[Papa Doug]

I thought Mark posted in here somewhere about bleaching sps from his 20K radiums on his new tank. I know I responded on another board.

Mark, I was wondering how they were doing?

As many know from some of my previous threads, I also had problems, no matter what precautions were taken. So I tried an experiment lately. I have green & brown digita in my tubs. {the rest of my sps is still in my friends tank}, recovering from the last 20K experience in my cube.

I have been running a set of GE Ultra 65K daylight 40w bulbs and a 400w Sunburst over the tub. The 400w pendant is about 2ft. from the coral.

I took a year old 20K Radium, raised my pendant to almost 4ft. above the coral and ran it on the max. 4hr. on/off cycle. Within days both digitas were bleaching. And this is with pulse start ballasts not HQI like many use.

All I can say, is unbelievable.

[golfish]

I'm about 95% sure the lights had nothing to do with it. I'm not sure what's causing my problems. I have kids so they could have very well thrown something in the sump causing some of my corals to bleach. I also think it may have been contaminated reactor media. I shut down both reactors, let the tank run with carbon for a few days, replaced all the reactor media and things are looking better...a little.

I've used Radiums for a few years now. I went from 10K 250 watt DE's to 400 watt Radiums on a tank full of sps. I acclimated the Radiums for about a week. I think started with 5 hrs a day increasing 1 hr each day on that tank.

I don't know what to tell you about your corals. If you can, maybe add a sheet of 1/4 glass. This should cut down the spectrum a little.

[Papa Doug]

Hi Mark, Beats me then. I,m sure mine is Radium caused. Again I must add, despite all cautions. Perhaps its a combination of my tank and the Radiums. I dont know anymore.

I,m finished with them. I think I will run a pair of 400w Venture 55K bulbs and some actinics. Cheap bulbs, last long and unlike the Iwasaki 400w, are a crisp white.

[golfish]

Well, I'm just not sure anymore either. I've been looking into getting a pair of VHO actinics but with all the stuff I'm into right now I've kind of put buying stuff for my tank on the back burner. I'd like to go back to Ushios if I get the VHO's. I kind of miss having the actinics on late at night.

[Papa Doug]

Yes, I agree, nothing beats actinics on in the evening. I was thinking of running all vho on the new tank, but I still have my 400w pulse start and was going to get another. However a friend has no more use for the 400w PFO system I gave him, so I now have it back.

Problem is, one being a pulse start and the other a normal ballast. Not many bulbs suited to both of them.

[golfish]

Originally Posted by Papa Doug

Problem is, one being a pulse start and the other a normal ballast. Not many bulbs suited to both of them.

I've never ran a pulse start but you should be able to run any of the euro bulbs on both. I ran the Ushio on the standard and HQI...

[Papa Doug]

Yes, the Ushio is made to run on pulse starts, like most Euro bulbs. And like you, I have run them on normal type ballasts, albeit only 175w Ushio bulbs. I wonder if the colour rendition will be similar from both. Also the problem with them is despite their
1 1/2 yr. suggested usage time, I see lots of threads about early failures with the 400,s. Not so with 175 version.

They also cost more, close to $50 Canadian per bulb more than a radium. If one could actually get a year and a half, then it would be worth it.