Metal Halide Bulb
 

Anyone tried the MH from DIYREEF? It is almost half the price of what J&L is selling for an Ushio

I've heard decents thing about them, but not a whole lot as they are fairly new. But check this thread out http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6005 hes selling some very cheap new bulbs in 250 and 400 watt, And so far they seem great and cheap as well.

Thanks Stretch. I PM him, hope he has some left

Biotech, check out this thread. After Iwasaki, the Coralvue bulb seems to be the best bang for the buck. I will probably use Coralvue to replace my Aqualine. I liked the Coralvue picture best in the comparisons. Look how bright pink the coraline is.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...e&pagenumber=1

Here's a snippet:

IceCap Electronic Ballast
<PRE>
LAMP PAR WATT MaxWATT AMP MaxAMP
IWASAKI 651 252 275 2.17 2.45
USHIO 414 252 258 2.19 3.41
CV10K 387 250 251 2.17 2.46
CV20K 307 251 253 2.20 2.25
XM20K 270 252 301 2.17 2.81
CV15K 242 251 252 2.20 3.85
PFO13K 227 251 268 2.18 2.86
</PRE>
I plugged the data for the IceCap Electronic ballast into a spreadsheet and sorted them by PAR/WATT
<PRE>
PAR WATT Price Par/Watt Par/Dollar
IWASAKI 651 252 56 2.58 11.63
Ushio 10K 414 252 86 1.64 4.81
CV10K 387 250 52 1.55 7.44
CV20K 307 251 52 1.22 5.90
XM 20K 270 252 65 1.07 4.15
CV15K 242 252 52 0.96 4.65
</PRE>
Also sorted them by PAR/Dollar
<PRE>
PAR WATT Price Par/Watt Par/Dollar
IWASAKI 651 252 56 2.58 11.63
CV10K 387 250 52 1.55 7.44
CV20K 307 251 52 1.22 5.90
Ushio 10K 414 252 86 1.64 4.81
CV15K 242 252 52 0.96 4.65
XM 20K 270 252 65 1.07 4.15
</PRE>

it looks like quite a loss in PAR going with the coralview. PAR for buck ya it is good but with all the money I have spent on my tank a few bucks on a light bulbs doesent bother me.. actualy I am concidering going with radiums but the price has nothing to do with my bulb choice.

Steve

Good point. But I actually like the visual color output from the CoralVue better than the yellowish look from the AB. I guess I will wait a while to see if the AB gets added to the test. Although, I am using DE bulbs which none were tested and results could be totally different from SE bulbs.

Interestingly, the Coralvue SE bulbs perform better when using their own ballast.

Coralvue10K 430/262 = 1.64 PAR/WATT
Ushio10K 363/255 = 1.42 PAR/WATT

I'd love to see if DE bulbs get better results.

is there a canadian supplier of the coralvue bulbs yet?

Stretch - Tanks for pointing them to my thread.

Biotech adn One_divided,

I am getting a new batch of 175, 250 and 400 Watt bulbs and 250 and 400 Watt electronic ballast coming in next week.

These are priced way below retail cost of similar bulbs and ballast, please send me a PM if you are interested.

SamW,

That was interestting thread you had posted, I am sending one of my bulbs to JB NY to include to this comparison. I am sure my bulb will beat PAR/Dollar Hands down and come in better than any 10K bulbs in the comparison.

Venki Worathur

thats just cuz there not testing a 250watt SE AB 10000K on a proper ballast :mrgreen:

I would be interested in seeing some info on "your" bulbs if you have some, I am presently looking for new bulbs and open to Idea's but I need to see some sort of data relating to PAR and spectrum. I do have a PAR Sensor so if anyone out here buys one of "YOUR" bulbs I could compare it agains a AB on a HQI ballast.

Steve