LumenMax Elite: General Lighting Questions

[steve]

So I'm thinking of going with Lumenmax Elites for my next project.

1.) How high should the reflectors be off the water?

2.) I'm definitely going with 250 watt bulbs, but the question is, should I go SE or DE? And what bulbs give the best color out of each of the categories.

3.) What ballast?

I won't be using supplemental lighting so keep that in mind in your answers. Thanks

My new favorite fish:

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[lilrobb]

Tagging along,
I just decided for LumenArcs though - only because I found them fairly cheap.

Wrought Iron Butterfly - nice!

 

[steve]

Rob, can you get the LumenArc's in solid black? There isn't going to be a canopy, so they need to be presentable.

 

[lilrobb]

Don't come in black, mine go inside a canopy so the kinda DIY look of them was okay for me.
LumenMax Elites wouldn't be my choice for hanging - I would go with the LumenBright 3s - they look extremely "representable"...

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[steve]

But I would also have to hang those suckers so high off the water... Which is what I was trying to avoid since my stand is so tall.

 

[molson]

Been researching 250w bulbs lately, and the radium SE 20ks's seem to be getting pretty darn good reviews....unfortunately my lumenbrights are DE so I can't try em myself.

 

[lilrobb]

Steve;374966 wrote: But I would also have to hang those suckers so high off the water...

Why would you need to hang these higher than the LumenMaxs?

 

[steve]

The LB's concentrate so much light that the corals can't handle it.

 

[lilrobb]

Is that a proven fact?
I don't think that LBs are so much more efficient that LMs

 

[molson]

Speaking of which Steve, get your Par meter over here so I can find out if I need to move mine up

 

[acroholic]

LilRobb;374963 wrote: Iron Butterfly - nice!

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Baby!

 

[lilrobb]

I like the drum solo in the end best...

 

[drnecropolis]

Acroholic;375005 wrote: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Baby!

Oddly enough as soon as I read that the song came on in a home improvement episode!
I just got some of the Lumen Max yesterday

 

[skriz]

The LB and LME are very similar in performance.

SE has more bulb choices & can be overdriven if you want more juice, so I would go SE. This will be more important since you're going with 250w bulbs and will probably go with a 20kk range (less par than 10kk).