Anyone tried the Coralvue Reeflux 10k bulbs?

[CaptainCoral]

I also have the m80 ballast's w/ de pendants, and want to get away from the yellow i currently have in the AB10k's.
So I'm looking at getting 3 of these 12k's at bottom of page. If I had electronic ballast's I'd just get the 10k's.
I must say though, that I'm a little worried about the intensity of the 12k's with the m80 ballast. I have also tried aquaconnects 14k's, and found them to be too dim.

 

[CaptainCoral]

I think I'll order just one 12k, and then run my tank with a 14k aquaconnect/10ab/and 12k reeflux at the same time for comparisons. I could shoot a photo for everyone also after burn in.

 

[DL]

Eric wrote...<<I have the 12k on a 400w Electronic and a HQI Ballast. It is surprisingly bright on the Electronic Ballast with more blue than the HQI. I had to move some corals out of the HQI area because it was really working them. But some of the coral liked the hot spot though >>

Eric, I am currently running 400w 14k EVC bulbs on the HQI ballast. In the past I ran Radiums.

Looking for a new bulb choice. What color does the 12k compare to, looks like? Is it like the Radium or less blue? Also, you mentioned the Iris? bulb, and one other. Can you comment on those?

 

[want2reef]

CaptainCoral

Are you running SE or DE?

Thanks

 

[CaptainCoral]

DE. However, I do still have some reservations regarding using a 12k in place of 10k because of my ballasts. I don't want to buy new ballasts every time the new bulb "I have to have" comes out. But what the heck, it's just one bulb to experiment with.

 

[ReefSitter]

ok, I've read most of this thread and looked at sanjay's site.
So I will just ask without further reading

My questions are for those who have the Reeflux 250w SE 10k bulb,

I run 10k XM's with 220w actinic vho's and would like to go a little blue'r to get better sps colors. I ran Ushio 10k's for years and switched to the XM's which I like a little better. I tried the Hamilton 14k bulbs, but with the vho actinics, they were too blue for my taste but the corals did look better.

With my tank pretty much filled to the max with sps, I am thinking looks now versus growth.

Do you think the Reeflux 10k bulbs along with the vho supplementation may be a better choice for sps color than what I have been using... or maybe the 12k bulb?

BTW, I never have been much of a fan of any CV product, but the Reeflux bulb should have enough of a track record by now.

 

[AlgaeMan]

Has anyone noticed a bloom in red slime algae after using these bulbs? I have two tanks that are on seperate systems after adding these bulbs I have noticed red algae blooms. A few days ago I changed one take to hamilton 14k's and the red algae is almost gone. It looks like the reeflux has a lot of spectrum that the red algae thrives on. Is it just me pointing fingers or has anyone else noticed this? I use the 250w 10k SE on icecaps

 

[TheCoralNabber]

AlgaeMan, how long have you been running them for. I've had mine for a month, and now it seems as though my corals are starting to brown out for some reason. I'm running the 250W 10K on a PFO ballast, don't know if it is the bulbs or something else. I loved how everything was coloring up for the first week, but now a month later everything has started to brown out. Anyone else noticing this as well. Thanks

 

[AlgaeMan]

On the SPS only tank I mix them with 400w 20k's and the corals colored up nice. I used them since the beginning of November 05. On the lps tank I've used them since mid January 06. IMO the reeflux wasn't a very good lps /zoo bulb. I will continue to use them on the sps tank unless other people chime in about the red algae.

 

[Klay]

I purchased three 250W 10k reeflux bulbs and I am running them on Icecap ballasts.

All thee of the bulbs seem REALLY pink. They've only been burnt for about 8 hours, but I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience or if something is actually wrong with these bulbs.

When I say pink, the bulb is actually a light pink... Everything in my tank has a pink hue now.

In terms of intensity, They are easily 50% brighter than my 8 month old hamilton 14ks.

I hope the colour doesn't stay like this though...

 

[tstone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6902629#post6902629 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AlgaeMan
Has anyone noticed a bloom in red slime algae after using these bulbs? I have two tanks that are on seperate systems after adding these bulbs I have noticed red algae blooms. A few days ago I changed one take to hamilton 14k's and the red algae is almost gone. It looks like the reeflux has a lot of spectrum that the red algae thrives on. Is it just me pointing fingers or has anyone else noticed this? I use the 250w 10k SE on icecaps

I have been running my 400-10K with actinic for about a month and have not seen any red algea blooms as of yet.

Like the color and the tank seems to look better everyday. I have used 20K XM and 20K Radium in the past and am much happier with these.

 

[catastrofe]

CaptainCoral, any updates?

 

[CaptainCoral]

catastrofe... Yes, I do have updates.

I bought 250w 12k reeflux and 14kushio DE bulbs and fired them up with pfo hqi ballasts. Well, the ushio has a color of 65k (I couldn't believe it) and after two days, I put a put a 14k aqua connect back in, because I just couldnt' see it burning in to a nice color. The ReefLux 12k is still in and "burning in" on it's forth day. I like it so far. Doesn't have the "punch" of a good 10k bulb, but it is brighter than any blue bulbs I've seen. It is whiter than the 14k aquaconnects, but still a blueish/purple bulb. It isn't so blue as to have a washed out look. Pink still looks pink, and yellow still looks yellow.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

CaptainCoral,
Please post pics if you can...

 

[CaptainCoral]

I'll get pics for you folks for certain. I have an hour of other reef chores (I'm supposed to be doing now ) I should be able to shoot some shots before the lights turn off tonite. Let me know, I'll slap in those 14k ushio and 10k AB for comparison shots if you guys want.

Edit....I spoke too soon! I broke a glass thermometer cleaning the front glass. Too much ditritus about tonite from the resulting gravel vacuuming to shoot any pics. I'll get them up when I can though.

 

[want2reef]

Slap away.

 

[orangekush4]

58g 2x250 10k reeflux on mag ballest.

 

[orangekush4]

58g 2x250 10k reeflux on mag ballest.

 

[orangekush4]

 

[want2reef]

I only see the third pic.