Which 250W MH Bulb?

[Hiker4twenty]

My brother just got a new 250W MH lighting fixture, but it comes with a crappy no name bulb. What are some bulbs that you guys would reccommend him to buy that would give better PAR and better color? Right now his bulb is a 20K.

 

[BL1]

Originally posted by Ccapt in his build thread

Here are the results of my PAR test. I measured it the same as the test I did for the 175w bulbs.
1st # is the reading above the water about 6" below the bulb. The meter goes up to 1999. The 250w XM 10k pegged it, so I don't know how high that really goes.
2nd # is 1" below the water surface.
3rd # is 12" below the water, about 1/2 down in my tank.
4th # is on the bottom, which is about 24" of water.

XM 20K~~~1280~~~375~~~220~~~155
XM 10K~~1999+~~1060~~~520~~~340

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Thanks Brian. I forgot he posted this a while back.

 

[BL1]

Thanks Brian. I forgot he posted this a while back.

Yea, I've bookmarked that page for when I go bulb shopping in the next couple of months.

 

[ccCapt]

Are the SE or DE bulbs and what kind of ballasts (elec or mag)?

Testing 250-watt Single-ended Metal Halide Lamps and Ballasts by Joe Burger - Reefkeeping.com

...and Sanjay's 250w results
Performance Data Query Results

 

[BL1]

ccCapt, I've looked at that page from Sanjay when you posted it before but, how do you determine the results. I don't see PAR results anywhere.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Are the SE or DE bulbs and what kind of ballasts (elec or mag)?

Testing 250-watt Single-ended Metal Halide Lamps and Ballasts by Joe Burger - Reefkeeping.com

...and Sanjay's 250w results
Performance Data Query Results

They're DE HQI bulbs w/ electronic ballast.

 

[ccCapt]

ccCapt, I've looked at that page from Sanjay when you posted it before but, how do you determine the results. I don't see PAR results anywhere.

The PAR ratings are shown as PPFD - Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density.
The true color of the bulb is shown in Kelvin degrees as CCT - Correlated Color Temp.

They're DE HQI bulbs w/ electronic ballast.

FYI, electronic ballasts do not run HQI bulbs at the proper power level. HQI bulbs are made to be run on HQI ballasts. Just because a bulb is DE does not mean it's HQI. HQI is a European standard bulb....like a Radium or Ushio.

 

[fastrd400]

Not sure what my par is Dave, but I've been running Phoenix 250 watt DE bulbs and I love them. They are not overly blue at all.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

The PAR ratings are shown as PPFD - Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density.
The true color of the bulb is shown in Kelvin degrees as CCT - Correlated Color Temp.

FYI, electronic ballasts do not run HQI bulbs at the proper power level. HQI bulbs are made to be run on HQI ballasts. Just because a bulb is DE does not mean it's HQI. HQI is a European standard bulb....like a Radium or Ushio.

Thanks Larry. I had no clue they were magnetic. I just figured they were electronic because that's the new technology. Thanks for getting me up to speed.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Not sure what my par is Dave, but I've been running Phoenix 250 watt DE bulbs and I love them. They are not overly blue at all.

Thanks Wade. My brother runs 150W DE Phoenix bulbs currently and loves the color. He was thinking about sticking with the same brand, but wasn't 100% sure.

 

[ccCapt]

Thanks Larry. I had no clue they were magnetic. I just figured they were electronic because that's the new technology. Thanks for getting me up to speed.

It's really easy to tell them apart. Just pick 1 up. An electronic ballast only weighs a few lbs while a mag ballast weighs about 10 lbs or more.