Which MH bulb to buy? .... these work for me

T

ToddLaCo

Premium Member
Just my opinion, but I wouldn't buy cheap bulbs.

I bought some $30.00 That Fish Place brand bulbs when I lived in Pa and was completely dissastisfied with the cheap bulbs (usually get what you pay for). The color was not good, they never seemed to fire up properly, just generally a bad experience.

IMHO it is definately worth the extra $30.00 or so for a good quality bulb like the Ushio's your using.
 
George,
There are some on Ebay for $30 that some folks on RC are raving about. There is a thread in the Lighting section that talks about it. Sanjay Joshi has a pair of them and is currently testing them. I'm waiting to see how the 14k bulbs turn out. If they don't do well, I'll get a pair of the Iwaski 15k bulbs in the spring.
 
I think I tried this bulb - got it from them...didn't like it and it burned out.

I like XM's (250w, 10k) and get them from Marine Depot.
 
I run a mix of 10 and 20k Xms now but have run just 10k both XM and Ushio. Now I'm using magnetc ballasts but honestly I could not tell the difference side by side. The XM has better PAR but has the same crisp white look to it. I love XMs. I'm seriously considering reeflux though as those who have them rave but their PAR is significantly lower than Ushio's or XMs.
 
They look used, but probably only for test firing to make sure they worked at the factory. they don't look used enough to worry about in my opinion. Let us know how they look!
 
They do look a little burned in. Post them on RC and see if anyone else has that trouble if they are the reef optics bulbs.
 
George, did you fire those new bulbs up? What's your impression? I'd like to switch to a bluer bulb, and I was really considering those 14k Reefoptics.
 
I did a cursory scan of this thread. Did you end up with 14,000K XM bulbs?
 
Just saw the question back to me on Dec. 8th... :oops:

Anyway, I supplement my XM 10k bulbs with 110w of actinic PCs so I don't think they look too yellow!

I'd be interested in what results you have with the 14k $30 bulbs - so keep us posted!
 
That's a great price. Wow. I hope they last just as long.
 
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