best 250W for white/slight-bluish on M58/probestart?

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 10:42 am

subject says it all... I'm gonna run four 250w M58 (probe-start)
ballasts over the 240G (along with 4 6' VHO's). What do you guys
like? I *really* liked Terry Moore's lighting setup, however he's
using Icecap ballasts and 400w 20k radiums (big $$ heh).

Here's a pic of Terry's reef, I really want the same "appearance",
color-wise.

http://shagman.org/hobbies/pets/terry-reef/P0005691.JPG

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 12:31 pm

Do you have the M58 Ballasts already? If not you may want to consider these:
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... =CoralVueB

That way if you want to change to Pulse start, HQI, DE, etc.. you can do it and not worry about it.

What is the height on that tank?

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 12:33 pm

I think Ushio's need a pulse start ballast so you may be limited to AB 10kk or one of the new bulbs. I have heard that PFO is making a 13kk bulb that has good color.

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:41 pm

Brandon wrote:Do you have the M58 Ballasts already? If not you may want to consider these:
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... =CoralVueB

That way if you want to change to Pulse start, HQI, DE, etc.. you can do it and not worry about it.

What is the height on that tank?

The limiting factor is cost... electronic ballasts cost $60++ more per bulb, so you're looking at $250ish or more EXTRA for the electronics ballasts (4 bulbs total)... M58 250w ballasts only cost $40 from http://www.1000bulbs.com/

The tank is 24" deep.

Scott, I see a lot of choices for bulbs... or am I not looking at the right thing? Looks like the ONLY bulbs that you can't run on a M58 are Usios and Radiums.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 2:25 pm

You're setting up a 240, and you're gonna skimp on $250? Hmm

The 250 Ushio's are meant for the M58, I think the 400's are pulse start.. but the 250's were redesigned for probe start.

Someone on Ebay commonly runs a good deal on the ushio 250w 10k's for 67?? I think.

I just think of the more common bulbs when thinking of a blue bulb, the ushio 10k or sunburst 12k. I think the xm's are hellolights version of the radium.. they state they will fire on pulse or probe.. what I have read is that the radiums will fire on both also, but as they get on in life you will have more trouble with them lighting... I wonder if this is true for the xm's as well.

Something else to realize , a lot of the blue bulbs (not the ushio) will appear dimmer than the whiter bulbs.. because the effective par they produce is all in the blue spectrum... Compare a 400watt radium(NOT on HQI ballast) and a 250watt iwasaki.. and the iwasaki seems brighter, because of the spectrum. So if you go with REAL blue, you might want to consider 400's. I'm running sunburst 12k's & iwa 6500's the 12k's produce a beautiful color, but appear dimmer than 10k's or 6500's.

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 2:31 pm

Ooooh, i like the Ushios, I didn't know the 250w version used probe start. I'd like to try the XM 10k's, however I have XM 20k 175w's currently, and they're BLUE, too blue. I'm definitly not running 20k's because I'm scared of that. The XM 20k's I have now are so blue the flame angel appears too dark and the yellow tang seems too pale.

I know saving $250 seems skimpy, but every $$ counts.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 2:33 pm

Here's the ushio spec sheet:
http://www.ushio.com/files/Aqualite%200802.pdf

I'm thinking of changing over myself.. so I've been looking at this stuff lately.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 2:34 pm

What I read on the radium 20k's, and the xm20k is supposed to be a copy of it.. If you run it off the right ballast.. the 135 for the 400s, or the HQI.. they have a much more white appearance, but the bulb life goes from 9 months to 6 months... OUCH

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 2:37 pm

Thanks for the spec sheet Brandon! Looks like the Ushios are hopeful... expensive-er than others, but I budgeted in $100 per bulb... you said you can get them for a little less on eBay at times?

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 2:39 pm

I saw some on their today in the 67'ish region.. They are on there all the time, you shoudn't have a problem getting a good deal on them.
The link: http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... sicSearch=

I'f you decide you'd rather have Iwa's (Great Growth!) I have some of those

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 2:40 pm

Nevermind, I see 'em, good deal! Sounds like that's gonna be the winner. $268 + $19.50 shipping for four bulbs, not bad.