anybody try metal halide bulbs from ebay stores

[frenchie]

was curious seen a couple different ebay stores that sell new double end metal halide bulbs for like 20 bucks and another store has them for 24.00 anyone try them yet curious if there any good or if they last long.

 

[DrBDC]

Seems to me there is a long thread about them in the lighting forum. I don't remember if they were tested for output or whatnot though.

 

[Reefer Wannabe]

I had some 14K that came with the current light setup that I have. They were bright, and the overall color looked decent. The problem was, that some of my orange corals looked very bland almost brown. When I switched to Hamilton 14K, the oranges popped out again.

 

[JxMetal]

I got some 14K bulbs just last week. I have no real data to show, but everythings still alive! :lol: The color is good and everything shows polyps.

I have acros, maxima clam, various sps, LPS at the bottom, and a derasa at the bottom....no complaints.

 

[frenchie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9971500#post9971500 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JxMetal
I got some 14K bulbs just last week. I have no real data to show, but everythings still alive! :lol: The color is good and everything shows polyps.

I have acros, maxima clam, various sps, LPS at the bottom, and a derasa at the bottom....no complaints.

if its not to much to ask could you post some pics nothing fancy just like to see some gonna order some next week to try out. and which ebay store did you order from, one of them has buy 3 get one free deal.

 

[Schplitter]

I unfortunetly have bought a 20k bulb about 2 months ago for around 30 bucks and the darn thing was too short for the DE socket. Not sure if the socket may have been too long becaus it was a aquatraders socket but ....

BK

 

[JxMetal]

I ordered from seller greatdel I think.

 

[Reefer Wannabe]

Whoops, just saw the DE. Mine weren't DE.

 

[JxMetal]

Oh yeah, what colors do you want me to take a picture of?

 

[frenchie]

14k

 

[JxMetal]

I meant coral colors. :lol: I'll take a few and see what I can get.

 

[frenchie]

greens, reds, orange, yellow

 

[JxMetal]

I took a little of everything. I suck at picture taking, so these colors are a little off. But it'll give you an idea.

 

[JxMetal]

This is a bad picture, the orange is MUCH more vibrant and brighter

 

[hagfish]

Most of my bulbs have been cheap ebay bulbs. I have had a couple higher quality bulb. I can't say I noticed any significant difference in coral appearance or growth at all. But, most of my corals don't require a ton of light. I did used to have some crocea clams that seemed perfectly happy with those lights.

 

[frenchie]

nice pics, colors do look good

 

[frenchie]

which one of these

http://cgi.ebay.com/HQI-150W-14K-DE...0QQihZ005QQcategoryZ46314QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/HQI-150W-DE-14K...4QQihZ014QQcategoryZ46314QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[JxMetal]

ask what brand they are and if they know the PAR. I doubt they know the PAR though.

 

[hounddog01]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9974130#post9974130 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JxMetal
ask what brand they are and if they know the PAR. I doubt they know the PAR though.

No one will give you par numbers on the bulbs. I had some of the 14k 175W SE bulbs. I figured they were about the same as the XM 15K in par and color. Our club has a Par meter and it read about 300 in the reflectors. When I changed to the AB 13K bulbs my par readings went over 600. Since these are rated on Sanjay's site as around 72 then I figured the Greatdel bulbs were 36.

 

[akrimmel]

if you can find them go with a phoenix 14k, exellent colors and growth.