Flameangel
Member
Do you know how often the new XM 250/20,000K bulbs need to be changed? What about the 250/20,000 Radiums? Is there a different in life with a pulse verse a prode start ballast?
Thanks,
Connie
Thanks,
Connie
Life Expendency of XM Bulbs
- Thread starter Flameangel
- Start date
Hi Connie,
We have not seen any long term studies on either of these bulbs, but they are both rated at 1 year. When they get close to there age though, just watch out for algae problems, usually first sign that the bulb has shifted too much in it's spectrum.
You can run the XM on regular or pulse start and will work fine either way and last the same. The only advantage that i see with pulse start is it fixes some start up issues with bulbs 10k and higher.
On the Radium, if you want to get the best color out of that bulb, i would recommend the pfo hqi ballast.
thanks
jason
We have not seen any long term studies on either of these bulbs, but they are both rated at 1 year. When they get close to there age though, just watch out for algae problems, usually first sign that the bulb has shifted too much in it's spectrum.
You can run the XM on regular or pulse start and will work fine either way and last the same. The only advantage that i see with pulse start is it fixes some start up issues with bulbs 10k and higher.
On the Radium, if you want to get the best color out of that bulb, i would recommend the pfo hqi ballast.
thanks
jason
Flameangel
Member
Dear Jason:
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I always apprecate the excellent customer service I receive from you and your company.
Connie
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I always apprecate the excellent customer service I receive from you and your company.
Connie
Pacific Aqua Farms and Walt Smith International use the XM 20K HQI in the Aquaspace lights by Aqua medic. They have used them with out changing any of them for almost a year and claim they are the best lights for keeping acros from color shifting. They replaced all the radiums, ushios, and Iwasaki bulbs because they don't work well. Radium 20K will only keep a few acros from turning brown. Also, radiums color shift quickly and have an unatural purple/brown look to them. Iwasaki and Ushio 10K turn yellow too quick and when algae grows on the walls of your tank, every thing looks ugly yellow and brown. Plus the algae growth is too quick and in one week it covers the base and broken tips of sps corals. The 20K XM bulbs have tremendous intensity and keep algae at a minimum, keep corals thriving, and make corals look brilliant without supplemental actinic. They have no yellow phosphorous, only blue, which means they never will color shift to yellow. Plus, over time they will only lose some of the blue and look more white. (and burn less intense of course)
About the PFO HQI ballast, I don't think it is a good Idea to use it because HQI ballast usually have higher starting voltages and over drive the bulbs. This is what causes many bulbs such as Ushios to turn yellow so quickly and to reduce drastically the life of the bulb. For example, a 400 watt PFO HQI ballast will not run a 400 watt XM mogul base. It may in some cases, but I have heard from most including the manufacturer of the bulbs that it does not because the PFO ballast actually operates at 430 watts and over drives the XM bulb.
I would recommend the 20K XM's with the ARO electronic ballast, ice cap, or any other standard ballast that does not over drive the bulbs. The XM bulbs are designed to work on all standard and electronic ballasts.
Gavin
About the PFO HQI ballast, I don't think it is a good Idea to use it because HQI ballast usually have higher starting voltages and over drive the bulbs. This is what causes many bulbs such as Ushios to turn yellow so quickly and to reduce drastically the life of the bulb. For example, a 400 watt PFO HQI ballast will not run a 400 watt XM mogul base. It may in some cases, but I have heard from most including the manufacturer of the bulbs that it does not because the PFO ballast actually operates at 430 watts and over drives the XM bulb.
I would recommend the 20K XM's with the ARO electronic ballast, ice cap, or any other standard ballast that does not over drive the bulbs. The XM bulbs are designed to work on all standard and electronic ballasts.
Gavin
I disagree that Radium's only keep so many corals from turning brown. I do agree that Radium's color shift fairly fast, but then that also has to do with the ballast they are ran on. Iwasaki keeps the spectrum longer than any bulb out there, with the Ushio just following that.
While I do agree the XM's keep the algae way down, which is really nice, their intensity is leaving A LOT to be desired, which is the case with all the "blue" lamps on the market.
I am not sure on the exact specs of the lamp, but I think it is almost impossible to have a MH lamp that does not emit yellow light. You may not see it with the naked eye, because the lamp is more concentrated on the lower nm range, but it is still there. I am pretty confident that the lamp will color shift. And I think it will color shift a lot earlier than a year, but only time will tell with that.
Customers at Pacific Aqua Farms can see the same 20K XM's which are a year old and have no yellow at all. The only loss is a loss in intensity and the color itself shifts from 20-14K to closer towards 10 K over time without any yellowing. When I say it does not have yellow light, I am saying that visually you will not notice yellow in the light, however I do agree that naturally yellow would be present in light closer to 10K. The XM 20 K was designed with only blue phosphors so that over time it would color shift to having less blue and more white but still enough blue to not have to use supplemental actinic.
If you like the Ushio 10K I would recommend the XM 10K which is basically an improved Ushio and will hold it's spectrum longer. Also, it is much cheaper. By no means am I saying that 20K bulbs are better than a 10K spectrum, but most bulbs are not really 10K anyways and if they are, not for long. It depends on the application but, if you want a light that is very intense, does not require supplemental actinic so you save electricity, and costs half as much as the competition, then I recommend the XM 20K. Also, you will obviously not want to under illuminate your fish tank with the 20K's. In order to reap the full benefits, you will need a little more than what you would get from a 10K bulb. For example, Pacific Aqua Farms uses the aqua medic aquaspace lamp fixtures that have 3 250 watt HQI 20K XM's. They say it works much better than any other bulbs they have tried for keeping acros from color shifting and changed all the 10K's they were using.
Gavin
If you like the Ushio 10K I would recommend the XM 10K which is basically an improved Ushio and will hold it's spectrum longer. Also, it is much cheaper. By no means am I saying that 20K bulbs are better than a 10K spectrum, but most bulbs are not really 10K anyways and if they are, not for long. It depends on the application but, if you want a light that is very intense, does not require supplemental actinic so you save electricity, and costs half as much as the competition, then I recommend the XM 20K. Also, you will obviously not want to under illuminate your fish tank with the 20K's. In order to reap the full benefits, you will need a little more than what you would get from a 10K bulb. For example, Pacific Aqua Farms uses the aqua medic aquaspace lamp fixtures that have 3 250 watt HQI 20K XM's. They say it works much better than any other bulbs they have tried for keeping acros from color shifting and changed all the 10K's they were using.
Gavin
Hi,
I would like to add my 2 cents, this is a personal opinion, not that of Premium Aquatics. We at Premium do not have a preference on your bulb choice, we just want customers to be happy with there choice, so we do not push any particular brand for money, etc.
On my personal opinion, i tried out the 20K 250watt hqi DE bulb from XM on my 58 gallon office tank. I was using a 10K ushio. It's running on Icecap Ballast. I ran it for about 2 months. Many people coming into the shop liked the color and it was amazing that i did not have to clean the front of my glass. Probably had to take a slight algae cleaning every 3 weeks off the glass at the most.
The corals did not loose any color or really show any big growth increase either, so i can't say about the corals but far as visually, i couldn't take it. It was just too dim. Matter fact, it the same tank has 2 - 24" Blue VHO actinics on it and it was hard to tell if the VHo or the halide was on. The XM 250DE was pretty close to the intensity and color you would get out of pure actinic bulbs.
After two months i switched back to 10K ushio and was overwhelmed by the difference in brightness, it was a completely new tank. I would say probably 40-50% brighter then the 20K. So you do gain a nice blue color, but you loose so much in intensity. So i'm back to cleaning glass more often, but my tank looks better "in my eyes".
Now we have a 400watt XM running out in the coral tanks that looks better, so i think 400watt can push out more of the XM bulb, but 175/250 watt doesn't seem enough for your primary bulb anyways.
It's always nice to see different opinions on these bulbs though, that is why we carry so many different brands because color is very subjective and you need something that you like. I lean more toward the natural look, so i'm sticking with ushio right now.
I'm very anxious to see some opinions on the new CoralVue bulbs we are selling though. I've only seen the 10K and they are brighter then Xm or Ushio and cost less then both. So i have a feeling they'll be the new "cool" bulb out there. I'm hoping to try out the 20K and 15K next week.
jason
I would like to add my 2 cents, this is a personal opinion, not that of Premium Aquatics. We at Premium do not have a preference on your bulb choice, we just want customers to be happy with there choice, so we do not push any particular brand for money, etc.
On my personal opinion, i tried out the 20K 250watt hqi DE bulb from XM on my 58 gallon office tank. I was using a 10K ushio. It's running on Icecap Ballast. I ran it for about 2 months. Many people coming into the shop liked the color and it was amazing that i did not have to clean the front of my glass. Probably had to take a slight algae cleaning every 3 weeks off the glass at the most.
The corals did not loose any color or really show any big growth increase either, so i can't say about the corals but far as visually, i couldn't take it. It was just too dim. Matter fact, it the same tank has 2 - 24" Blue VHO actinics on it and it was hard to tell if the VHo or the halide was on. The XM 250DE was pretty close to the intensity and color you would get out of pure actinic bulbs.
After two months i switched back to 10K ushio and was overwhelmed by the difference in brightness, it was a completely new tank. I would say probably 40-50% brighter then the 20K. So you do gain a nice blue color, but you loose so much in intensity. So i'm back to cleaning glass more often, but my tank looks better "in my eyes".
Now we have a 400watt XM running out in the coral tanks that looks better, so i think 400watt can push out more of the XM bulb, but 175/250 watt doesn't seem enough for your primary bulb anyways.
It's always nice to see different opinions on these bulbs though, that is why we carry so many different brands because color is very subjective and you need something that you like. I lean more toward the natural look, so i'm sticking with ushio right now.
I'm very anxious to see some opinions on the new CoralVue bulbs we are selling though. I've only seen the 10K and they are brighter then Xm or Ushio and cost less then both. So i have a feeling they'll be the new "cool" bulb out there. I'm hoping to try out the 20K and 15K next week.
jason
Brookswashere
In Memoriam
I've heard the XM DE's are dimmer but not the XM SE's.
XxAngelzDustxX
New member
jasonfrey- did you run a single 250w XM or dual?
I'm thinking of going with CoralVue, I'm leaning toward dual 250's without actinics, would you recommend the 15k or 20k CoralVue bulbs for my use? DE or SE?
Would you recommend CoralVue or PFO/HQI?
This is for a 50 gallon SPS/clam tank. I would really appreciate any help or opinions.
I'm thinking of going with CoralVue, I'm leaning toward dual 250's without actinics, would you recommend the 15k or 20k CoralVue bulbs for my use? DE or SE?
Would you recommend CoralVue or PFO/HQI?
This is for a 50 gallon SPS/clam tank. I would really appreciate any help or opinions.
Hi,
I was running a DE 250 XM on an Icecap ballast. It seemed too dim to me. We are doing some tests on light output on these right out. The XM was about 30% less bright then a 13K PFO, so probably 40% less bright then a 10K Ushio. So you give up a lot for the strong blue color.
The DE bulbs usually tend to be brighter then SE bulbs. My DE 10K ushio was about 20% brighter then SE 10K 250's in the shop, but the SE 400 was over twice as bright as my 250 DE.
I would wait until we finish some tests, right now it's looking like PFO's 13K is going to be the winner of the blue tinted bulbs.
I personally still like 10K with VHO's, but without final tests, if you are wanting a single bulb to brightness and actinic, the PFO is in the lead.
thanks
jason
I was running a DE 250 XM on an Icecap ballast. It seemed too dim to me. We are doing some tests on light output on these right out. The XM was about 30% less bright then a 13K PFO, so probably 40% less bright then a 10K Ushio. So you give up a lot for the strong blue color.
The DE bulbs usually tend to be brighter then SE bulbs. My DE 10K ushio was about 20% brighter then SE 10K 250's in the shop, but the SE 400 was over twice as bright as my 250 DE.
I would wait until we finish some tests, right now it's looking like PFO's 13K is going to be the winner of the blue tinted bulbs.
I personally still like 10K with VHO's, but without final tests, if you are wanting a single bulb to brightness and actinic, the PFO is in the lead.
thanks
jason
Rod Buehler
New member
Here is my 2 cents... I have tried just about every mogul based bulb on the market, and the XMs a by far my least favorite. I tried 400w10kk XMs on a tank. They were not nearly as bright as the ushios that I was running. With in a few months most all of the SPS in that system were brown, when I switched back to Ushios it was like I upgraded from 175s to 400s.. some of the corals started to bleach so I reduced the photoperiod. When I got the photoperiod back on schedule, the corals regained their color under the ushios.. there might have been other isues at hand and others might have different experiences, but I will stick with Ushios and iwasaki/radium mix, especially for SPS tanks.
JMO
JMO
DT's_Reef
New member
I have an Aquaspacelight (2x250w) and switched from the AB DE bulbs to the XM DE's and they are DIM!!
What I did was supplement them with 2x54w T5's (one actinic and one 10k).
They added a lot of brightness to the tank. In my opinion the color is absolutely perfect now. I'm not a blue freak at all and the color of the XM by itself didn't do it for me.
My SPS have been growing extremely well, better than when under the ABs. Doesn't make sense but it's true. The SPS colors are absolutely outstanding. Everything's turning pink, blue or purple.
I just ordered the Coralvue 20k DE 250w bulbs and will see how these do because of the increase in PAR. Sounds like a winner!
What I did was supplement them with 2x54w T5's (one actinic and one 10k).
They added a lot of brightness to the tank. In my opinion the color is absolutely perfect now. I'm not a blue freak at all and the color of the XM by itself didn't do it for me.
My SPS have been growing extremely well, better than when under the ABs. Doesn't make sense but it's true. The SPS colors are absolutely outstanding. Everything's turning pink, blue or purple.
I just ordered the Coralvue 20k DE 250w bulbs and will see how these do because of the increase in PAR. Sounds like a winner!
XxAngelzDustxX
New member
Jason, how long will take for the testing to finish?
Are there tests being done on the CoralVues? Would you recommend PFO or CoralVue?
Thanks for the replies
Are there tests being done on the CoralVues? Would you recommend PFO or CoralVue?
Thanks for the replies
We will test coralvue soon, out of stock on there bulbs right now, at least most flavors.
So we'll try and get some specs. Now these test we are doing are only intensity in candle/lux. We do not have the ability to do the spectral testing, but we'll be able to tell you who is the brightest and by now much, give you a number to compare etc. So that will be something.
At least give us some info on them and what you could expect to see in your tank.
So we'll try and get some specs. Now these test we are doing are only intensity in candle/lux. We do not have the ability to do the spectral testing, but we'll be able to tell you who is the brightest and by now much, give you a number to compare etc. So that will be something.
At least give us some info on them and what you could expect to see in your tank.
Brookswashere
In Memoriam
jasonfrey said:
You say the the CoralVue 10K's are brighter than the Ushio's? Can you measure PAR? Do you have the CoralVue 10K's in stock?
Thanks,
Brad G.
