cheap bulbs

[murfman]

This is the tool to measure spectrums; spectroradiometer.

It doesn't even look as though Ushio sells a Mogul based 250Watt in the 14k range.

 

[Crit21]

I think we're talking about two different measurements. It's my impression that a PAR meter measures the entire 400-700 nanometer range, but the measurement is expressed in a single numerical value. What I was talking about is seeing the actual spectral plots, i.e., the charts that show where the peaks exist, over time. It would be interesting to see how peaks decrease with time.

 

[Mustang394]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8913141#post8913141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by murfman
Yes, this would take a long time (possibly 2 years) but we would have some pretty descent data on longevity and spectrum shift for a particular brand, K and W of bulb. Sanjay does this to an extent, but not over the long term.

Good point but from what I have read the ballast that is used can have a significant effect on the performance of any particular bulb.

Given todays climte oof out sourceing and international trade for all any of us know every bulb out there could be made in the same factory. Unlikely but quite possible. Pop open the hood on a Mazda truck and you will find FoMoCo written all over the engine. It's a Ford Ranger with Mazda emblems. It's cheaper and comes with a longer warranty. Does the name alone make it a better or worse truck? Could be the same with bulbs.

I agree with Eric find what works best in your tank and stick with it. However I would not always equate cheaper to mean poorer quality.

 

[reefkoi]

You know i think there is a difference in cheap versus expensive.
I had Aqua Medic bulbs first they were 10K and way too yellow, fine take them out and replace. The porcelain broke on all of them upon removal, kind of a pain and the bulbs are trash then.
Switched to hamilton 14K great color, bulbs started burning out and not firing after a couple months. intensity dropped also.
Switched to Phoenix bulbs. great quality, i have pulled them out to change to luminarc reflectors and they slipped out like butter, no broken porcelain.


I guess I feel you get what you pay for, and if you really want the ebay bulbs just buy them and see what happens, hopefully it works out for you, if not then let us know and we'll all be that much wiser with your actual use of these and not just everyones opinions (mine included)

 

[murfman]

Interesting read I found last night, 1000 hours, at 12 hours a day = 83 days. Look at the drop off in spectrum.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/3/review

 

[Crit21]

What? A German and Japanese bulb that shifts? Say it ain't so! I was surprised to see that those 10000K bulbs degraded to less than 6500K so quickly (150 days at 10 hours per day). So even the "best" bulbs may need replacing after less than half a year?

I found a link in that article that could prove useful. You can get a spectrometer dirt cheap: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/7/aafeature/view
I'm thinking of getting a STAR Spectrometer http://www.astrosociety.org/cgi-loc...60.html?L+scstore+jswk2374ff604f60+1170652947 . Combine that with a PAR meter and you really get a picture of what's happening to your bulbs.

 

[Mustang394]

One needs to note how ever that he did not burn an individual bulb for the entire time frame but took bulbs from multiple hobbiest with different amounts of burn time.

Notice the par in the 10ks seems to drop and then get better with age, however is does appear that color temp dropped quickly across the board.