XM / CoralVue.... Which bulbs?

[Chumpo]

Hi
I am about to renew the 3 x 250W bulbs in my halide.

I was about to buy CoralVue 14k's but recently found this interesting article on this site http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=254667

This seems to suggest that the XM bulbs have a greater PAR output than almost any other bulb.

Does anyone have any experience with CoralVue, XM or any other brand??

What are your opinions??

I want to buy a bulb which looks good, but also has a great 'non-visible' spectrum, for corals etc..

Thanks

 

[cwegescheide]

Hi there. Well I am far from an expert but this is what I know.. I also have 250 W on my 90 gallon. First I had XM 20K's and I didn't really care for that much blue. Also the Par is not good. I just switched to 10K Uisho's which are supposed to be VERY close to the Par that is put out from the XMs. Uisho's are supposed to be a much better quality bulb.. Well I can tell you that one of my bulbs puts out a very nice bright white light and the other puts out a rather yellowish light. Hmmm hopefully the bright white light is the light that its supposed to put out because thats what I like.

 

[greenbean36191]

I would steer clear of the coralvues. IME they aren't very high quality bulbs. One of my friends had two that were totally different colors and the one I had gave off a purplish cast. IMO XMs are a good choice. My favorite is the Phoenix 14k, but they're only available in DE which I would assume isn't what you're looking for.

 

[ray-ray's_55]

I would stay away from CV and I would definately use XM. I work at a LFS and have seen all brands at different watts and XM seem to be awesome especially for the price.

 

[HolyScoly]

well ive been using the cv20k an have no complaints up to now and they do have the highest par out of all the 20k bulbsthats my 2 cents. But i have heard from more than 1 person that they due tend to come defective i have 2 250 and my friend has 1 250 and ther doing alright for now, good luck.

 

[tkang69]

I run the 10K XM bulbs on my tanks, and I'm fairly happy with the color. Nice crisp white for the most part. I don't know about the coralvue bulbs, but I haven't heard anything nice about them recently.

HolyScoly: Your sig reminds me of my wife Same problem. Vicious maroon clown (attacks me everytime I clean the tank). She'd rather kill off the rest of the tank (or me), then let me get rid of that fish

 

[zenn]

i have 10k CoralVu bulbs and they work nicely. No complaints. They are very natural looking white light.

 

[twon8]

the reeflux 12k are pretty nice; what type of ballast are you running

 

[tkeracer619]

I use Coralvue 250w 10k supplemented with VHO. I am going to try the 12k bulbs next round.

Have had a few issues but they were worked out asap. Customer service is great. Thats why I am going to use them again.

Look at my photo album. The color is pretty accurate.

I run the bulbs on the coralvue e-ballasts. I am satisfied.

 

[STEELERFAN747]

TKANG69 I RECENTLY UPGRADE FROM MY 38G TO A STANDARD 75AND TRIED SNEEKING THE FISH OUT AND GETTING CREDIT IN MY LFS GUESS WHO CAUGHT ME LOL JUST TO LETYOU KNOW THE FISH IS HEALTHY IN MY 75

 

[STEELERFAN747]

SORRY TKANG I POSTED ON MY FRIENDS COMPUTER THATS ME HOLYSCOLY ON TOP

 

[Shooter7]

I started using the Reeflux 12k's the first of the year. While I love the color, something happened at around the 6 - 7 month mark and I suddenly started getting interesting algae growth on the substrate, zoanthids and other lower level corals started having problems, and some new acro frags and an established monti cap began fading. I have pulled some zoas out of this tank and placed in my 10g under 96w pc's and they immediately perk up. Only thing I can assume is that something happened to the 12k's that suddenly decreased or altered their performance. I'm getting ready to switch to either Ushio or XM 10k's with supplemental actinics.

 

[PatrickJ]

Get Coralvues 10K Reeflux. Look at the glass arc tube in the middle, insure that they are both the same arc tube by the 3 digit code that is written on the arc tube.

You will love them. All my friend's corals are turning blue. Not kidding you. I have a piece of purple brown montipora that was brown in my tank, but once it got under Coralvues it turn blue. I do as many water changes, and I have the same equipment. He design my tank and his tank. So I said gotta get Reeflux's.

Seriously, you will like the 10K Reeflux. Just look at the arc tube to make sure your getting inditical bulbs. Its like a batch number. Mine say 510.

 

[ReefBuilderNJ]

i like xm bulbs. i use 15k and 10k without a problem. the 15k's seem more like 20k's.

 

[rockindacheeks]

i would go with XM 10 or 10k over those Coralvue lamps.

 

[Amador]

I am using the XM 15ks. I really like the color, but the PAR just sucks. My next bulbs will probably be either the Hamilton 14ks or the XM10ks.