CoralVUE bulbs

[bruffin]

Is anyone using Coral VUE or Reeflux bulbs? How do you like them?

 

[zaozao]

I am using coralvue bulbs now, but I have nothing to compare them to as this is my first halide setup. I do like these bulbs (20K)

 

[Nitroq2]

I used the ones that zaozao had and I can tell you I would much rather have them than the 14k hamilton that I have now. As a matter of fact I will be switching to an XM 10k but if that doesn't produce what I am looking for I will go back to the coralvue.

 

[greenbean36191]

I used to use Coralvue, but won't anymore. IMO you get what you pay for with them. They looked good for the first few months, but after a while they started getting a purple hue to them, and then started to flicker between yellowish and purple. I've switched to Phoenix bulbs, which IMO are much better quality for about the same price.

 

[6Speed]

Nitroq, why did you like the Coralvues better than the Hamilton?

 

[Nitroq2]

Color, growth, and depth in the tank, would be a few. I am going to try the XM and see about it, but I am totally not liking the hamilton bulbs, I will say however the hamiltons were used when I bought the kit. May or may not make a diffence, thats why I said I was going to swap soon to XM-10k also will be replacing the actinics in the fixture as well and see how that turns out. But not wanting to get into a arguement on the lights only gave my honest assessment.

 

[bruffin]

Does the Phoenix come in SE?

 

[8BALL_99]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8403736#post8403736 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bruffin
Does the Phoenix come in SE?

Nope,

I used Coral Vue bulbs for a couple of years.. 250 Watt 20k SE.. I like them myself. They do start to color shift and get dim around 10-11 months.. But most all bulbs do.. I use Radium 250 20K now just cause they put out more Par, But they also cost 89.00 bucks each and only last round 9-10 months lol I'm thinking about going back to Coral Vues next set of bulbs I get.

I think Bulbs really come down to what you like though.. Some love 20ks others hate them.. Some say one brand 20k is to blue or to purple then some say its to yellow lol. I've used 10k 14k and 20k bulbs and about 5 different brands. I really like the look of Coral Vue 20ks and the Radiums. Phoenix DE 14ks are nice but I only have two tanks that Take DE bulbs everything else is SE. CoralVues aren't that expensive If I were you I'd just try them.


Will

 

[bruffin]

Thanks 8Ball, with those Radiums - did you use a standard or HQI ballast?

 

[8BALL_99]

NP, All my Ballast are Electronic. HQIs will make the bulbs look more blue. I like Electronics because they dont get no where near as hot or make as much noise.. They also use alot less power. HQI ballasts will give you more par in most cases though.

Will

 

[bruffin]

The best colors I've seen in MH is with the AquaConnects, but I can't find them anywhere. I think the Reeflux and Radiums look pretty close, though.

Has anyone used AquaConnects?

 

[Rollin]

I've used 2x250w Reeflux 12k for the last few months and I've been happy with them. I supplemented them with 2x54w Actinic+ T5s. I got nice color and growth under them. I recently switched to XM 20Ks in a futile attempt to try to stem some algae growth.

Oh and I use electronic ballasts.

~chris

 

[bruffin]

Thanks Rollin. So they don't seem too blue with the actinics and all?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm planning a very similiar setup with the MH and T5s . . .

 

[tjswan]

they are average