Scared of XM

Shawnts106

Shawnts106

New member
I have been thinking of getting XM10K bulbs for my new aquarium... however I have read about so much BAD on these bulbs and the bulb producing this nasty pucke yellow color I am really scared to get this bulb...

I was wondering what other 10K bulb is nice crisp white and has good if not simular PAR to the XM10K's.... also,

what about XM 15K and XM20K... whats the PAR on these?

let me know..

I was also thinking of getting the XM20's and drowning out the blue with some VHO aquasuns...what do you guys think?

I just want Great PAR and MAGNIFICENT COLOR!
 
Looks are all in the eye of the beholder. Try the lighting forum There is a thread from JBNY with pictures & all kinds of data:D
I use theXM 10K with nice results.
 
I love my XM10Ks. I did read a few threads where someone bought a few bulbs, and one was urine-yellow in their tank but the others were great. Called them and got an immediate replacement from XM.

I love our 400W 10K XMs and likely will replace them with the same when the time comes.
 
Well this is very encouraging... Makes me feel alittle more at ease about purchasing the XM10K's...

the PAR is WOWOOWOOW!!!
can you run a SE bulb on a HQI ballast??? I dont think you can but just wanting to make sure...

Im thinking you have to run DE bulbs on HQI...


I am thinking of the XM10K 250Watt's and four 110W VHO's.. actinic probably... or 2 actinic and 2 fiftyfiftys... and also 2 more VHOs the 72inch 160watt... dont know about actinics or 50's yet...

what do you guys think..?

I dont want a 20K look... more of a mix between 10K and 15K...

thanks for the encouraging help so far..

ALSO, I have another question...

I have heard of a "burn in time" ???
please explain..

thanks alots!~
 
I just switch to XM from Ushios. They colour was really nice white with a bit of blue. And alot brighter. However I am in that catogoury of people getting a yellow bulb. One was great the other very yellow. But I am getting a replacement. I am running, 10k's and 20K's. the 20K XM are really nice. And I was thinking they where going to be really blue, but they are super nice, where it doesn't make everything drown out in blue, it blends very nice
 
I hear the Coralvue 10 K Reeflux is the way to go. I do not have them yet but they are my next 10k bulb.

I run the 10 k xm's and do not really like the look.
 
I swapped from Ushio 10k's to XM 10k's and love the color. They are a very nice color on my magentic ballasts. On my old Eballast though, they were a bit yellow, so I think the ballast can play a role in the final color.
 
I'm in the same boat. I'm currently running 250w 20k Radiums on a SLS BW7 dual 250w HQI ballast -- they present a real 14k color but considering switching to XM 10k's but I am worried about the color as stated above but also how the bulbs will interact/run/look on an HQI ballast.

According to Sanjay's spectral plots and other info, the XM 10k on an HQI ballast is the 2nd highest in PAR next to the Iwaski on a HQI ballast.
 
This is mine with two 250w SE 10k XM's on pfo hqi ballasts running at about 340w, with spider reflectors

These two lamps are about 8 months old, running 10 hours a day. The first pair i bought, one of them wouldnt light but we exchanged by the shop i bought them from and havent had a problem since.

The blue background lends a little blue overall, but the pic is accurate for color. No yellow in the bulbs so far.

33699Small_Tankwide_01-16-2006.jpg
 
I love the color and PAR of my 175W 10K but I am having trouble firing them on my CV e-ballast. The email I got from XM made it sound that this is a pretty common problem on e-ballast although you could be fine. But once the bulb fires I am very happy!
 
I am on my second set of XM 10K ( 175 ) I am running them on a Hamiton Eballast, never an issue.

These are pictures from the other day. New bulbs have been in for about a week. The tank looks better in real life, but pretty close. The tank is brighter in person too.



Full58.jpg


58middle.jpg
 
I swapped from Ushio 10k's to XM 10k's and love the color. They are a very nice color on my magentic ballasts. On my old Eballast though, they were a bit yellow, so I think the ballast can play a role in the final color.
Click to expand...

Just curious what EBALLAST where you using?


I will be running the 10K's on a Blueline Eballast.. and now Im worried!

ahhhh...

Another Question is has anyone ran them on the ESU mag Ballasts?


Also, how do Reds and blues show up under the 10K XM's???
I am really wondering about Blue and Red Zoos showing up well...


let me know...
 
Just hope that you don't get yellow XM 10k's like I did. My replacements should be arriving next week. I'll let you know how they look. Do a search under my name, and you'll see just how yellow defective XM's can be...
 
I love the color of my Coralvue Reeflux 12k's, but have not seen anything regarding their performance stats yet.
 
I am frustrated as most others with the fact that color and par don't often go hand in hand. I also am considering 400w xm 10k's, but am conserned about the yellow light stories. I considered EVC 10k's as they have good par and ac 14k as they are marginal par and good color. I also thought about blending iwasaki's and EVC14's. EVC 14k's have an outstandind spike at 450 and about 415. Based on graphs, they should blow xm 20k's out of the water.

Marcus
 
Don't go with the XM 15K, the bulbs have incredibly poor PAR rating, the color does look good, but isn't very bright at all! I had to replace mine after 3 months, cause they looked so poor. I went with VHOs and 10Ks on my tank instead. It still isn't as blue as I'd like, but still nice all the same.
 
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