Reeflux

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sasharotty

Moved on to my couch
I have seen and heard people say to put the dimple down on 12k reefux 400 watt bulbs.I believe this makes the color more blue? Wondering if anyone has heard that cause i do not see any "dimples" on the bulb.Where would i see this?
 
Does pointing this "nipple" down make the bulb any bluer?Cause the bulbs right now are pretty white with a tint of blue.The last ones i used were much bluer.Maybe got lucky when i put them in the first time.
 
You need to point the nipple up. If you don't it'll change colors. Mine turned pink. The web site I bought my light set up from never mentioned the importance bulb position.

Your bulbs will burn blue for the first two weeks and then turn more white. That's just the color of those bulbs. You can dim the ballast to get more blue.
 
I've got three reeflux 10k bulbs and they are currently all burning a different color. One is a nice crisp white and has been so since I got it about 6 months ago. One is definitely more blue-ish... looks more like a 14k or 20k bulb. Finally, the third bulb started out white but has progressively gotten more yellow and now pink in color. Next time around, I'll look elsewhere for my 10k SE bulbs.

(BTW- all three bulbs are run off icecap 250W ballasts. At first I though the ballasts were wonky but the bulb color is consistent across the ballasts.)
 
when the nipple is facing downwards it becomes a "cool point" on the tube and encourages the buildup of metal oxides... that silver scum that clogs up your halides over time.

orienting nipple upwards allows heat to rise and keep it hot, which keeps it from encouraging faster-than-normal buildup of metal inside the tube.

so basically your bulb will stay brighter longer nipple up.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14630854#post14630854 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ozkrogh
I've got three reeflux 10k bulbs and they are currently all burning a different color. One is a nice crisp white and has been so since I got it about 6 months ago. One is definitely more blue-ish... looks more like a 14k or 20k bulb. Finally, the third bulb started out white but has progressively gotten more yellow and now pink in color. Next time around, I'll look elsewhere for my 10k SE bulbs.

(BTW- all three bulbs are run off icecap 250W ballasts. At first I though the ballasts were wonky but the bulb color is consistent across the ballasts.)
Click to expand...

This infuriates me like none other. I went through multiple heated emails back and forth with the owner of Coralvue and Reeflux. That guy is such a douche. He told me that out of thousands of bulbs sold he'd never heard of his bulbs changing color. He said I was the ONLY person who'd EVER complained about this issue. Made it seem like I was going crazy. He's part of a "multi million dollar company", he was right, I was wrong. He's not only selling piece of crap products, he's also lying about the quality, telling customers there's nothing wrong when clearly I'm not the only customer that's had problems with inconsistant color. Believe it or not he actually blamed it on my eyes, Said that my eyes might be more sensitive to red light than others. I almost punched my computer screen. He made no offer to replace my faulty bulbs, all of which were bought at the same time and are all burning a different color. He told me I could send them in for testing, if he thought they were fine then I'd be out of luck. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
 
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Sounds like to me that these bulbs have the potential to burn a different color with each bulb? I use the coralvue e-ballasts and like i said 1st set of bulbs burned much bluer than these.Tried changing position on it looks very close to original position.Next set of bulbs might be changing.What is a good bulb to use with the coralvue ballasts in a 400?
 
My reeflux 20k's were significantly different in color for the first 200 hours, then all of a sudden BAM they look exactly the same now. One had a lot more yellow/white and the other one was a nice blue/white. I am almost happy with them now but wish they had a bit more blue.
 
My 12k looked identical to my 20k. (400wt). After about 2 months, the 12k now has a nicer blue tint than the 20k. I'm definately looking elsewhere when it comes time to change bulbs.
 
old_bulb.jpg


the bit on the top of the arc tube. apparently the is only there because its an artifact of the manufacturing process.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14637479#post14637479 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefEnabler
old_bulb.jpg


the bit on the top of the arc tube. apparently the is only there because its an artifact of the manufacturing process.
Click to expand...

Interesting I wish that they would have noted this on the box or something I never knew such a thing. I do have to agree that these bulbs do burn different colors this is my second set and I noticed the difference. still like the bulb great color and growth i get with these.
 
Ok on your pic reefenabler is the nipple inside the bulb? Cant really see it well, i think i found it from your pic but not 100% sure.:confused:
 
sasharotty
Heres a pic of a older reeflux bulb in a further away view that may help. It shows the same capsule inside the bulb ReefEnabler pictured with the nipple at the top

100_3560.jpg
 
Reeflux bulbs vary in color quite a bit from one bulb to another. This seems to be characteristic amongst Reeflux bulbs. They also have very low par.

XM or Radium are better bulbs with more consistent, stable spectrum.
 
this is an older but interesting article on metal halide nipple orientation:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/3/review

Richard Harker basically tested used metal halide bulbs in different orientations and got varying results. It turned out that the nipple orientation was not a predictable way to estimate PAR output, since in some cases a downward nipple read a higher PEAK PAR, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. In that case the nipple may be acting like a lens and creating a hotspot whereas facing it up to the reflector will distribute that "lighting anomaly" more evenly.

The location of the support wire in the bulb is a better indicator of which orientation has more PAR, and some different bulbs have some pretty bulky stuff inside the bulb that would affect the output.

The testing was missing some crucial data based on the sample; bulbs from random hobbyists were used and data was given for estimated hours of operation, but no data was available of which orientation the bulb was previously used in. So in other words the previous usage pattern would have affected where metal oxides formed in the tube and thus any testing of that bulb would be affected.

IMO it is possible for an older bulb to have a different spectrum up vs down, since the tube will be coated in metals but it will not be coated evenly. And this buildup can certainly affect the spectrum that passes through it.

I think even if theres a difference in color up vs. down, a good reflector is going to be mixing both of those spectrums pretty evenly into the tank anyway.
 
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I am on my second set of Reeflux bulbs. The first were 14K and now 10K. Both sets burn with different spectrum. Some more yellow than others while some were more red. This is extremely annoying to me also. No more Reeflux for me.
 
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