Radium metal halide bulbs will not be produced anymore!

[Z Burn's Reefing]

I just purchased 4-5 more years worth of radiums from Hamilton. I had no idea the bulb was no longer in production. I suppose I'll need to move on from MH in a few years...

 

[Z Burn's Reefing]

I just purchased 4-5 more years worth of radiums from Hamilton. I had no idea the bulb was no longer in production. I suppose I'll need to move on from MH in a few years...

Or...does anyone know if Hamilton plans to continue to producing their 20k bulb that supposedly looks like the radium? I suppose I can just switch bulb types when my radiums are done. I'll do a search on this subject matter too, just too lazy...

 

[A. grandis]

Or...does anyone know if Hamilton plans to continue to producing their 20k bulb that supposedly looks like the radium? I suppose I can just switch bulb types when my radiums are done. I'll do a search on this subject matter too, just too lazy...

Hamilton bulbs are very similar to Radium in appearance, yes. And you can use their bulbs with electronic ballasts.

By the way... Hamilton is planning to get back in their ballasts' production!!! But they will only produce their e-ballasts because of the lack of raw material to produce the good old magnetic ballasts.
Now I just need to keep bugging them, so they would start producing some of their amazing fixtures again!!

 

[blaxsun]

This is the way.

 

[djf91]

This is the way.

??

 

[djf91]

Hamilton bulbs are very similar to Radium in appearance, yes. And you can use their bulbs with electronic ballasts.

By the way... Hamilton is planning to get back in their ballasts' production!!! But they will only produce their e-ballasts because of the lack of raw material to produce the good old magnetic ballasts.
Now I just need to keep bugging them, so they would start producing some of their amazing fixtures again!!

How about Hamilton bulbs?

 

[Z Burn's Reefing]

How about Hamilton bulbs?

Ditto...is Hamilton expected to keep creating their bulbs? Or do I need to go out and buy more radiums to last me several more years?

I can move back to led, it was fine, but I finally secured a sexy MH fixture so will happily stock up on bulbs...just don't want to go pick up hamilton bulbs a couple years from now and find they don't exist either!

 

[Troylee]

Ditto...is Hamilton expected to keep creating their bulbs? Or do I need to go out and buy more radiums to last me several more years?

I can move back to led, it was fine, but I finally secured a sexy MH fixture so will happily stock up on bulbs...just don't want to go pick up hamilton bulbs a couple years from now and find they don't exist either!

I don’t think anyone knows including Hamilton lol.. if there’s a demand sure they will but if that continues to decrease,it wouldn’t be worth it for anyone but us haha..

 

[A. grandis]

How about Hamilton bulbs?

Yes, their bulbs will be available.
I guess after the COVID things are still trying to get to normal level.

 

[A. grandis]

I don’t think anyone knows including Hamilton lol.. if there’s a demand sure they will but if that continues to decrease,it wouldn’t be worth it for anyone but us haha..

Yes, demand is everything they are looking for!
Hamilton claims there is a certain demand.

 

[jda]

Does anybody run the Reefbrite 250 watt 14k DE bulb?

Give them a call. I got 6x from a local shop that had old stock. I have not used them yet. The price stickers on these bulbs were quite old.

RB has indicated that they do still plan to make all of their SE bulbs. I just do not know about the DE.

 

[djf91]

Hamilton bulbs are very similar to Radium in appearance, yes. And you can use their bulbs with electronic ballasts.

By the way... Hamilton is planning to get back in their ballasts' production!!! But they will only produce their e-ballasts because of the lack of raw material to produce the good old magnetic ballasts.
Now I just need to keep bugging them, so they would start producing some of their amazing fixtures again!!

Hey Alex, have you ever tried the Hamilton bulbs on the Bluewave m80 ballasts?

 

[A. grandis]

Hey Alex, have you ever tried the Hamilton bulbs on the Bluewave m80 ballasts?

No, the Hamilton bulbs are designed for M58 and e-ballasts, not for the M80s. When the bulb is designed and recommended for such ballast we should follow that because it is supposed to be the best for the performance in the log run. Every time you try to overdrive any bulb, it will most likely damage that bulb somehow. They either change the spectrum in a short period of time, or shorten the bulbs' life, or both. I would think the ballast also could be negatively influenced by that (?). There is absolutely no need to try to overdrive halide bulbs, other than in specific cases, like the Radiums. Instead of overdriving them we can just have the photoperiod longer, for example. That's the way to do it with the Hamilton. If the tank is too deep for that bulb we need to get the stronger bulb. It's all about application using the proper equipment. Another way to do it is to use a double ended 250W with the M80, if you can find the fixture for 250W DE bulbs.
Many people think, and still say today, for example, that they "overdrive their 250W Radiums with the M80", but the truth is that the M80 is indeed the best American ballast we had to run that bulb, trying to respect the design, so in that case it's not a "bad overdrive" because the Radium isn't a 250W bulb. It is actually a 270W bulb specified to be ran off a M80 ballast. It will be slightly over driven at 330W, though. I also used the Radium with Luxcore ballasts with their "Super Lumens" setting, which I think gives about 270W to the bulb. I don't like the inconsistency of e-ballasts with the German bulbs, occasional flickering, specially with the Ushio bulbs IME. I use M58 ballasts with Ushio 250W lamps. That's why people think they can over drive any bulb to "get more out of it". Anyway... not needed IMO.
All my 250W Hamiltons were used with M58 ballasts and they are great, no apparent flickering to the eye even with e-ballasts. If you use the 250W 20K Hamilton with M58 or e-ballast it will look to the eyes very similar to the Radium 20K with M80. That's how I do here.
It's all about the application.
My suggestion today is to get a tank accordingly to the halide system you can find (the opposite of what was once). It's getting harder and harder to find anything available.

 

[Nonya]

If it was just a marketing thing then MH would still be in high demand. It takes something else to reduce demand. Clearly, LEDs and T-5s are now up to the task of growing even the most demanding SPS. I'm still using Gen3 Pros spaced closer together to increase overall PAR/PUR because I only use the blue-violet LEDs, and my acros and milles are very happy.

 

[djf91]

Is the Ushio 250 watt DE bulb still being produced? I’m having a tough time discerning this from the online shops.

 

[blaxsun]

Let the hoarding begin!

 

[oreo54]

Is the Ushio 250 watt DE bulb still being produced? I’m having a tough time discerning this from the online shops.

According to this..not discontinued.

Aqualite™ Metal Halide | Ushio America, Inc.

These metal halide lamps feature the best combo of color balance, color rendering & photosynthetic light output for healthy marine aquarium & reef systems.

www.ushio.com

MH-250W/14,000K/FC2/18

250W, 14,000K Aqualite Double-Ended Metal Halide, FC2/18 Base

estore.ushio.com

 

[PaulErik]

Ushio discontinued means they have no more stock but Ushio still has stock of some aquarium models of bulbs. BLV in Germany made the aquarium Ushio bulbs. They stopped manufacturing metal halide bulbs (<1000 watt speciality and general purpose) a few years ago.

 

[alton]

Aquarium

USHIO Aqualite™ Metal Halide lamps feature the best combination of color balance, color rendering and photosynthetic light output for healthy marine aquarium and reef systems. Our USHIO BLV factory in Germany, collaborated with leading marine biologists to develop the first 10,000K Metal Halide...

estore.ushio.com

 

[PeterErc]

A loosely similar dichotomy in my main "hobby", more so than reefing even, can be seen in the recent advances in digital amp modeling for guitars and basses. Obviously various forms of solid state amplifiers have been around since the start, along side valve amps. But recently, digital modeling has gotten so good, it is indiscernible for all practical purposes, to the vast majority of users. I do still know studio engineers that record to tape using all analogue outboard gear. It does present its challenges.

I think I fall in the "good enough" category of people on the subject, much like I do with LED lighting on reef tanks. I cannot deny, there is a certain magic in the sonic qualities found in analogue gear at the highest level (personal opinions, content irrelevent, just speaking on production quality) in releases such as Aja and Gaucho (Steely Dan), Out of the Blue (ELO), DSOTM and The Wall (pink floyd). There's a sonic butteryness you just dont find now, even with some of the most fastidious attempts at doing a retro attempt with modern production. That being said. Nearly all of the players I know supporting a family as musicians have migrated away from tube amplifiers and are now using digital amp modeling and in-ear monitors. Is it as good as the real thing? In a vacuum, probably not. But when considering the weight, cost, and upkeep of the real deal, the modern alternative is certainly "good enough."

I am a man of modest means. We do fairly well as a family, but I cannot afford alot of the luxuries I'd love to have. In a higher tax bracket, I would absolutely set aside my air pods and spotify in favor of a well made vinyl collection and real tube amp receivers. I can appreciate the difference in experience. But I'll stick with good enough.

The massive difference between reefers, and musicians on the matter: Musicians arent at each others throats over "tube vs digital" decisions the same way reefers are at war over "bulbs vs diodes". At least none of the ones I associate with. I guess when you're providing life to living organisms it's a little different.

Come on now, the amplifier class debate goes on and on. There’s the old school class A AB guys (halide) and the class D fanboys (LED)
The Class D guys say you can’t hear a difference and all amps sound the same. The AB fella’s say ya can hear a difference . I have class D for sub duty (fuge) and ab on full range(display) Now you want start talking about DAC chips, or this fixture is better than that one.
But yea, financial security is not one of my strong points. Really did something bad in my past life. Stocking up on 5 years worth of bulbs or all new LED fixtures is not in the picture if I want to sleep in the big bed. It’s all good though, I’d rather want what I have then have what I want.
And if I do jump off, I will purchase another set of Steven’s Audio Comp Neo full size horns to pack away for my next truck lol