Is this lamp good enough???

[Kinerson]

South Pacific Sunlight 250W 10000K SE 85par 19337cct

It has a decent amount of blueish color as the 19337cct indicates which is why I'm considering it.

This is from Sanjay's site. It's for a magnetic ballast that I have. My question is will a PAR of 85 be enough for most sps corals to color up? I'm currently running the 175w iwasaki's that have a PAR of 73. Some of my sps are not coloring up well. When the Iwasali's were newer they seemed to color up better but now that they are 8 months old some of my acro's have slowly turned brown.

I'm curious what the sps crazed folks out there think??? I really prefer a color on the bluer side but unfortunatly that seems to lower PAR. And I really don't want to jump up to a 400w ballast!

Greg

 

[twilliard]

Interesting...

I don't want to step on Kevins grounds but what reflectors do you use?
I think a par of 85 is decent but only with the right reflector.

Would like to see what Kevin says.

 

[danno14]

I would also note that it depends upon how far from the water this bulb is, which SPS are desired and how far from the surface they reside. Good luck! D

 

[Kinerson]

My light fixture is a 6' hamilton that holds 3 MH and 2 vho's actinics. The reflector is just a aluminum reflector that kind of wraps around the whole package and runs the entire 6' length. I'm assuming your thinking about reflectors that are available for individual pendants verses an all encompasing fixture? Can I get high end reflectors to fit my type of light?

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Do you have a link? I could not find that bulb on Sanjay's site. Many SPS corals will color just fine but many others will be quite dark. It really depends where they come from. For shallow water SPS corals I choose a bulb that produces more than 175PPFD. At this intensity there is no coral you can't get to color up with proper placement. There are several 10,000K bulbs that run on the blue side and since you have actinic VHO's you can be even more flexible.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[Kinerson]

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/selectballast.php

Kevin-
If you enter 250w standard magnetic ballast you will see the bulb listed. It's about 10-15 down from the top.

At this point it's a toss up between the XM 10000k's that have a PAR of about 130 and a cct of about 12000 and the above mentioned "South Pacific Sunlight 250W 10000K SE 85par 19337cct". I perfer the bluer cct but I'm just not sure if it's enough PAR.

I have been running the 175w Iwasaki's with a PAR of 73 and a cct of about 15000. Some of my corals have not mantianed there colors and the lamp has gotten older (8 months). I have some standard magnetic 250w ballasts on hand so I'm considering using them.

Greg

 

[kevinpo]

Got it thanks. I would recommend the Krystal Star 250W 11000K SE 1 for you with a PPFD of 131 using your ballast. I think it should be blue enough for you with the VHO's. Blulb height from the water should be about 9".

Regards,
Kevin

 

[seismic]

If the bulb height is recommended about 9" for the water, where can the sps be placed " Ie how far from the waters surface ?

 

[kevinpo]

The numbers that Snajay gives for PPFD are at 18" so the high light corals should be placed 9-12" from the water surface directly under the bulb.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Kinerson]

Kevin,
Curious why the krystal star verses the xm 10000k? The xm has a little more PAR and is at 12000cct verses 90000cct.

Thanks very much for help
Greg

 

[kevinpo]

Hi Greg,
IMO/IME the Krystal Star looks slightly more blue than the XM bulb. It looks about 12,000K as the number indicates. I think the number for the XM is about 9,000K by the eye even though it measures out at 12,083.

Note: at 20,000K+ you can't measure the color temperature accurately if at all.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Kinerson]

Wow, that is very interesting. How is that possible???

On Sanjay's site, the color varies greatly depending on the ballast used. The bluer look of the Krystal Star compared to the xm, is this with a standard magnetic ballast running them both?

Also, is the reason why so many of the lamps tested on Sanjay's site didn't have the cct listed because of the fact that at 20000k+ it get's hard to measure the temperature?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[kevinpo]

Hi Greg,
Yes it is using the M58 ballast on the Krystal Star bulb 11,000K. Regarding the XM bulb I have only seen the 400W 10,000K running on an HQI ballast. The cct is listed as 13,082 which appears very white almost to the point of slightly yellow. So I would expect the 250 with a lower number to be even less blue.

Yes that is why the numbers are missing for the 20,000K bulbs.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Kinerson]

Kevin- That is really good to know! So the cct stats may not always be 100% accurate (xm 10000k for example)? Thanks for the insight on that. I will go with your reccomendations.

Greg

 

[kevinpo]

Greg,
It has to do with the human eye. Our eyes are designed to favor the higher end of the spectrum in the 600-750nm range. We see 450nm as very blue and dim. As the wave height shortens (smaller nm number) the light appears even less intense and less noticeable. 420nm appears quite purple and is easily drowned out (to our eye) by light in the higher nm range. On the far left of Sanjay's list you will see a link that says plot. This will give the data the machine sees regarding wave length which it uses to come up with a cct. The height of the spike is the intensity of that wave length. When there is a large spike in the 420-450nm range the equipment will give a large weight to that color (as it should) but if there is even a slight amount of red and green the human eye will pick those colors over the blue.

This is the reason that actinic supplementation is not needed for corals. On most halides there is plenty of 420-450nm light we just can't see it very well but the corals/light measuring devices can. We can see 450nm better than 420nm so if you want a bluer appearing bulb look for the largest spike in the 450nm on the plot in combination with low spikes in the red/yellow/green spectrums.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Kinerson]

Very cool. Thanks abunch Kevin!

 

[Kinerson]

Kevin, do you know of a good place to get the Krystar star lamps? I've googled myself silly.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[kevinpo]

Hello Greg,
Here is a good source.

Premium Aquatics
5454 Barker Lane
Indianapolis, IN 46236
317-895-9005
http://www.premiumaquatics.com

I also carry them but Premium is closer to you.

Regards,
Kevin