Bulb Change

H

hunter57

New member
I know there are a tons of pages here comparing different bulbs and such, but I was hoping to get some quick advice because I just blew a bulb. I have an outer orbit lght fixture on my 120 gal tank, it has 2-250 mh hqi 10,000k bulbs and 4 actinic 54 watt t-5's. Anyway, one of my double ended 250 watt mh bulbs just blew out and I need to replace it with something the same or maybe better. I'm not up to speed on the best names or k's. I think I might like to try something a little more blue than my 10,000k's but not as blue as a 20,000k or maybe a different brand 10,000k that might be a little more blue. As you can see I'm getting turned around on this bulb selection thing any help would be so very much appreciated.
Thanks John
 
Just get yourself the cheap ones off ebay for now...

I use them on my 90 and I really cant complain, I change them out every six months and things are growing very well for me...
 
I picked up two Giesemann 12.5k megachromes 150w for my outer orbit fixture and they rock. They totaly smoke what the fixture came with from the factory. The PPFD on them is I think around 60 on that ballast and the color is a very nice white/blue with no hint of yellow at all like my originals.

I picked mine up for 54.99 after some price matching because they didn't have the original bulb I wanted. I think 250s will cost a bit more. The Giesemann are a very good German made bulb. In the 250watt flavor you have alot more variety to choose from so perhaps there is some other you may prefer. 150watt is some what limited.

I am not saying cheaper bulbs are not the way to go, just informing you from my experience.
 
I picked them up at Premium Aquatics who are awesome to do business with. I can't recommend them enough. I must have sent 30 e-mails and they told me more about bulbs then I can remember in 5 lifetimes. Basically BLV owns and manfactures Ushio, BLV, and one other that escapes me and manufactures Giesemann bulbs but to Giesemanns specifications.

Basically I was told that the Germans make the best bulbs.

I did alot of Kung Fu on bulbs and I actually wanted Icecaps because they were an awesome all around bulb but no one could get them, so I settled on the Giesemanns and I must say I am very pleased. My corals are coloring up and growing far better then they ever did under the stock bulbs.

For the record AB is a bulb worth looking at to if you can get them for a good price.

I am speaking here totaly on PPFD/PAR and CCT specs in the 10k temp as to why I recommend these bulbs to you.
 
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A recent article by Sanjay Joshi put the PAR value of the XM10 DE MH bulb at the top of the list. (More useful light per watt) They can be found for around $60 to $70 for a 250W.
 
There are often big differences in color between the same companies lines of 150 watt and 250 watt bulbs so make sure you get a direct comparison for your wattage and type of bulbs. Just because company X's super duper 10000K 150 watt DE lamps are a crisp white/blue does not necessarily mean that the same companies sper duper 10000K 250 watt DE will be the same color. Gotta get comparisons of apples to apples because good Halide bulbs are too expensive for most of us to trial and error.
 
I haven't bought them yet but am getting ready to. My Made in China bulbs really aren't that bright for the electricity that they use and I am ready to replace them. Sanjay's web site had pictures of the same tank with different bulbs and ballasts so you can see the difference in color. I am satisfied with the 10,000K with my actinics.
 
DarG is exaclty right. From 150 to 250 there can be a huge difference and I should have mentioned that. Thanks DarG.

One thing. Look at the CCT of the bulb and that should tell you what they will look like. My Giesemanns are rated in the upper 800s and there white/blue. Anything higher SHOULD be bluer and anything less more yellow.
 
hunter,

Unfortunately with the 250w DE's there really isn't a bulb out there that has just a very slight amount of blue to the naked eye, and very crisp white, at least that I have come across anyways. The closest bulb to this would be the 14.5k Giesemann. The next step in coloration in my opinion towards the blue side would be the 14k Phoenix, which is a blue lamp, however it has an enormous amount of par, and not overwhelmingly blue.

I think you could approach this two different ways....

1. Go with the Giesemann 14.5k and hope that the 4 x 54w T5s give you enough actinic to make you happy. The Giesemann will last quite a while, 12 month range, maybe a little longer, and give you a tremendous amount of PAR

2. Go with the Phoenix lamps, then maybe split your T5's half blue and half white. You could then adjust to either more blue on the T5's, or more white on the T5's to try and get the color to your liking. This is going to give you less PAR, and bulb replacement will need to be around 8 - 10 months with the halides just depending on how long you run them per day.

In my opinion I think I would go the route of the Giesemann's. They are a high quality lamp, will give you quite a bit longer lamp life, and the color combined with 4 x T5 actinics will probably be right on the money as far as what you are looking for. HTH!
 
Like I said, Premium Aquatics rocks. Jeremey, I doubt you remember because you probably talk to hundreds of people but you and I spoke on the phone and you recommended the Giesemanns to me. I could not be happier with them, and your suggestion to go with them was right on. I also talked to Jason via e-mail and must have sent 30 or more which he promptly answered. You guys are the best.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9917235#post9917235 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hunter57
Where do I find the CCT of any given bulb?
Click to expand...

Sanjays web site.

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/

When I started my research on bulbs I was amazed at how little technical data is available and how much info was strictly opinion such as "My 20k (whatever bulbs) are awesome". Then you look at the PAR on them and you might as well be using a 60watt light bulb. Alot of the the popular 20k bulbs put out roughly half the PAR of some of the 150w 10k bulbs, definitly less then half on the 6500Ks. Another thing I learned is that a PAR differential of let's say (5) is actually huge. So a 20k putting out say 35 and 150w 10k putting out 60 is a huge difference on the amount of energy hitting your lives stock. Though it appears to be half as much it is actually many times less then that.

Dr Joshi explained it better then I ever could and if your interested you can read about it.

I personally would like to see every bulb manufacturer provide a full data analysis of there bulb like Ushio does so the hobbyist can make a better informed decision. Ushio as far as I am aware is the only one I found directly at the companys web site.
 
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