Neptune Aquatics

WOW on a crappy Odyssea bulb !!!

xcaret

xcaret

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I have an Odyssea fixture to perform surgery on and the stock bulb I just placed it away and forgot about it. Today I was ready to send one IceCap ballast for service and decided to test the bulb with another IcaCap ballast. It's a 250W DE 10K stock from the fixture.
I fired it on and started doing some other things looking away from the light; when I turned to the light WOW !! it was amazingly bright white and crisp, I could not believe it, I have a Phoenix 14K in a PFO pendant over the cube and it looked dimmed by the Odyssea.
Now makes me wonder how long would it hold the brightness/color compared to the name brand ones.
 
That bulb will last about 2-3 months before the envelope is all splattered and caked, I went that route on a frag tank years ago, I tried a 10k and a 14k both got dim and shifted quickly after initially looking real good.
 
I was just impressed of the crisp white light on such bulb; I know the ballasts are crappy for a 250W but they are excellent to power 150W bulbs, that's what I did back when I had the Biocube 29 with the modded hood. My mod was on a budget.
I'm going to put it to the test on a PFO reflector with a PFO mag ballast and hang it over a tank.
The Oddysea fixture got a new Phoenix and IceCap ballast, I wanted to swap the PC bulbs for T5 but on a budget means search for a deal
 
If you want a budget backup MH or are just plain on a budget check out http://lightneed.com their Plusrite 20k halides last forever and although they look like a 12-14k bulb instead of a true 20k they have a nice pleasing color with plenty of definition.
 
I've done real life testing with them and I'm happy, I don't need a little machine to tell me that a bulb works well and has good output ;)
 
That's a good price for MH and good reason to give them a try.
I think I'll buy couple from MD they have a Buy One Get One Free AquaMaxx
I only have one little tank running on MH mainly zoas, one GBTA little tiny orange cap and pocillopora, overkill but it looks nice
 
I am always on the look out for good deals on MH bulbs, so I followed your link to Ebay for the plusrite bulbs. I don't see the name Plusrite, so I'm not sure if these are the ones you'd mentioned. The price is unbeatable!

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-x-175W-175-watt-20000K-Metal-Halide-Aquarium-Bulb-20K_W0QQitemZ350200876492QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5189994dcc&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262#ht_2008wt_1027

Right now, I'm running a PFO dual 175w copper wound ballast to fire 2 x 175w Reeflux 12k bulbs. I almost don't mind spending the money for the Reeflux because the color, definition and shimmering is near perfect. Since I go through these bulbs fairly quickly, do you think these Plusrites will hold up under the PFO ballast?

I saw your post stating they last forever, how long (many months) do you think they can go if they're running 8 hour a day? I ask, so I know how many to order.

Thank you for the heads up on these bulbs and seller! :eek:D

Late note edit: I' wondering if I should just stick with the Reefluxs from Custom Aquatic, since I can't find them cheaper than Custom Aquatic. Thanks again for hooking me up with them....
 
Hey Joel, the Plusrites are the MH aquarium bulbs on the site I linked, the 20ks will not be nearly as blue as the 12k Reeflux, they run more like a true 12k bulb and are meant to be fired on a magnetic ballast. If you want a nice blue color XM 20ks are good, but if you're happy with the reeflux 12ks and they work for you I say stick with them, or try the Reeflux 20k I like the look of them better than the 12s, plus their brighter. ;)
 
I'm about to order some of these bulbs myself, I mean at $20 a pop you can almost screw around with buying different combos just to see if you like the color compared to the $60-100 bulbs by "brand name" manufactures.

So if the 20k looks like a 12k (less blue than the reeflux even) should I even bother with a 14K? Or will that be really yellow... I wish they had spectral plots of their bulbs.
 
So 20ks give a little bit of a pop, 14k not so much, gotcha. They seem to have a wide range of other kelvin too at the 175W range from 12k bulbs to 22k bulbs, although the "off sizes" are $5 more per bulb :D

I'll give the 20ks a shot though, see how they work out.
 
Hi Jeremy,

I ordered the 20k Reeflux from Best Pet Lighting.com for $51 a piece (not a bad deal at all - no tax and $7 flat rate ups shipping). Thank you for the feedback on the 20k vs 12k. I hope I like the 20's more than the 12s. I did consider the XM's, but they cost a lot more; and I liked what you had to say about the Reeflux 20s Thx :)

I read some where that there is a chance of burning my corals (or them going into shock) with the 20s, since I'm changing PAR (?) brightness - I guess. Should I do anything special when I put the Reeflux 20s in, like not run them as long for some period of time?

I am running the URI Super Actinics 2 x 110w, and I can't find the NM rating anywhere (my guess is 420-460ish very blue). I only ask because I'm curious. I don't run the URIs with the Reelux 12ks as they gobble up a lot of energy and $$. I run the URIs 3 hour before and 3 hours after the MHs are on. I'm wondering if I can keep the same schedule?

I am interested in your 2 cents.

See ya at the Swap.
 
My Reeflux 20Ks arrived today after the main tank lights when off, so I'm going to fire them up tomorrow. I spoke with Andrew at Custom Aquatic, and he told me that I'll be fine with them (no burning or shock of corals) since I am not going up in wattage. Thank you for the offer of the mesh. If you still think I need it, let me know. Otherwise, I'll let you know how much I like them. Can hardly wait to fire them up.
 
I ordered a few bulbs from the place Jeremy suggested, at $20 a pop I just gotta try them, got a 250 DE, 150 DE, and a 175 SE, so I can try them on each of my ballasts, still waiting for them to show up however *grumble* Unfortunately I'll have 12k Reeflux bulbs that are about a year old to compare to, so yeah they'll be a night and day difference.
 
I might order some of the ones Jeremy posted Reefbrite? still have to wait a couple weeks, maybe a month since I ordered some of the MD BOGO-Free AquaMaxx 14K in 250W SE and couple 150W DE.
The thing is I'm only running one MH fixture over a cube that has nothing but zoas; does it even make sense to stock on MH? price is more than great that's why I'm stuffing the closet like a turkey for thanksgiving day...
 
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