Lighting and coral coloration

[mvm]

Ever since my solana crashed and I set up my 70 cube, I've been striving to get the coral coloration my solana had:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32173&highlight=august">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32173&highlight=august</a>
With my new setup, I had a radium 400W 20K on a dimmable coralvue ballast and lumenbrite large reflector. I know the 400W was a little much for a 18" deep tank, but I went for it anyway. The coral blue coloring was baby blue instead of deep blue, the greens were yellow. After several months of corals that didn't "pop" like they did in my old tank, I switched back to 2 250W lumenarc stealth mini reflectors powering phoenix 14k bulbs like I had on my previous setup. Even the red planet colony's color was washed out. After less than 2 weeks, the corals coloration is better than ever. I know the radium 20K are a popular bulb (if not the most popular), but was the lack of coloration due too too much lighting, or the spectrum of the bulb. A par test with the 400W radiums yielded similar results that I had on the solana using the 250W DE phoenix 14K. Right now I'm sold on the phoenix DE 14K bulb being the best out there, hands down. Thoughs?

 

[ralph atl]

Question
you had one 400 watt radium and now you have 2, 250 watt phoenix?

 

[jonboyb]

You certain you didn't have one of the rumored bad Radium 20k's that were pinkish. I run a 400w Radium over the 93 and while I wouldn't mind more color, my blue colonies are VERY blue (particularly an ORA Oregon Tort). Red's and yellow's really pop too but I will say my greens (like my Tri-Color, Bird of Paradise, and Phonape BN) have always been lacking compared to the 150 Phoenix I used to have when running a smaller cube.

 

[jaustin]

rumored bad Radium 20k's that were pinkish

no rumor....radium is having some issues with bulbs...not a bad batch but bad batche(s). I went through 3 bulbs over a 6 month period. One turned pink after a month of use, the others were pink from the start. The problem isn't ballast related.

I no longer run Radium....switched to Ushio 20K, great color and par.

 

[jonboyb]

This is my third Radium and I'll likely be swithing to Ushio or Hamilton (if they even do 400) on the next change out. Just time to see if there is a difference.

And wasn't meaning to come off confrontational on the "rumored" comment. Just never had one myself so couldn't confirm

 

[mvm]

mysterybox;579079 wrote: Question
you had one 400 watt radium and now you have 2, 250 watt phoenix?

yes.

 

[mvm]

jonboyb;579082 wrote: You certain you didn't have one of the rumored bad Radium 20k's that were pinkish. I run a 400w Radium over the 93 and while I wouldn't mind more color, my blue colonies are VERY blue (particularly an ORA Oregon Tort). Red's and yellow's really pop too but I will say my greens (like my Tri-Color, Bird of Paradise, and Phonape BN) have always been lacking compared to the 150 Phoenix I used to have when running a smaller cube.

Doubtful. Never really looked "pinkish." I did run the bulb dialed down on the dimmable balllast, but never saw anything pink....

 

[merkywater]

Definitely not pink bc I'm running it on my 90 gal corner tank and it works like normal radium. I too run it dialed as low as it will go. It is more blue than anything.

 

[ralph atl]

I've tried a lot of bulbs, I personally just love the color and par on the Radiums (of course, I didn't get one of those "pink" ones). Hamilton was the worst, IMHO. EVC was my second favorite. I know I liked USHIO, but it was so long ago, I can't remember......

 

[ralph atl]

maybe the 400 watter was too concentrated in one area, versus what you have now with 2.........?

 

[jonboyb]

Good to know about the Hamilton 400w. I love their 14k 175's (which were really blue to me) but it seems every bulb manufacturer has a big disparity in spectrum between wattage.

 

[enderg60]

you probably would have been happier if you had just switched the ballast out for a magnetic one rather then an electronic one.

 

[mvm]

EnderG60;579155 wrote: you probably would have been happier if you had just switched the ballast out for a magnetic one rather then an electronic one.

Elaborate?

 

[markl]

MvM;579072 wrote: Ever since my solana crashed and I set up my 70 cube, I've been striving to get the coral coloration my solana had:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32173&highlight=august">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32173&highlight=august</a>
With my new setup, I had a radium 400W 20K on a dimmable coralvue ballast and lumenbrite large reflector. I know the 400W was a little much for a 18" deep tank, but I went for it anyway. The coral blue coloring was baby blue instead of deep blue, the greens were yellow. After several months of corals that didn't "pop" like they did in my old tank, I switched back to 2 250W lumenarc stealth mini reflectors powering phoenix 14k bulbs like I had on my previous setup. Even the red planet colony's color was washed out. After less than 2 weeks, the corals coloration is better than ever. I know the radium 20K are a popular bulb (if not the most popular), but was the lack of coloration due too too much lighting, or the spectrum of the bulb. A par test with the 400W radiums yielded similar results that I had on the solana using the 250W DE phoenix 14K. Right now I'm sold on the phoenix DE 14K bulb being the best out there, hands down. Thoughs?[/QUOTE]


What ballast are you running now with the 14ks

 

[mvm]

Coralvue dual, but am switching to icecaps.

 

[enderg60]

MvM;579159 wrote: Elaborate?

magnetic ballasts overdrive the bulbs, thus making them look whitter in color and produce a bit more PAR.

I run radiums on standard 400w magnetic ballasts. On electronic ballats they look WAY to blue, on HQI ballasts(which overdrive the pee out of them) they look WAY to white.