400W Bulb Testing

[JB NY]

I know what you mean. I really like the color of the CV10K lamps a lot. Unfortunately I started to have some color and bleaching problems in my tank from burning in lamps over the display tank. So I put back my Ushios and did all the testing other than color shots outside of the main tank. The colors and corals recovered. So I'm waiting to see what others say about using the coralvue lamps and others over an extended period before I switch. My Ushios aren't due to be changed until March. But if others have good experiences with the coralvue I'll probably switch to them. I do like the color a lot. But I'm wondering how it will do in SPS tanks. The spectrum of the lamp is very different than the all other 10K lamps as it spikes at 450nm rather than 420nm. It's more like a radium/XM20K with some spikes in the higher wavelengths to give it a brighter, more 10K, look.

So I'll wait it out for a few months.

I haven't had anyone write me on the CV10K bleaching anything, have you?

 

[gwrulzmylife]

just tagging along on this thread

 

[Jeremy B.]

I have had one other person mention the bleaching, and I have experienced some myself, although I can not trace it to the lamps. I have had other things going on in my office tank as well, so I"m not sure yet.

 

[JB NY]

Interesting. I would bet it is due to the spike at 450nm on the Coralvue lamp. If the person was running Ushio or any other 10K lamp before, there was little if any output in this range (almost all 10K lamps spike at 420nm and nothing at 450nm). I say this because I had my 2 1/2 year old Alveopora severely bleach on me when I was running a radium lamp for a few weeks on the right side of my tank. The radium tested less PAR than the Ushio that had previously been over the tank. Never the less, the coral bleach out big time, and it was located on the bottom of a 24" deep tank. So as you said, it is more than just PAR.

 

[allenreef]

So I have been using 20ks XM, if I switch to coral view am I going to get any bleaching?

 

[Aged Salt]

Allen, the possibility exists when one changes out an old bulb for new. It is increased, if the bulb is brighter[less Kelvin],Bob

 

[RedEyeReef]

I recently switched my 400 watt Oshio & Radiums to Coralvue 10K with Actinic VHO. WOW, I love the Coralvues, my SPS colors POP out. Now about a month later my SPS have better colors then every before. I am sold on Coralvue, I hope they last a year before they need to be replaced.

I choose the Coralvue because I wanted the 450nm spike like the Radiums since I run VHO actinic which spikes @ 420nm. I hoped this would give me a better balance of Blue end of the spectrum.