T5's: A cautionary note

Status
Not open for further replies.
Grim, my Superblues don't flouresce the green/yellows hardly at all. From your pics, it looks like your bulb does.
 
Blueplus does OK for actinic. If your Blueplus does what the Superblue does it is different from the lamps I have which is possible. They didn't come out with the Blueplus in the 80 watt lamp until this time last year. It is possible the shorter bluepluses are better than the long ones but none of the blueplus pics I've seen look like what the superblue does.

How about greens as far a fluorescence? I know the tips on my yellow torch look slightly orange instead of yellow and greens glow like crazy.
 
The greens don't glow at all under the superblue that I have. I'm forced to use the VHO for that. Maybe its my Superblues that aren't right?

Another question..whats the cheapest shipping service for a box of this size? 48"+?
 
What kind of green corals do you have? I have a favia that looks like it has LED's in the centers. Also have a horn coral that is that bright too. The frogspawn looks metalic under them. Look at the pics in my gallary. The frogspawn looks better in person and the pics look pretty darn good.
 
I have a frogspawn, Candy cane, and a yellow Kenya tree. My VHOs produce the look that your Superblue pics have (with the greens). My Superblue does not come close. The oranges look great under them though. But no difference than it and the blue+. I'm stumped on this one.
 
Those pics were taken with a single 54 watt superblue running in the cheesey Helios fixture over a 6 foot tank. Sounds like you may have gotten a bad lamp. Might be worth trying the other one just to make sure.
 
Grim, let me clarify one thing. My candy cane llghts up much better with the VHOs..but the BluePlus or Superblue does pretty good with the greens in the frogspawn. I also have a green slimer...it looks great under the blue+ too.

But there is no difference I can tell between the bulbs.
 
Codemann - This is disappointing to hear.

I tried to order Helios SuperBlue bulbs a month ago and they were out. Last week, after seeing that you ordered, I figured they were back in stock and placed the order (bulbs ONLY - I'm not sure how you wound up with the whole bulb, reflector, ballast pieces, but I made sure to specify)

They are supposed to be delivered today. We'll see what I get. I guess after all this talk, if they are just the same as ATI Blue Plus bulbs I'll be sort of disappointed. Dont get me wrong, the Blue Plus is a nice bulb. I was just hoping for something different.

Well I needed 2 more bulbs anyway. So 2 more Blue Plus are OK. But I have to add that the shipping charges at Commodity Axis are a bit outrageous. I could get Blue Plus bulbs from Reef Geek and shipping charges are about half the cost.
 
Yes it is disappointing. I'm not happy at all about it. How much were the bulbs only? I made sure I specified too...I thought $46 per bulb was a bit pricey but it seemed like it was worth it after seeing Grims pictures. I'm wondering if the bulbs you ordered are going to fit in you canopy using retros. Let me know what happens.
 
The bulbs-only were 19.99 each. I specified the exact length, as they seemed very intent to know (I think I wrote here once before, they claim to make or have bulbs at all sorts of lengths, as in 45.5, 46, 46.5, etc - really weird, I've never heard of that before) They are supposed to be fitting into a SLS Tek-Light fixture (not a retro).

Actually not a bad price for bulbs only. But the shipping - ridiculous, $15 packaging fees plus shipping costs.
 
Well they told me that they only had 47" bulbs and that was it even after I asked if they had shorter bulbs (info I gathered from your post). The email customer support is atrocious.
 
Codeman00 said:
Yes it is disappointing. I'm not happy at all about it. How much were the bulbs only? I made sure I specified too...I thought $46 per bulb was a bit pricey but it seemed like it was worth it after seeing Grims pictures. I'm wondering if the bulbs you ordered are going to fit in you canopy using retros. Let me know what happens.
Click to expand...

Had you run Blueplus lamps before ordering the superblues?
 
Yes, but unfortunately, I never ran them by themselves. I had 2 Blue+'s, Sun and a Day bulb. I always ran the blue plus in a pair with a Sun or Day. My fault.
 
I just pulled out my Actinic plus and hot wired it to the WH7 ballast to do a reality check. This lamp is not even close the the super blue. Hmmmmm..... Dunno. Like I said the longer lamp might be different than the others. Hell, I have 2 pure actinics and actinic pluses that haven't even been fired up yet. Not like I needed more T5's. Sorry it didn't work out for you.
 
Grim-

Are you talking about Actinic Plus? Blue Plus?

Seems like we keep going back and forth here. Which ones are you comparing to which?
 
T5 Actinic Plus is a T5 Blue Plus...Actinic + is what is on the bulb. We are comparing those to a Superblue. Grim's experience is that they are way different...I have found that they look the same to me. Hope that clears things up.
 
ATI and D&D have marketed what is the same lamp using different names. ATI calls the blue lamp Blueplus. The actinic ATI's I have were labeled blue 03 and the Aquablue and sun. D&D calls it's blue lamp Actinic plus and the actinic Pure Actinic. I think they call Aquablue the same and I seem to remember the sun being called midday.
 
How about a little simple list. Is this right??

ATI Blue plus = D&D Actinic Plus
ATI Actinic 03 = D&D Pure Actinic
ATI Aquablue = D&D Aquablue
ATI Sun = D&D Midday

I guess Blue 03 belongs in there somewhere? And it's being speculated that the Helios Superblue is might be equal to the others in the top line, but still open for debate.

My Helios superblue bulbs didnt make it yet, so I still cant comment
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Dr. Reef
XMAS Sale @ Dr. Reef's
Replies
0
Views
222
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef's XMAS Sale
Replies
0
Views
447
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Affordable Aquaria by Dr. Reefs Black Friday Sale
Replies
0
Views
163
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Valentines Sale @ Dr. Reef's
Replies
0
Views
166
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
sickman
Juwel Lido 200 - really reef tank ready all in one? Really Really?
2
Replies
39
Views
908
Reefing102
Reefing102
Back
Top