An update on chinese MH bulbs (Artemia brand)

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi y'all,

I just switched my almost 1 year old Chinese MH bulbs with brand new Phoenix MH SE bulbs. Since the price on a Phoenix SE bulb came down so much, I just had to try it out (from $99.99 to $69.99).

My inexpensive Chinese bulbs have held their color and brightness amazingly well. Despite being almost one year old, my SPS's are colored up nicely and looking bright and happy under them.

After the switch, I cannot really tell the difference in colors (both types are 250W 14K bulbs.) The new Phoenix bulbs are a lot brighter, but this was somewhat expected due to the age difference in the bulbs. At least to my eyes, the color of the 14K Chinese bulbs are the same as the color of the 14K Phoenix bulbs. In time, my corals may tell me otherwise, but so far the only difference that I see is the intensity. When a new bulb lose the initial intensity, say in six month or so, I may not see the difference at all. I wish I had a PAR meter so that I can tell you the difference in their PAR values. I will watch how my corals do instead.

I recommend the inexpensive Chinese bulbs (Artemia brand) highly. I will go back to them unless my SPS's start growing significantly better under the Phoenix bulbs.

 

[gflat65]

Thanks for the info, Tomoko. When you say inexpensive, what do you mean? What wattage do you have and what kind of ballast?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Those Chinese bulbs are 250W 15K SE bulbs. $9.99 per bulb on Ebay. I paid $19.97 for shipping (three bulbs) from Canada, though. $49.94 for three bulbs is a lot better than $210. I am running them on Ice Cap electronic ballast. Isn't it amazing?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Oops, I saw a typo. It's 14K instead of 15K.

I raised my Lumen Bright reflectors by 2 inches (as far as they can go) to acclimate my corals to new bulbs. If my corals show a sign of bleaching, I will shorten the photo period. Do you have any suggestion as to how many hours of light period I should start with? I've used sheets of window screen in the past, but I have too much air flow over the tank at the moment to hold the screen down easily.

 

[wpecoul]

What was your photo period on the old bulbs? I would think that if you started with somewhere around 70% of the hours the first week and went up 10% weekly until you get back to full length, you should be alright. After about 2 weeks at the same photoperiod length, you can drop the reflectors back to their normal height.

 

[wpecoul]

BTW, Tomoko - where did you get the Phoenix bulbs for $70?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you very much for the helpful suggestion, Will. If I see any sign of stress on my corals, I will cut the photo period to 70% and increase it gradually as you suggest.

I got these Phoenix bulbs from Premium Aquatics. Several weeks ago Marine Depot had them on sale at $59.99 (I think it was), but I waited a bit too long and the sale was over.

My photo period is about 7 hours. I would like to cut the photo period back to 6 hours. I was running Phoenix DE bulbs on my 120 previously for 6 hours a day and all my SPS's had bright colors.

I have much better light spread with the reflectors positioned all the way up in my canopy. I would like to keep the reflectors there. Hopefully I don't have to bring them down until my bulbs get old and feeble.

 

[wpecoul]

Thanks. That's good with the reflectors and light spread, too. Please do let us know what you find comparing the Phoenix to the Chinese bulbs as time marches on.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I sure will.

Tomoko

 

[gflat65]

Wow. That is cheap. Keep us posted on how your coral respond to the Phoenixes. Have you seen chinese DE bulbs?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I have seen a number of Chinese DE bulbs sold on Ebay. I actually have a 70W 20K DE bulb that I bought from the same Ebay shop (hobbylighting). It has a nice blue tint to it. Much bluer than my 70W Ushio 10K DE bulb which is very bright and white. It's so inexpensive that I had to give it a try.