New MH compared to an old MH

[golfish]

Brad, I don't think its going to matter in a 180 how deep the bulb penetrate. 250 de's or 400 watt se's will do about the same in that tank. The spread wont matter if your using 6... The cost to run them and buy new bulbs is going to be the big factor. Back when I ran em I didn't SEE a difference between new bulbs and 15 month old bulbs. Now I'm hearing from a few guys I know that after 9 months the DE's are done. Also, when I ran em the DE bulbs cost about 70.00-75.00, now they cost the same or more then the SE's. That's a bunch a BS cause their the same bulb.
If they get it together and manage to get the new 400 watt DE's to run on the HQI ballast I might go back to DE's (If the color can come close to what I get from radiums) if I can get the bulbs to last 3 months longer then it would be worth it to me to sawp over.

 

[golfish]

Originally posted by Magic_Carp
what spectrun are the radiums? 20k?
yup

 

[beth]

Yes, that is a big difference. Same difference you see with whatever lighting you use really. Oddly, I like the "dimmer" look, but my corals definately do not. My corals immediately tell me when it is time to change lights. And they are just about 6 mos on the dot too.

 

[golfish]

Originally posted by Beth
Yes, that is a big difference. Same difference you see with whatever lighting you use really.
Beth, I didn't experience that when I ran DE bulbs. There was no visual difference between a new bulb and a 15 month old bulb. Same thing with the 400 watt Saki at 1 year.

 

[beth]

Mark, sorry, I overspoke. I had a broader referecne in mind, by all lights I mean NOs, VHOs as well, you can, or at least I can, see when things are definately getting dimmer.

 

[golfish]

Beth, your right, I noticed it big time with my PC's and these Radiums, probably because I've used more Radiums then anything else.
Did you get the Seio up and running? I added another one to the bottom of my tanmk yesterday.

 

[attml]

Mark,
Wow!! That is a huge difference in intensity for six months!!! I have had 10K SE Ushios over my display for 17 months. I am sure that my intensity is way down. Believe it or not I am still getting decent growth. I was due to change them out in March but I set up the 120g instead and couldn't justify any more $ to the wife at the time! My new AB 13Ks (really 10K) just showed up from UPS this morning. I will take some pictures tonight of the old bulbs then the new. I expect to see a big difference also (much bigger than yours due to the age of the old bulbs!) I have a double ended 10K HQI Ushio over my frag tank and that thing still gives me sun burn when I clean the tank, but looking at yours I am sure it has lost a lot of intensity too! Your tank looks good! I am glad to see that it is stablizing after the grief you were having!
Mark

 

[spmnarciso]

Originally posted by tony detroit
Wow, that's a huge difference. Thank you for posting that, I was just getting ready to order some new bulbs. I run 3 175's and 2 96PC's on my 170bow. What degree color temp would you recommend for halides? Right now I have 14K hamiltons on there, they looked good at first but really washed out here recently. I'm keeping a little bit of everything, lps,sps,softies,clams,gorgonians, etc.

I like the 250W XM 10,000K supplemented with VHO actinics.

 

[spmnarciso]

Originally posted by golfish
Beth, your right, I noticed it big time with my PC's and these Radiums, probably because I've used more Radiums then anything else.
Did you get the Seio up and running? I added another one to the bottom of my tanmk yesterday.
Don't mean to hijack your post, Golfish, however are you talking about the Rio Seio powerhead? I've been wondering about those. What do you think?

 

[golfish]

Originally posted by attml
Mark,
I am glad to see that it is stablizing after the grief you were having!
Mark
I wish that were true. I'm still having issues.
spmnarciso,
The one I've been using for the past few months has to be cleanedsoaked in vinegar about every two weeks. I just freeze up and stops. I just added another one Wed.

 

[spmnarciso]

Originally posted by golfish
spmnarciso,
The one I've been using for the past few months has to be cleanedsoaked in vinegar about every two weeks. I just freeze up and stops. I just added another one Wed.
Let me know how that works out. They look pretty cool. I use Rios now and I know some people don't like them and have had problems, but I like the flow and mine have never been an issue until this point. So hopefully these Seio Superflow pumps will be the next best thing, especially for those that haven't gotten the new tank with the closed loop system.

 

[golfish]

These pumps are really not RIO's, their made by the same company (Taam) but they are different. I have read a few threads about em and I'm the only guy (just my luck) that seems to be having this problem.