Reeflux 12k vs 10k

[MikeD]

I need some opinions on this and since PA is my favorite vendor, I thought I'd post it here. I'm looking a good bulb to light my 24" deep tank. The light fixtures I have only have 2 24 watt T5's per MH rather than 4. So I'm guessing overall, I'll have a little less blue in the tank. Now, I heard the 10k and 12k bulbs by reeflux are great esp since the 10k isn't yellow. I HATE that yellowish look (and I've been using phoenix for the last year but that is without actinics).

The negatives I've heard were that 12k's were dim. Is this so? Is the par a lot lower than the 10k? Yet someone posted that the blue tint in the 12k was very nice.

Any advise or recommendations?

Mike

 

[Jeremy B.]

Hey Mike,

Sorry for the delayed response, as I was at IMAC all weekend, however I think I got you taken care of via email earlier today.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[jmc74]

can you post the info here... I would like to see your answer about the diference on the 12k vs 10k


thanks,
Juan

 

[Jeremy B.]

Hi Juan,

The 12k has a very low light output, and is somewhat dim. It does really make the corals pop, however if you have mostly sps you're probably not going to get that much growth out of them.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[jmc74]

ok, so the best combination with let's say a coralvue 250w DE ballast and reeflux 10k? or what else, i do have cheap PC's 4x 65 Actinic blue, and they sux

 

[aquaconnect]

I will tell you, that I had 4 X 250 DE 12k reeflux running off icecap electronic ballasts and hated them. My corals looked good for about 2 months, then they really lost some color and growth. To be honest, I really don't like these bulbs. I would seriously consider just bucking up and getting the DE 14k aquaconnect. People compare these all day long to the phoenix and I have to say that my personal experience they are nothing alike. The aquaconnect are much more expensive, but I ran mine 18mts before they started a color shift, were as when I ran phoenix I got about 7mts. I got some serious growth out of the aquaconnect. If they are too blue, you could go w/giesemann 14.5k's. They do run whiter than the aquaconnect. To be honest, I just switched to 400watters and love them! I just hated never getting good growth under my 250's. Good luck!

 

[Jeremy B.]

By looking at the glass stamping (this the equivelant of a human fingerprint for a metal halide bulb) the Phoenix and Aquaconnect appear to come off of the same exact machine out of the same factory. Having said that, it doesn't mean they are spec'd out to be identical in the way they burn though. If you compare the spectral analysis of the two bulbs, they appear to be the exact same lamp, but at the same time anything is possible. My guess is that it's about a 95% chance that they are the same.

As far as the DE Reeflux lamps go, I really like the 10k, however I'm not much of a fan of the 12k. If you're wanting something more "blue", then I would highly recommend the 14k Phoenix / Aquaconnect. Of course not much beats a 400w Radium or Aquaconnect in my opinion too, especially for sps!

 

[acropora nut]

12k reeflux bulbs

12k reeflux bulbs

Take a look at my tank ... I run 12k 400w SE REEFLUX bulbs and I have awsome growth and insane colors. I do not run any suplplemental lighting on this tank.........

 

[jmc74]

WOW, that's a nice tank!!!

 

[Jeremy B.]

Awesome looking setup, great job!

 

[aquaconnect]

There's a big difference between the 400's and 250's as far as brightness goes, just take that into consideration, and supernice tank!!

 

[jmc74]

yeah, well I can't afford 400's, the way it is having 2 sets of dual 250w + 4x 65w on both my main and frag tanks is not cheap

plus the heat is a little hard to control here in antioch, ca...now we are 90's + and my garage get hot

 

[acropora nut]

I have run the 12k 250's over a 24inch tank and had the same results........

 

[aquaconnect]

About my above post, I just meant that the pic of acropora nut's tank is super nice, I wasn't trying to offend you. Sorry if it came off that way. Have you thought about going with a straight 10K, like an AB 10K and maybe supplement w/super atinics w/your pc's? I think that would give you a good color spread, or w/half and half's. You would get good growth under them. Also, a lot of people are switching to T5's lately for sps because of power consumption and heat, and they look super good too, w/o the heat. Or you could up grade your pc's to t5's to supplement the 10k AB's. Good luck w/everything, and again, you might look at the geisemann 14k's, or maybe the 13K marine bulbs. The 13k's have a very crisp white color, and are an excellent choice for sps. Someone here on RC used to have some pic comparisons of those 2 by the way.

 

[jmc74]

do we have a discount code? i want to buy some stuff...

 

[bstone]

acropora nut, awsome tank!

What ballast are you running the 12k Reeflux on?

Thanks!

 

[jmc74]

does anyone know the discount code?

 

[Jeremy B.]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10215879#post10215879 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmc74
do we have a discount code? i want to buy some stuff...

We do not have a standard discount code available at this time. We do however shop our competitors and try to maintain the lowest prices available on the web. If you do find an item elsewhere for a lower price we'd be more than happy to beat that price for you. If you are making a very large order feel free to shoot me an email and I'll see what type of quantity discount we can work for you.

Thanks,
Jeremy