explorer364
Premium Member
Has anyone had any problems with the Radium 250watt / 20,000K MH bulbs that have been ordered from Marine Depot over the last 2 or 3 months? I placed on order in May which included two of these bulbs. Originally they were placed for another tank, but as things worked out - I decided to go for one large tank rather than two smaller. So, the bulbs were placed on the shelf and about three weeks ago I changed the ones out of my reef. Coincidentally about a week later I came home and the tank was dark on one side. So, I checked the ballast and then tapped the bulb lightly to see if any arc would go across the glass. When nothing happened I started to remove the bulb and then screw it back in and it fired. The next couple of days things were fine and then again - dark bulb. So, I tapped the bulb and it fired. After speaking to a number of people including Sunlight Supply I was convinced that my mogul socket had gone bad. I am getting ready to order a much larger tank so I installed a mogul socket and for two days things were fine. Then everything started falling apart. About two weeks later I came home and both sides of the tank were dark. Today, I finally got the time to take everything apart, checked all the grounds, the sockets, wiring - everything. So, after being frustrated - I fortunately had kept my last order and after comparing the two bulbs, they are different. The obvious difference was the labeling where the new bulbs state Radium - made in Germany - 250 watt - 7y - with an E inside of a triangle. The old bulbs are in a different font with the same except they state 8x without the triangle. Then, fortunately were I work, we have precise measuring devices and the socket part of the bulbs were actually a different length - the older bulbs are longer reaching the ground inside the socket. The glass on the new bulbs are longer and slightly wider than the older bulbs. Has anyone else noticed this difference???
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