onehawksfan
Got Reef-er?
Which one is better? It seems like double-ended bulbs are a little more expensive. Do they last longer? Put out better light? I see that double-ended doesn't come in 6,500K. Why would you use one over the other?
MH - single-ended or double-ended?
- Thread starter onehawksfan
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IAP Brian
Aquarium Nut
I'm sure you will get plenty of advise on this one. HQI burn hotter and put out a little more light than mogul style. However, they are not UV shielded and must be run in a fixture with a UV glass lense, where as most mogul bulbs have the UV shield in the lamp glass.
onehawksfan
Got Reef-er?
Hey Brian, please e-mail me back about the tank, thnx! PM sent.
plack
Sea Otter
It really depends on what type of reflector you get.Single ended generally come with poorer reflectors and people have had them break leaving glass inside the reef tank but double ended bulbs .also get salt creep on the glass If I were to choose again having both types currently. I would go single ended but in a Luminarc mini ( unless your canopy or tank can fit the full size one). One of our sponcers sells them Barrier reef
P.S. Some People Run HQI Ballasts and that can change the bulb color as well
Paul
P.S. Some People Run HQI Ballasts and that can change the bulb color as well
Paul
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rudeanduncouth
Ghetto Engineer
It is my understanding that DE's produce a higher output. They are also, as you have notice, more expensive. They also produce UV radiation as other have state but that is what UV glass is for. I personally use SE but that is because it fit my needs better ie I found a good unit that had what I wanted and for the price I wanted. It is a personally choice. I think you should tell us your needs and wants before we give finitive advice.
brianblack
Well-known member
Just tagging along. I am currently deciding what to build for the 210. Was leaning towards DE and T5's. Ice Cap MH ballasts now run either bulb.
onehawksfan
Got Reef-er?
so, Marinedepot claims DE bulbs produce less heat - any comments?
joshinjosh
Cnidarian
hmm im guessing they are refering to the total heat. it may seem that hqi produce more heat because of the high flux of heat concentrated on to a smaller bulb.
Scooterman
Well-known member
HQI fixtures are usually enclosed which if not cooled will get very hot, these do work well on open & hanging type set-ups. Both lamp designs have benefits as long as whoas! As far as which works best would depend on many variables, LLI's are very big but to date I personally haven't seen better light characteristics with 10k XM's but problems with this is size, & color are two things that won't work with most smaller tanks.
This is a bit long winded, but hopefully answers your question...
So I researched this topic a whole bunch before purchasing my current setup. Basically, the DE bulbs are meant to be pushed by an HQI ballast. That being said, the produce more light, more heat, and typically more PAR (a rough measure of growth) at the cost of more electricity. As mentioned above, the pendent is the biggest determinant of efficiency and direction of the light....after all, if the bulb generates a ton of light but a whole bunch of it is wasted then it isnt really that beneficial. If you decide to go with a DE setup, then i would recommend the PFO mini pendents or the Reef Optix 3 pendents. Both are very good at directing light into the tank. In fact, a 250w DE setup with an HQI ballast and one of those reflectors generates about as much light and penetration into the tank as a 400w SE setup.
That being said, there are a few downsides. Because they direct light INTO the tank (almost straight down) bulbs do not mix very well - so typically that means all the bulbs need to be the same and you need to make sure the pendant is not too far from the edges of the tank (otherwise you get a little bit of lack of light at the lateral edges). Also, a DE setup uses more electricity (even if you compare 250w DE vs 250w SE). Lastly, if you could figure out a way to harvest all the light created by an SE bulb and direct it down into the tank, you would get similar numbers for penetration of the light, PAR etc at a lower electricity cost.
Enter the Luminarc pendents. They are set up for SE bulbs and do the best job of any pendent I am aware of at directing the light into the tank. They do this while covering a bit more area than the DE pendents. Thus, with the right pendents (Luminarc), you can get as much bang for the buck with an SE setup on an electronic/pulse ballast (less energy cost to run) as you would with a DE setup on an HQI ballast.
Above all, do not go with a cheap SE reflector...that is the worst option and in order to get the same amount of light as the Luminarc or a good DE pendent you would likely have to upsize from a 250w system to a 400w system - and that is costly in the long run (electricty).
I currently have a 250w DE Reef Optix 3 with HQI ballast and run 14w DE Phoenix bulbs (which I love). But if i had to do it again, I would go with an SE luminarc setup on a less costly to operate ballast. The DE bulbs and ballasts are more expensive than their SE counterparts...however the Luminarcs are expensive in the SE setup. The ballast in the SE setup makes up for some of this in that it is less costly to run and pulls less electricity.
So I researched this topic a whole bunch before purchasing my current setup. Basically, the DE bulbs are meant to be pushed by an HQI ballast. That being said, the produce more light, more heat, and typically more PAR (a rough measure of growth) at the cost of more electricity. As mentioned above, the pendent is the biggest determinant of efficiency and direction of the light....after all, if the bulb generates a ton of light but a whole bunch of it is wasted then it isnt really that beneficial. If you decide to go with a DE setup, then i would recommend the PFO mini pendents or the Reef Optix 3 pendents. Both are very good at directing light into the tank. In fact, a 250w DE setup with an HQI ballast and one of those reflectors generates about as much light and penetration into the tank as a 400w SE setup.
That being said, there are a few downsides. Because they direct light INTO the tank (almost straight down) bulbs do not mix very well - so typically that means all the bulbs need to be the same and you need to make sure the pendant is not too far from the edges of the tank (otherwise you get a little bit of lack of light at the lateral edges). Also, a DE setup uses more electricity (even if you compare 250w DE vs 250w SE). Lastly, if you could figure out a way to harvest all the light created by an SE bulb and direct it down into the tank, you would get similar numbers for penetration of the light, PAR etc at a lower electricity cost.
Enter the Luminarc pendents. They are set up for SE bulbs and do the best job of any pendent I am aware of at directing the light into the tank. They do this while covering a bit more area than the DE pendents. Thus, with the right pendents (Luminarc), you can get as much bang for the buck with an SE setup on an electronic/pulse ballast (less energy cost to run) as you would with a DE setup on an HQI ballast.
Above all, do not go with a cheap SE reflector...that is the worst option and in order to get the same amount of light as the Luminarc or a good DE pendent you would likely have to upsize from a 250w system to a 400w system - and that is costly in the long run (electricty).
I currently have a 250w DE Reef Optix 3 with HQI ballast and run 14w DE Phoenix bulbs (which I love). But if i had to do it again, I would go with an SE luminarc setup on a less costly to operate ballast. The DE bulbs and ballasts are more expensive than their SE counterparts...however the Luminarcs are expensive in the SE setup. The ballast in the SE setup makes up for some of this in that it is less costly to run and pulls less electricity.
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