Best 175 Watt Bulb?

L

lactrain

New member
Looking for some reccomendations on a new 175 watt bulb.

Im running Coralvue 14K on Ice Cap electronic ballasts w/ 2 54 watt T5 bulbs. I really like them but after about 7 months i have noticed a color shift on some of the few my SPS corals I have.

Wondering what the best Par rated 175 watt bulb in the vicinity of 14k is?

I have heard of a few new manufacturers around since the last time i shopped.

Len
 
Whats your opinion on your 10K XM's their 15K's are one that are in question... I have pictures of what Coralvue 14K look like if your intersted.

I run them with one 11k T5 and one Actinic T5 and the color is gorgeous its just that they seem to have lost their punch after six months.

Len
 
I have not used them myself but I have heard pretty good reviews from new users of the Coralvue 12 K reeflux bulb. I think I am going to switch to the 10 K reeflux from my current 14 K Hamiltons. If you do a search on the reeflux model of the coralvue bulbs, there is a lengthy thread showing pictures of both the 10 K and the 12 K bulbs as well as user views.
As far as Par #s on 175 watt bulbs, testing is pretty limited on those. I did find that Sajay tested a few 175 watt bulbs. The results are here.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/11/aafeature2

Here are the Reeflux threads
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=622727&highlight=coralvue+reeflux
and
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=703149&highlight=coralvue+reeflux
 
I am actually using the XM15K's. I love the color and the tank in general have had no problems at all.I supplemnent with 2x 65WPC 10k/and 2x65WPC Actinic.

lactrain: the results you are referring to about the XM15K's are about the 250W's, not the 175's. I have yet to find any results on any of the newer bulbs that are out now. Even Sanjay's data is on the old XM Bulbs, not the redesgned ones.

If anyone knows of any PAR results on the 175's that's be great.

Dave
 
I did some reseach a while back, sorry i don't have the references, but the results I got were:

Ushio 175W 10,000K(on a magnetic ballast) : PPFD 15.7, CCT 8892

Does anyone have similar data on the XM 10,000K?


I also compared this data to information on 250W DE's (all on IceCap electronic ballasts):

Phoenix 14,000K: PPFD 73
Helios 20,000K: PPFD 48
AB 20,000K: PPFD 38
XM 10,000K: PPFD 95

I'm debating switching from my 175's to 250W DE's, but these par numbers are not too convincing, especially with the cost of electricity in California.
 
I am running the XM 10k and prefer it over the Ushio 10K. The color is better (whiter) and the growth has been at least as good if not better.
 
Purchased the 12K Reeflux thanks to you all ... burning them in and they look great... twice as bright as the Coralvue 14K they have replaced.
 
How is the color? The Hamiltion 14K were way to blue for my taste. It could be however that I didn't burn them long enough; I sent them back. I want a nice crisp white with just a hit of blue. I am using 2 Ushios(175's) supplemented by 2 55watt 03 actinic's. PC's.

Carmen
 
After the Hamilton 14k break in....Not has blue

I like to run the Hamilton 10 k MH bulb with 03 VHO, But if u only have 1 MH. I like to use the 14k bulb
 
Check Sanjay's RC post on 12/15/2005 01:51 PM link from the thread Lighitng Website Updates, to newest results on 175w Iwasaki Aqua2 which outputs PPDF ~87, par at the levels of many 250w, but a look at spectrum shows the Iwasaki to have the same level of blue as the Hamilton 14k 175w, just the PPDF is almost twice as high. So if you need/want the PAR output as high as any 175w 10k, but want the blue appearance of a Hamilton 14k, then you would probably like this Aqua2.

One might make a guess as how these will these would look by comparing with other spectral graphs on Sanjay's site. But time will tell when they get on to the market and more users report their experiences. You could ask Sanjay if he thinks the Iwasaki appears just as blue as the Hamilton, or if the higher amounts of output in other wavebands in the Iwasaki renders a less blue color(I would guess not)?


fig11-iwasaki14k.gif

fig2-hamilton14K.gif
 
Thanks Udaman Iwasaki just may be my next bulb. I have a few SPS that I would like to see color up just not sure if the reeflux 12K will do it.

I have never used Hamilton 14K so I can compare them personally. But I have ran both the Ushio 10K and the Coralvue 14K. The Ushio 10K just ran too yellow for me I can only run two T5 03's for supplement and they just couldnt flood out the yellow.

The coralvue 14k were a bit blue for my liking and not very bright they forced me to run 1 03 actinic T5 and one 11K T5 to achieve the visual effect i wanted.

The reeflux 12K seems to be twice as bright as the 14K Coralvue with a nice hue of blue but still too blue to supplement with 2 03 T5. They are OK by themselves but best with one 03 and one 11K they are nice and bright.

One drawback i didnt like is the bulb itself is not labeled (i.e. 10K,12K) so there is no sure way to confirm what you have received. By the look of my tank it appears that one bulb may be a bit bluer then then the other. But there are too many variables for me to be sure. May be my eyes, or my colt coral casting a shadow, or maybe just not burned in completely.

Len
 
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