Haplochromine
New member
I ordered 2 Plusrite 175W 20 000K SE (mogul base) bulbs from trust_deals, or LSE. I am replacing two reeflux 12k bulbs that are a year or two old. They mailed them out last Monday and I received them this afternoon, so it took approximately 1 week for transit from Philadelphia to Canada. They provided me a USPS tracking number, but it was more or less useless as it wasn't updated this morning since November 23 but it was on my doorstep.
The packaging was excellent. The box was your standard U-Line cardboard box. Inside were packing peanuts and what seemed to be an entire roll of bubble wrap. The two bulbs were in their little cardboard boxes. There aren't any supports for the bulbs in their little boxes, but it is fitted and the cardboard is thick enough. The bulbs were fine and there was no damage.
I pulled them out and put them in my lumenbrights. I had 2 advance magnetic ballasts (M57). I put them in and turned them on. After a couple minutes they were very yellow and dim, so I was a bit disheartened. I know they have to burn in and take time to heat up, so I went upstairs and waited for 10 minutes. I came back down to have a look at the bulbs, and one of the bulbs was brighter and bluer than the other. I was unhapy at this point as the bulbs should look the same. I went upstairs to re-read reviews about them and decided to go down and have a look again. The bulbs are now the same colour. The word I will use to describe the bulbs is "Crisp". It's not 20K blue, but I wasn't expecting it to be. I'd say it's closer to a 14-15K range but these bulbs have changed me in the past 30 minutes. I used to be 20k 20k 20k blue blue kind of guy, but I am really enjoying the colour out of these bulbs. It's crisp light blue with some white in it. The corals opened up and look very good under them, especially the blues and greens. In short, I am quite happy with the bulbs and I can get some photos up, although it will be difficult to capture the colour.
Too long; didn't read (TL;DR) : Transaction went well, bulbs well packaged. Running on m57 magnetic ballast. Colour more like 14-15k, but it is a very nice crisp blue/white. Recommended.
The packaging was excellent. The box was your standard U-Line cardboard box. Inside were packing peanuts and what seemed to be an entire roll of bubble wrap. The two bulbs were in their little cardboard boxes. There aren't any supports for the bulbs in their little boxes, but it is fitted and the cardboard is thick enough. The bulbs were fine and there was no damage.
I pulled them out and put them in my lumenbrights. I had 2 advance magnetic ballasts (M57). I put them in and turned them on. After a couple minutes they were very yellow and dim, so I was a bit disheartened. I know they have to burn in and take time to heat up, so I went upstairs and waited for 10 minutes. I came back down to have a look at the bulbs, and one of the bulbs was brighter and bluer than the other. I was unhapy at this point as the bulbs should look the same. I went upstairs to re-read reviews about them and decided to go down and have a look again. The bulbs are now the same colour. The word I will use to describe the bulbs is "Crisp". It's not 20K blue, but I wasn't expecting it to be. I'd say it's closer to a 14-15K range but these bulbs have changed me in the past 30 minutes. I used to be 20k 20k 20k blue blue kind of guy, but I am really enjoying the colour out of these bulbs. It's crisp light blue with some white in it. The corals opened up and look very good under them, especially the blues and greens. In short, I am quite happy with the bulbs and I can get some photos up, although it will be difficult to capture the colour.
Too long; didn't read (TL;DR) : Transaction went well, bulbs well packaged. Running on m57 magnetic ballast. Colour more like 14-15k, but it is a very nice crisp blue/white. Recommended.
