Trying halides from 1000bulbs*com

[talon4x4]

Yesterday I was searching around RC and I stumbled across a thread about the halides sold on eBay. There were quite a number of people happy with the PlusRite brand of halides. So I ordered up a set of SE 250w - 20k lights from 1000bulbs*com out of Garland,TX (several people in the thread recommended them over the eBay vendors). The total cost for these two bulbs with shipping, $32!!!! You just can't go wrong. If they s*ck, your not out much money. If there great, the savings is just incredible. Several reports of the lights still looking great after 6 months.

I also picked up a replacement bulb for my Coralife Turbo Twist for $12.

Right now I'm running Hamilton 250w 14k lights which are a bit over 1 yr old. So will see how they compare in the long run.

 

[tozzi]

Ah i seen plenty of those cheap bulbs. They are never as bright as a normal reef bulb imo. For the price i guess

 

[tent boy]

I got some ebay bulbs and they included free hair algea. Mine were bad bulbs for sure. Sounds like yours might work out based on the feedback. Let us know how they work out.

 

[talon4x4]

The par numbers for the 10k bulbs look pretty good.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15786287&postcount=95

 

[tmz]

I used plus rite a couple of years ago on frag tanks and still have some in the drawer where I keep bulbs. They give you light but I'm not real confident about the spectrum. The 20ks appeared overly bluish almost dim.. The 10 ks where extremely bright white and grew algae.
I switched to hamiltons and corals seem to do much better even with 15 month old bulbs.
The uv bulbs worked well.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Hamiltons rock. I just replaced a 3 year old 250w Hamilton 14k.

that's 3 years of continuous use.

The stony corals growing under that lamp grew great and looked fantastic right up until the day I changed that bulb out (about a month ago).

I wonder how well the ebay bulbs will be functioning in 3 years?
I'm always willing to learn from others

 

[tmz]

3yrs wow. I chicken out on the display tanks after about 15 mos and change them but run them for another 6mos to 9mos on the frag tanks in the basement and they seem to work fine.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

the problem with using a good quality halide lamp for 3 years:

change out to a new bulb can cause problems

 

[Sir Edward]

Gary, where did you buy your replacements?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

my replacement was a Ushio 14k.
I price shop when purchasing MH lamps and I usually end of using one of three or four vendors... all of which happen to be sponsors of RC.

 

[quonnie]

How often do you all replace your MH bulbs I replaced mine after 1 year and I have bleached a lot of out.

 

[tmz]

I replace the hamilton 14k mogul bulbs I use at 15mos. I just raise them an extra six inches off the water for the first week of use. Some say bulbs need to "burn" in to allow the gases to settle in on a consistent spectrum and run them away from the tank for 30 hours or so but I don't have spare ballasts sitting around Others shorten the photo period during the first week of new bulbs.