Inexpensive Halides

[Brian01]

Thought some of you might be interested in this:
http://aquariacanada.com/osCommerce/...acturers_id=66

Keep in mind these prices are in Canadian $ too (currently multiply by about 0.75 for US$). These seem to be quite new bulbs, not a ton of reports in on them yet. However, at those prices I'm taking the what have I got to lose approach, and I'll try them out. The guy quoted me $12 in shipping for 2 bulbs, but the checkout process screws up rates to the US, contact the vendor for instructions. I'll be placing my order later this week or next week if anyone else wants to try these out and combine shipping.

The 20K 70W HQI bulbs are having issues with Aromat electronic 70W ballasts, but others seem to work fine. Aromat does not recommend these ballasts for HQI anyways, maybe the 20K just pushes them too far?

Search the forums at the site for reports on the bulbs, also google comes up with a few from other sites. Currently opinions seem to be that these are not the best nor the worst bulbs out there, but certainly among the cheapest.

ARC brand bulbs, what could be more appropriate?

[hesstondc]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...327695247&rd=1

I was looking into these today. The 250watt 14K have excellent reviews on Reefcentral. Total for two bulbs with buy it now is about $69. What a deal....

The cheapest I can find hamiltons is about $53 a piece plus shipping....

These are the one's I am going with...I will probably order mine today

[davidc]

I'm using 10000K 175W bulbs from www.insidesun.com - they cost me $30 each with free shipping!

I've been using them for about a month now, no problems so far.

===>DavidC

[Brian01]

I've actually been wondering if they are the same bulbs, they seem to come from around the same place. I hope not though, I tried the 14k 175 Sun Aquatics a while back, and was not too impressed. The color of the 2 bulbs I got looked completely different, and they were not very bright (IMO anyways). The inconsistency is something I have read about from others as well. They were certainly blue though. Sanjay's recent review of 250W bulbs shows strong blue peaks and a few other peaks, not much broad spectrum stuff, seems like it fits with my own experiences.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...004/review.htm

Many people do seem happy with them though, so maybe I got a bad batch.

[hesstondc]

They have a 6 month warenty on them as well. You just loose the shipping $$$$$$$$$.

[dme330i]

I orginally bought some $30 10K Plus Lighting bulbs and they sucked! The 10K lighting was green. Sold them and ended up buying some 14K Hamiltons from Doug at Reeftanklighting - 100% better IMO.

[davidc]

Originally Posted by dme330i

I orginally bought some $30 10K Plus Lighting bulbs and they sucked! The 10K lighting was green. Sold them and ended up buying some 14K Hamiltons from Doug at Reeftanklighting - 100% better IMO.

The ones I have are "First Quality" brand (P.R.C), and they are called "Plus Metal Halide Lamp". Probably the same ones. When I first got them they seemed a little yellowish/greenish, but now they seem pretty 10000K-ish. These are my first bulbs, so I don't have any first hand experience to compare to though.

[Mobius]

Metal Halide bulbs do have a "burn in" period where they can shift in color.
Champion lighting recommends a hundred hours to see a bulbs "true" color.

Cheers
Mike

[goodfortune]

I think that most MH bulbs have a burn-in period of about 100 hours, after which (ideally) the bulb will produce light at the advertised color temperature. It might be why your bulbs gave off a greenish tint.

Another reason why the bulb(s) were giving off greenish light may be due to its rated CRI (Color Rendition Index). From what I understand, CRI has to do with how colors look under a particular bulb, in relation to how they would look in natural sunlight. CRI doesn't have anything to do w/ coral growth; it's just a way of describing the appearance of the light a bulb produces.

I've heard somewhere that most good-quality bulbs have a CRI of 90 or above. The website says that the bulb (I think) your'e refering to has a CRI of 65.

Link to website:
http://www.insidesun.com/index.php?a...=6&prevstart=0

Anyone, please feel free to correct anything I've said; I'm just a newbie too!

- Michael

Originally Posted by dme330i

I orginally bought some $30 10K Plus Lighting bulbs and they sucked! The 10K lighting was green. Sold them and ended up buying some 14K Hamiltons from Doug at Reeftanklighting - 100% better IMO.

[davidc]

I saw that CRI rating, but that shouldn't make the light itself look green. It should make something of a particular color look more or less of that color. I even doubt that it is really that low, because that is unusually low for a MH. That number could have been picked out of the air by the people at inside sun, because I can't find ANY info on that manufacturer/bulb.

If it is that low, I can live with it because my Orange digitata looks orange, my Tang looks yellow, my shrimp looks red, and my star polyps look green I don't have anything blue to check yet...

I'll update everyone when I've seen enough tanks with 10000K bulbs to compare against. Maybe everyone should get together and bring their different brands of bulbs to a meeting in the future so people can compare. It would only work if they were all of the same color temp and not too old.

Originally Posted by goodfortune

I've heard somewhere that most good-quality bulbs have a CRI of 90 or above. The website says that the bulb (I think) your'e refering to has a CRI of 65.

[Brian01]

fyi, the sale on the ARC bulbs has ended, they are now twice the price and no longer so tempting.

[hesstondc]

I just bought my SunAquatics bulbs today. I have the F-Can ballasts thangs to chicago!
All I need is sockets and bulbs. Total with shipping from Canada is $85! Now I have no reflector or standoff. Does anyone have any ideas on that subject?

Thanks
Clay..