Light Test

[spade]

Some interesting experiment we (Phang, Tanzy and I) did juz now

Hardware (by tanzy)

400w Blueline eBallast

PFO reflector

Ushio 10000k bulb

Radium 20000k bulb

Blueline 10000k bulb

Phang

250w Iwasaki 6500k powered by MV ballast

and of cos his tank plus 2 litre of coca-cola (for us not the corals)

and I the photographer the photo are taken using 3.3m Olympus 3040z with auto-bracket

First, let's introduce the "sakis"

[spade]

follow by Ushio 10000k

[spade]

radium 20000k

[spade]

left (iwasaki 250w)

centre (radium 20000k 400w)

right (iwasaki 250w)

[spade]

side view with iwasaki+radium

[spade]

blueline 10000k

[spade]

blueline+iwasaki

[spade]

a close-up under iwasaki+blueline

[spade]

another view under blueline+iwasaki

[spade]

not forgeting the researchers

[spade]

plus the supporting actors

[Phang]

After much comments on how my reef being yellow in colour, finally settled for 2 x 400W blueline bulbs which I intend to run on HPS ballast...

Intention was for a Saki (250W) Radium (400W) Saki (250W) configeration but to my horror, the reef looks washed out by the Sakis.... the yellows are overpowering the blues..... talk about power packed bulbs....

Will now settle for a Blueline (400W) Saki (250W) Blueline (400W) with bulbs placed a little closer..... hope that with higher wattage into the blue spectrum, the bending of lights would be less obvious.....

will try to get pics of results.....

Thanks to Spade for the photos....

and Tanzy for the spare Blueline bulbs......

You guys are great!!!!!!

[spade]

pai se pai se.. i wish to thanks ###### yyy zzz .....

[Achilles Tang]

After much comments on how my reef being yellow in colour, finally settled for 2 x 400W blueline bulbs which I intend to run on HPS ballast...

Intention was for a Saki (250W) Radium (400W) Saki (250W) configeration but to my horror, the reef looks washed out by the Sakis.... the yellows are overpowering the blues..... talk about power packed bulbs....

Will now settle for a Blueline (400W) Saki (250W) Blueline (400W) with bulbs placed a little closer..... hope that with higher wattage into the blue spectrum, the bending of lights would be less obvious.....

will try to get pics of results.....

Thanks to Spade for the photos....

and Tanzy for the spare Blueline bulbs......

You guys are great!!!!!!

Surprised you wanted 2 sakis and 1 radiums... normally reefers would have 1 saki and 2 radiums... coz they know that sakis are very yellow and the 2 radiums would help balance out the colours.

Anyway, good job experimenting guys...

AT

[Achilles Tang]

Phang, remember the last time you and morgan were at my place and we discussed the 'banding' problem with sakis and radiums? I see it very obviously in your pix. Perhaps it could be the problem with the reflectors used... it seems that all the light goes straight down and very little goes sideways. It does seem like a vertical band straight down for each light in the 2 sakis with radiums together shot.

Do you have a pix of your reflector?

Perhaps what you can do is to put the radium and sakis side by side in one reflector so the light blends. That's what the US reefers are doing and they reported no banding problems. And get a big parabolic reflector so your spread is better. Do you have a MH over a centre brace?

Also, its strange that 10k would turn out so purple/blue. I think its the camera... unable to interpret the colour balance.

[Phang]

Surprised you wanted 2 sakis and 1 radiums... normally reefers would have 1 saki and 2 radiums... coz they know that sakis are very yellow and the 2 radiums would help balance out the colours.

Was seeking for high PAR in my reef.... only to discover that I can't have the best of both worlds....

Maybe I might place 2 Sakis together in the central with the 2 blueline by their side....

then I might have good growth and colouration....

[Achilles Tang]

Was seeking for high PAR in my reef.... only to discover that I can't have the best of both worlds....

Maybe I might place 2 Sakis together in the central with the 2 blueline by their side....

then I might have good growth and colouration....

Noooo bro! You WILL get a very BIG DISTINCT BAND with two sakis in the centre!!

What I meant is that you have two big reflectors...

____

/ RS \

... with the two diff bulbs sharing one reflector.

[pospeh]

Great test guys,

I would like to mix bulbs of different spectrums too . . . but no budget to buy a whole new ballast.

I use the 250W AB 10K HQI which I think is actually closer to 13K in terms of color. It gives a nice whitish blue color much like the Ushios in your test.

I don't know about the PARS for that bulb though, although it is my understanding that HQIs give out more light.

[Phang]

Phang, remember the last time you and morgan were at my place and we discussed the 'banding' problem with sakis and radiums? I see it very obviously in your pix. Perhaps it could be the problem with the reflectors used... it seems that all the light goes straight down and very little goes sideways. It does seem like a vertical band straight down for each light in the 2 sakis with radiums together shot.

Do you have a pix of your reflector?

Perhaps what you can do is to put the radium and sakis side by side in one reflector so the light blends. That's what the US reefers are doing and they reported no banding problems. And get a big parabolic reflector so your spread is better. Do you have a MH over a centre brace?

Also, its strange that 10k would turn out so purple/blue. I think its the camera... unable to interpret the colour balance.

AT,

Missed this post of yours....

Yap, thought about placing 2 bulbs together under a reflector... but only issue is the light spread on my reef..... think I would need 3 sets then to cover my 5 ft of reef length..... or Spiderlight reflectors... none of these currently available to me......

I actually reshape my reflector according to Robes last post to get the parabolic effect... 2 inches at 15 angle....(maybe the aluminium sheet width is too short... will utilise 2 standard reflector lengths in my next attempt...

According to the spread by my Sakis at both ends, realise the bending becomes very obvious... the Sakis seems to overpower everything else...

so that's why was thinking that if 2 400W Blueline 10kks are utilise at the sides with the Sakis in the central, the bending might be less obvious... also thinking of placing the Blueline a closer to the centre to blend the lights in with the Sakis.....Hope total 800 Watts of Blue should be able to blend in properly with the Sakis.... or else have to employ 2 36/55 W actinics with the Iwasakis..... <_<

According to Blueline, they classified their bulbs as "Blue" 10 000ks....

Hmmm.... anyone out there know the striking voltage of the Blueline 400W 10kk bulb????? need help as i'm currently seeking for a HPS Ballast... only problem right now is finding the right ignitor....

Will try to post results once this attempt is up....

BTW, the Bluelines look like 20kk Radiums.... except maybe for a lower PAR.

[robe]

I think the centre braces of the tank prevented the radium from mixing w/ the two iwasaki flanking it, otherwise the banding will not be obvious. AT is also right with the reflector used it seems very focused into a narrow cone.

You need to tune your reflector to have a bigger spread or cone of at least 90-120 degrees if u put it at the centre depending on the distance from the water surface.

[Phang]

Yap, my tank has 2 braces dividing my reef into 3 sectors....

Was thinking of increasing the spread as mentioned by AT by joing 2 reflectors, hoping to achieve the Parabolic effect......

and rising the MHs up 10 inches from the surface ....

Will post pics once everything is up....

tommorow will be hunting for my High Pressure Sodium Ballast....

BTW, anyone knows the striking voltage for a 400W Blueline????

[robe]

If its German bulbs typically 4.2 KV or for some 6 KV

[Phang]

Is Blueline from Germany????

Can I test run the bulb with different striking voltage of ignitor from lowest to highest till it strike up??

[robe]

I'll check the lighting catalogue for 400 watters' striking voltage. Don't experiment or you might damage the bulb.

[Phang]

Thanks....

Do they have the recommended striking voltage for 250W.... think Spade would require that infor too.....