Reeflux 20k 250W bulb issues

[jh2pizza]

We purchase 3 - 20K reeflux bulbs. Two of them are white, white, white, more like the 10K bulbs, the other is a nice pleasing blue. Swapped them around ruling out the ballast, cords, reflectors, etc. Nothing changes.

Any suggestions?

 

[Buckeye1]

Are these the double end or single end? I've been running the DE 250w reeflux 20Ks for several months now and have been extremely dissapointed with how white they are. I was hoping for a much bluer bulb.

 

[jh2pizza]

SE. I could understand if all the lights were this white. It could be the ballast, preference of color, etc, but to be this different, something is wrong somewhere.

 

[RokleM]

I'd contact coralvue. From what I've heard, they'll swap them out (although I'm not sure if they'll do all three or just attempt to identify which bulbs are bad).

 

[hollback]

That's why I moved to the 250w Radiums. I had the same issue with my 2 20k Reeflux bulbs. They looked completely different.

 

[jakano]

Good luck getting Coral Vue to do anything. I had problems with the DE 20K bulbs and I didn't get alot of help from them at all. Apparently they don't work correctly on a HQI ballast but they don't tell you that at all. I emailed the president at Coral Vue and he told me they can have problems running on those kinds of ballasts.Who ever heard of a DE bulb that doesnt work well on a HQI ballast that every light fixture made for DE bulbs comes with? And they were not a 20K bulb at all more like a 12k if anything. In fact I think I traded you those bulbs didn't I Buckeye? In Coral Vue's defense David did offer me some of their regular Coral Vue bulbs as replacements but those bulbs were like $15 cheaper than the $65 I paid for the Reeflux bulbs so I said no thank you. It didn't seem to me he really cared one way or the other about a customer problem.

 

[CleveYank]

The only reliable and well recommended bulbs by coralvue are the reeflux 10K 400 watt SE and the reeflux 12K 400 watt SE. The 12K 400 watt which apparently has a ton of par and a blue hint and coral colors that will knock your socks off. See Acorpora Nuts TOTM system. Although do not bother to write him since he does not bother to reply or offer you any pointers that were not already posted in the TOTM article on the bulbs.

The common knowledge out there is that no matter which bulb by this company you buy that both of their lines of coralvue and reeflux bulbs will only reliably fire and last when used on electronic ballasts. Coloration variant from bulb to bulb aside. And their DE's are literally non-shielded insides of their SE's so if the SE's say all over the place you must fire them on electronic only then it would stand to reason that their DE's would need electronic only to fire and last reliably.

See consumer warning on their website under the coralvue SE.
http://www.coralvue.com/bulbs.html

And coralvue's customer service is posted all over the place to be as bad as jakano says.




If I were setting up a system with limited space and big bang for the buck. I'd go 2 VHO super actinics, 2 t5 ATI blue plus and 3 Phoenix 14K SE's. Dawn dusk cycle, early to late afternoon and slamming midday great PAR and acans and such would glow like crazy.




http://www.coralvue.com/bulbs.html

 

[serpentman]

I ran the 250W Reeflux 20K's on the recommended Galaxy E-Ballasts. 2 of the 3 significantly shifted color in about 3 mos. Bulb #3 took about another month and then shifted. PAR was still excellent but eventually they had a horrible 10K like yellow hue. I ended up switching to the Pheonix 14K, SE bulbs. Very similar in color appearance and PAR to the Reeflux bulbs when they were new.

Personally, if they are new bulbs I would push for a credit towards another bulb type.

 

[jh2pizza]

There was a change in the 20K arc tubes a few months ago and sounds like you have some of the old and new ones mixed together. We will take care of this for you and make sure you have all new style 20K's. The ones that you have that have a 10K look are from the old batch of arc tubes.

Wrote CoralVue and they responded with great service and are replacing the bulbs right away.

Now we know.

 

[jh2pizza]

If I were setting up a system with limited space and big bang for the buck. I'd go 2 VHO super actinics, 2 t5 ATI blue plus and 3 Phoenix 14K SE's. Dawn dusk cycle, early to late afternoon and slamming midday great PAR and acans and such would glow like crazy.

I am certain that would light the tank up great, but to be honest, I really didn't want all that crap above the tank. Trying to dumb it down a good bit. I think in this hobby, we tend to turn into equipment junkies. I have slowly eliminated a bunch of crap from the system that required cleaning, maintenance and electricity.