Phoenix bulbs - SE vs DE
 

Who here has seen BOTH the 250w Phoenix DE bulbs AND the SE bulbs? Does the color spectrum look the same? The DE is my favourite halide bulb on the market, but I haven't seen the SE in action yet. Thoughts?

Oops, I guess this should have gone into the Lighting Specific topic. :o

BUMP! :)

Didn't even know they make an SE bulb.

I think the SE version is a lot more rare then the DE version. I don't even know of a vendor who sells it in Canada.

I remember when they first came out they were $100+/- in the US (now they are around $75 US).

Cheers,
Vic

+1 I'd be very interested to find a vendor who sold these.

Marine Depot has both 175's & 250's

Premium Aquatics has the 175's

You could probably ask PA if they can get the 250's because they ship USPS and MD does not.

It would be awesome if a Canadian vendor had them though.

Cheers,
Vic

I don't know about looks side to side, but, SE bulbs 9 out of 10 times will give you more PAR and give better coverage.. If I have the choice between the two I will always go with a SE bulb id I have the space.

Steve

While I haven't used either bulb I agree with Steve.

Note as well that SE is halfway to SEXY. It'd be foolish to overlook that.

:rofl:

Hooray another SE vs DE argument!

Sanjay Joshi uses DE. :biggrin:
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month

Coming next week: 'Should I use T5 or MH?' followed by 'Which skimmer is best?'... lol and around and around we go. :razz:

Edit: I am actually quite curious about how these compare. My choice to stay with DE was highly influenced by these bulbs.

acording to the article you posted he is using 3X400W metal halide lamps in Pacific Garden Supply’s Lumen Arc III which are SE fixtures that he rates very high as it has adjustable bulb positioning and other very nice qualities.. Maybe you should read the articles befor you post them :razz: and he is running 400watt Ushios.

Oh, and he also uses IceCap LED strips for his actinic.

Steve

:lol: Burn! You might want read the rest of the article for yourself.


"3X400W metal halide lamps in Pacific Garden Supply’s Lumen Arc III reflectors were my initial choice... More recent changes made to the lighting involve changing the reflectors to Sunlight Supply Lumen Max III reflectors."

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month

sorry for the noob question... what's the difference between SE and DE?

SE = Single ended (Mogul Base)
DE = Double ended

actualy I did, missed that one.

but dosn't show anything either way. his own tests over the years have showen SE's have better output and coverage when powered by the same ballasts, heck my own tests have showen SE's have a lot better out put also.

what I did find interesting is the MH/LED combo.. where are the T5s? :wink:

Steve

Thanks for all the input everyone! I know the SEs are difficult to get a hold of, but I do have a US mailing address if needed. Once a year replacement really isn't a big deal. However, if I put the effort into doing that, I would be HIGHLY disappointed if they weren't very similar to the Phoenix DEs.

I'm going to be using electronic ballasts, and if I use DEs I would have to retrofit my SE pendants, which is one of the reasons why I want to use SE bulbs. I'm using a DE fixture right now, but I am all out of DE bulbs with the current bulbs needing replacement. Time to put the pendants to use...and I would rather not have to retrofit them to accept DE bulbs. PAR isn't a huge concern, but I'm also not into wasting electricity on an inefficient setup. My current setup is inefficient for a number of reasons, and the corals are getting plenty enough PAR, but more for "free" is almost always better. ;)