Radium metal halide bulbs will not be produced anymore!

[Madison Reef]

Of course, Here is the info. This is the ballast that works great for both 250W 20k Reef Bright Bulbs and 250w 20k Radium bulbs (both bulbs I have on hand to test)
Label on Ballast S50 internals (In the Grow industry a magnetic ballast rated for high pressure sodium HPS bulbs are the ballast we want)
Again here is a link to this ballast $25

https://www.htgsupply.com/products/agrostar-250w-hps-ballast/

They Also have a 400w version of this ballast $69 and I might pick up 3 of those as well to keep on hand. here is that link

AgroStar 400w HPS Ballast | HTG Supply Hydroponics & Grow Lights

The AgroStar 400 Watt High Pressure Sodium ballast is manufactured by High Yield Lighting, a leading manufacturer of horticultural lighting fixtures and bulbs. It features high-quality components as well as an efficient design to ensure optimal performance in the indoor garden. Electrical...

www.htgsupply.com

Inside shot of the internals:

Powering a Reef Bright 200w 20k Bulb without issue

Powering up a Radium 250w 20k Bulb without issue

Below is the ballast not to get its the M58 and did not power these bulbs here is that link

AgroStar 250w MH Ballast | HTG Supply

Shop our AgroStar inventory for a selection of lighting ballasts that suit your needs. HTG Supply has optimal ballasts for your next project. Get one today!

www.htgsupply.com

Hopefully this helps

Oh yeah it does! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!

 

[Madison Reef]

Gosh my thought exactly. For the Iwasaki 6500k report, I am going to start my own thread and kick out everyone who's brining a hot potato into my thread.

That's fine with me but I do not think that fits into the purpose of the thread... I have no say in what you do. Just begging everyone to focus our attention on positive things.

Everyone is happy as long as we respect each other and give them some space. What I feel sad about is that every MH thread gets turned into a debate, and I am really sick of it.
They come here to hear "the truth" and it's their choice to accept or not accept "the truth" regardless of its truth value, regardless how you want to define the term "the truth."

Yes I suggest everyone ignore debating part (at least on this thread) and talk about the good things again (that radium bulbs being resurrected). Maybe we can show photos of our newly acquired bulbs cooking corals to make non metal halide users to be jealous lol IDK. It seems like everyone has different opinion and all agree to disagree on this particular matter.

In my observation, you tend to ignore other people's valid points and only assert your point of view, which is not that effective way of exchanging opinions.

@BeanAnimal does have a point but did not have to come here and provoke.
Also, both you and he could have also engaged in a meaningful conversation but chose to not to.

I'm only saying this because I want this thread to be about metal halide bulbs, not about which light source is superior. Perhaps I should start a new thread....?

One suggestion is we can talk about iwasaki 6500 (IMHO another gold standard but on whiter spectrum) since I just placed an order for one. (very excited now I can compare it vs hamilton 20k It's been more than a decade I have seen 6500 kelvin bulbs with my own eyes) This is not a different version that I mentioned before but it's the same bulb that battlecoral uses.

It seems like nowadays people love blue lights (14k - 20k kelvin) but I always loved the tank with "natural" (however you want to define the tern "natural") light which is around 6500 kelvin to 10000 kelvin.
I will also try to revive and convince or even beg others for MH with my report. I consider this a positive way of begging other people to join MH community.

Yeah you either missed a lot of previous posts or you simply do not respect what we said, which is fine. It's your choice.
Since you allowed me to ask you some question about life, what's the motivation to come to this thread and provoke? Do you not have anything better to do with your life? Just curious.

 

[Madison Reef]

Radium vs Reefbrite 20k 400w bulbs
It seems like not many people are running the Reefbrite bulbs. Is there a reason? They seem to have good customer service when there are issues. I am currently running 400w Radiums on my display tank. With the availability questions and increased cost of the Radiums, I was looking for a replacement. I picked up a few of the 20k 400w Reefbrite bulbs to try. The color is pretty comparable to my eye.
Does anybody have some hard data on these two bulb choices like a spectral graph, par output, heat production (the Radiums run hot)? How long will the Reefbrite bulbs run vs the Radiums?

Paul

I would also like to know if someone tried reefbrite bulbs. In particular, I was curious about how twin arc bulbs are compared to Radium or Hamilton.

 

[Minifoot77]

Of course, Here is the info. This is the ballast that works great for both 250W 20k Reef Bright Bulbs and 250w 20k Radium bulbs (both bulbs I have on hand to test)
Label on Ballast S50 internals (In the Grow industry a magnetic ballast rated for high pressure sodium HPS bulbs are the ballast we want)
Again here is a link to this ballast $25

https://www.htgsupply.com/products/agrostar-250w-hps-ballast/

They Also have a 400w version of this ballast $69 and I might pick up 3 of those as well to keep on hand. here is that link

AgroStar 400w HPS Ballast | HTG Supply Hydroponics & Grow Lights

The AgroStar 400 Watt High Pressure Sodium ballast is manufactured by High Yield Lighting, a leading manufacturer of horticultural lighting fixtures and bulbs. It features high-quality components as well as an efficient design to ensure optimal performance in the indoor garden. Electrical...

www.htgsupply.com

Inside shot of the internals:

Powering a Reef Bright 200w 20k Bulb without issue

Powering up a Radium 250w 20k Bulb without issue

Below is the ballast not to get its the M58 and did not power these bulbs here is that link

AgroStar 250w MH Ballast | HTG Supply

Shop our AgroStar inventory for a selection of lighting ballasts that suit your needs. HTG Supply has optimal ballasts for your next project. Get one today!

www.htgsupply.com

Hopefully this helps

Thanks I picked up 2 of the 250w ballast might grab a couple 400w ones as well

 

[Troylee]

Never seen these before.. says new old stock.. it claims 4200k thou. Hmmm

 

[Celestion]

Hmmm yellow, oh you'll see em alright lol

 

[jda]

Radium vs Reefbrite 20k 400w bulbs
It seems like not many people are running the Reefbrite bulbs. Is there a reason? They seem to have good customer service when there are issues. I am currently running 400w Radiums on my display tank. With the availability questions and increased cost of the Radiums, I was looking for a replacement. I picked up a few of the 20k 400w Reefbrite bulbs to try. The color is pretty comparable to my eye.
Does anybody have some hard data on these two bulb choices like a spectral graph, par output, heat production (the Radiums run hot)? How long will the Reefbrite bulbs run vs the Radiums?

Paul

Dogma. The RB bulbs are plenty good. Kinda like when people come over for frags or something and they don't see any heat issues with my MH and have never seen coral that looked like mine do - they were told and just believe that LED is the only way forward with no actual self use. As they dig in more and try stuff, they learn that the internet sucks for the most part and that using other things can be OK or better.

When using 400w radiums, just go with the color. These are not PAR monsters like the 250w HQI versions are. 400w Radiums are a different animal all together than the 250w/HQI version. The 250w HQI version is almost the same output as the 400w version, just with less wattage.

The reefbrite seems more cool to me that the Radium (not a ton of use), which gets quite hot for a bluer bulb. The Hamilton 20k is also more cool and has similar color when these get back in stock.

 

[djf91]

Radium vs Reefbrite 20k 400w bulbs
It seems like not many people are running the Reefbrite bulbs. Is there a reason? They seem to have good customer service when there are issues. I am currently running 400w Radiums on my display tank. With the availability questions and increased cost of the Radiums, I was looking for a replacement. I picked up a few of the 20k 400w Reefbrite bulbs to try. The color is pretty comparable to my eye.
Does anybody have some hard data on these two bulb choices like a spectral graph, par output, heat production (the Radiums run hot)? How long will the Reefbrite bulbs run vs the Radiums?

Paul

What ballast are you driving these 400 watters with? I’m using PFO Bluewave ballasts with 400watt Radium’s which overdrive the bulb a little bit. They’re technically HPS ballasts.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you for your information but it is quite irrelevant to what we are talking right now isn't it?

Is it?

To be honest, I found it interesting enough to look up and see if it was true. It is.

In a 47 page thread on metal halide bulbs being discontinued, correctly noting when they were first made may not interest you, but others may think differently, and may find a discussion of whether a 33 year old ballast might be worth buying to be even less interesting than when the first mh bulb was made.

 

[ogasman]

What ballast are you driving these 400 watters with? I’m using PFO Bluewave ballasts with 400watt Radium’s which overdrive the bulb a little bit. They’re technically HPS ballasts.

A bit of a long story. I broke down my 135 gallon tank because the coral growth was out of control. I was no longer able to prune anything back because the branches on the Acros had grown too thick to cut in the tank. Things started touching and killing each other. It had been running for about 10 years. I fragged everything I could, and set up 3 x 150 gallon stock tanks to keep everything going until I set up my next tank. I picked up a second hand 360 gallon tank. It makes a great display tank but hard to work in for a reef, too deep. It is 96" x 24" x 36" deep. I am cheap, and the tank was a good deal. I have a Hamilton fixture that I had been running 250 w Radiums on M80 ballasts. I love their color on these ballasts. I tried that set up the deep tank, but it wasn't bright enough on the sand bed. Found a guy who was liquidating a bunch of halide stuff. I picked up 4 x 400w ballasts, a couple 250w ballasts, 5 or 6 almost new 400w Radium bulbs, and 4 pendants for $125. I swapped out the bulbs and ballasts in my Hamilton fixture and gave the 400w Radiums a try. I do not like the color of the 400w Radiums as much as the 250w on the M80's. Hard to compare to perfection. I added some Kessil 360 lights to mess with the color. Better, but still not the 250w color.
So to answer your question I am currently running 2 x Icecap, a Coral vue, and a Galaxy ballast on the 400w Radiums. I picked up 3 of the Reefbrite 400w ballasts cheap when BRS decided that metal halides were no bueno. I am due for a bulb change, and am going to try a bunch of bulb and ballast combos to see what I like the best.

Paul

 

[oreo54]

I picked up 3 of the Reefbrite 400w ballasts cheap when BRS decided that metal halides were no bueno.

BRS never said they were no good, just they weren't selling and just taking up shelf space.
Technically.. not really their fault.. unless you buy into the conspiracy theories.
Every good one does have a kernel of truth.. somewhere.

 

[ogasman]

BRS never said they were no good, just they weren't selling and just taking up shelf space.
Technically.. not really their fault.. unless you buy into the conspiracy theories.
Every good one does have a kernel of truth.. somewhere.

Sorry, it was a joke. Hence the spanglish. When I bought the Reefbrite bulbs from Premium Aquatics they were drop shipped from Reefbrite. No reason BRS could not do that and not take up shelf space. Maybe not such a conspiracy theory?

Paul

 

[oreo54]

Sorry, it was a joke. Hence the spanglish. When I bought the Reefbrite bulbs from Premium Aquatics they were drop shipped from Reefbrite. No reason BRS could not do that and not take up shelf space. Maybe not such a conspiracy theory?

Paul

Very few businesses drop ship anything afaict.
Must have their reasons.

Dropshipping: Does It Actually Work? (Pros + Cons) | BigCommerce

We’re not against dropshipping — quite the opposite, we think it’s a highly useful tactic. Learn more about drawbacks and advantages.

www.bigcommerce.com

Well my snowblower was drop shipped from the factory. Bet that would have taken a lot of shelf space.

They did the same w/ t5's
Sold like 100,000 bulbs in 5 years and like 100 fixtures in the same time frame (rough remembrance) At least according to them.

Where were the other vendors to fill in the void(s)? Gone as well... because....
Now about that space.
Ideal "shelf life" of a product in retail is like a year. 3-X years is unacceptable practice.
In my state one pays taxes on that left over merchandise.

 

[A. grandis]

BRS never said they were no good, just they weren't selling and just taking up shelf space.
Technically.. not really their fault.. unless you buy into the conspiracy theories.
Every good one does have a kernel of truth.. somewhere.

Yes, correct. They never said halides were no good, and they also said they were not selling much metal halide equipment.

BUT they didn't need any shelves though. The gear could easily be shipped directly from Hamilton and ReefBrite. I called them both to confirm that and I called BrS back to make sure they knew about it. That was the day after they took the pictures from their website. So, no shelves needed at all times. Just to be clear. It is their right to choose what is better for them to sell. Not cool to make a video saying halides are this and that... That video was messed up! And the shelves excuse... not true!
One more thing... I find weird the fact that Hamilton AND ReefBite were selling a lot of halide gear at that particular time, per them. They were both puzzled by the fact BrS decided to remove the pictures from the website.
Anyways...

 

[A. grandis]

Sorry, it was a joke. Hence the spanglish. When I bought the Reefbrite bulbs from Premium Aquatics they were drop shipped from Reefbrite. No reason BRS could not do that and not take up shelf space. Maybe not such a conspiracy theory?

Paul

Correct, not a conspiracy theory. I confirmed with them, so... Nope.
They did what they wanted to do. It was a marketing strategy.
They are professionals. Their right to apply their strategies. Selling LEDs gives them much more money and they need to grow those friendships. That's it. Normal.

 

[Madison Reef]

Is it?

To be honest, I found it interesting enough to look up and see if it was true. It is.

In a 47 page thread on metal halide bulbs being discontinued, correctly noting when they were first made may not interest you, but others may think differently, and may find a discussion of whether a 33 year old ballast might be worth buying to be even less interesting than when the first mh bulb was made.

I was suprised that you would be monitoring this thread Randy. I was reading your article "Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium" last night. What an honor to speak with you, Dr. Homles Farley.

Yes, I find Borat's comments irrelevant to what we are talking about right now, which is finding the right bulb/ballast combo. I am not talking back to him just based on his last comment. There are more comments of him that has nothing valuable (that I find) but a discouragement to MH lovers. Yeah I know MH is not the newest invention, but I still choose to explore this option for my personal preference.

I even begged people to keep it positive so that we do not go into a debate.
I guess I would have to start using the "ignore" option. I did not know until now.

If the fact that metal halide is invented in stone age interest you, then good for you. I'm happy for you. But what's his motivation to come here to post the fact that no one asked? Why do people hate it so much that not using is not enough but you have to discourage people from it? What's good in that?

No, I am going to pay anything for 33 yrs old ballast. But today I picked up 20 yrs old ballast (you can laugh all you want) and I will probably find a way to replace capacitors to see if it works like new. They would have gone to dumpster if I had not picked them up.

 

[Madison Reef]

Yeah you either missed a lot of previous posts or you simply do not respect what we said, which is fine. It's your choice.
Since you allowed me to ask you some question about life, what's the motivation to come to this thread and provoke? Do you not have anything better to do with your life? Just curious.

I see I begged people to keep it positive yet I became the negative nancy myself. Sorry Borat I became aggressive and I would love to take my words back, especially the last sentence. Today is not the best day for me.... and that has affected me in a negative way. I respect your comment, but it did not interest me.

 

[A. grandis]

To each it's own.
It's so nice to see so many good halide info gathered in one thread.
Let's keep moving on...
This is a metal halide thread after all.
Cheers!

 

[jda]

Sorry, it was a joke. Hence the spanglish. When I bought the Reefbrite bulbs from Premium Aquatics they were drop shipped from Reefbrite. No reason BRS could not do that and not take up shelf space. Maybe not such a conspiracy theory?

Paul

Most people who stuck with MH before the uptick were experienced and savvy reefers. Many will not buy from BRS because they are more expensive and there are usually higher quality stuff out there from other places. Premium Aq, Marine Depot, Champion, manufacturer direct and even Amazon for the Japanese bulbs was always cheaper than BRS, so why spend more? I think that Aperture bought at least one of these. Reward points, infomercials, advertising and all of that costs money.

Most Hamilton stuff was drop shipped. So were the German fixtures (AB, Giesemann) when they were sold on US websites - I am not sure about ATI fixtures since I seen some evidence both ways.

 

[ogasman]

Most people who stuck with MH before the uptick were experienced and savvy reefers. Many will not buy from BRS because they are more expensive and there are usually higher quality stuff out there from other places. Premium Aq, Marine Depot, Champion, manufacturer direct and even Amazon for the Japanese bulbs was always cheaper than BRS, so why spend more? I think that Aperture bought at least one of these. Reward points, infomercials, advertising and all of that costs money.

Most Hamilton stuff was drop shipped. So were the German fixtures (AB, Giesemann) when they were sold on US websites - I am not sure about ATI fixtures since I seen some evidence both ways.

So I had some time to kill today, and thought I would run some temperature tests on some bulbs. I have heard that Radium bulbs run "hot", wanted to see it for myself. Everything I tested was run with the same Reefbrite 400w ballast, in the same simple pendant with no cooling fan or cover, in still air, hanging in an open room. I used a hand held IR point and shoot temperature gun aimed perpendicular at the top of the pendant where the top of the reflector is attached. Easy to reproduce the same point of measurement where the reflector is riveted to the fixture. I ran a new Reefbrite 20k, a used Radium, a new Hamilton 14k, and a used Ushio 14k bulb. I ran each bulb for an hour, to let the pendant heat soak. Guess what, no difference between all the bulbs! They all measured between 143.5, and 145 F.
Different story with the ballasts I run on my tank. The Galaxy was running 107 F, Coralvue was 119 F, Icecap #1 was 124 F, Icecap #2 was 131 F, and the Reefbrite ran 110 F during the bulb tests. All temps running 400w Radiums.
What do you guys think? Was this a valid way to test the heat production of the bulbs? Any thing I could do differently to make it better?

Paul