrite, Helios, EVC, XM, and Radium, the Helios brought out the best colors in my SPS corals with what I would term good growth when the SPS were just frags, followed closely by Radium.
The lack of PAR became a concern as my SPS colonies got larger and larger because of increased shading, which is why I switched to the Radiums. The quality issues Helios is/was having was a PIA as well, but the colors they brought out in the corals had no comparison.
I would guess that Radiums are the most popular 400 watt Halide bulbs on the market, however, at least from most threads you see asking what brands people use. You always seem to have more Radium users respond than any other users. Seems a lot of people use Phoenix 14K, at least in the 250 watt DE market as well.
Well said/great point! A lot of us get lost in these comparisons, as it can be very confusing as to what is important and for what reason(s).
Just as a FWIW,
I would not put too much importance on any single reading for PAR/lumens/lux or whatever. No reflector or bulb that I have ever seen is perfect. This includes some that were much better design/complexity used in other applications/fields. All it would take is a 'dimple' in the right spot of a reflector to cause the PAR readings to be 'off the chart'. I am personally much more comfortable with multiple readings, preferably made using a fixture/template/jig to reproduce readings in the same locations and same tank. This will get you a much better approximation of apples to apples. Others have used this method previously.
The single reading I posted was just an example. That was just one of multiple readings at various depth levels of the tank. With my setup, the Radiums simply beat the tar out of the Helios regarding PAR at every point. With PFO ballasts, maybe another story.
If I were writing an article then perhaps a jig or something like you mentioned, I could see it. These were just some informal readings, but I doubt multiple PAR readings where the Radium consistently read higher than the Helios could all be contributed to positional error.
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My main concern is how my corals look to me and how well they grow under any light. From past threads corals reach a saturation point anyway. If they grow they grow If they look good they look good.I don't care what the bulb cost 2 bucks or 200 bucks.
My light bill is the other concern. I switched from plusrite to the other bulbs due to the par readings being higher than the plusrite after running them a while i'm not sure that made any difference either.. But I see absolutely no difference in the growth of my corals. The fact remains that the bigger some corals get the faster they grow so it may be a matter of timing instead of the bulb as to why some people experience faster growth.
For some the plusrite may be garbage on their ballast,reflectors and tank. For me they did fine with less problems than the more expensive.
My light bill is the other concern. I switched from plusrite to the other bulbs due to the par readings being higher than the plusrite after running them a while i'm not sure that made any difference either.. But I see absolutely no difference in the growth of my corals. The fact remains that the bigger some corals get the faster they grow so it may be a matter of timing instead of the bulb as to why some people experience faster growth.
For some the plusrite may be garbage on their ballast,reflectors and tank. For me they did fine with less problems than the more expensive.
Good points Dave. My statement on single measurements was for general consideration, not being critical at all. The results that you, Mojo and others display through your tanks, speaks volumes about your knowledge.
Grouper, also great points. My understanding is that many corals simply become light saturated at levels of ~300 PAR (SPS), ~200 (LPS/softies) or even ~100 for some others (softies). Hence the growth limitation. Yet I also see the intense coloration only coming out in very brightly lit tanks, no?
From what I have read, photosynthesis and growth are limited as above. Coloration is somewhat of another matter. The intensity of many pigments, and the mere presence of some, depend on very high intensity (irradiance) levels. At least some pigments act as a 'sunscreen' according to articles I have read. Shorter wavelengths in particular seem to be responsible for this effect. It makes sense when considering that shorter wavelengths also contain more energy. Thoughts?
