Time for new 250w SE MH bulbs- options and pictures?

Its time for new SE MH bulbs. I started 6 years ago with Ushio 10k supplemented by 2x140w URI VHO Super Actinics, great color and growth with the combination.

Next was XM 10k with the VHOs and growth and color were amazing, easily the best growth I have ever seen in my system.

The last two years I have used Reeflux 12k without the VHOs and while the color is pretty good the intensity is not there and the growth has been dismal. Very dim in comparison, in fact one 12k just quit so I screwed and old XM in to get me by until I get new bulbs and the Reeflux looks like its not even on vs the XM 10k.

I have been thinking about the newer Coralvue 14k bulbs and David at Coralvue says the PAR is very high meaning good coral growth but I cannot find the article he linked me to or any pictures of them in use. These are a fairly new bulb so theer is not much info on the web yet.

Any ideas? I don't want too blue as I prefer the purple of the true actinic over blue but I also want to avoid using the extra 280 watts of VHO too.

 

this should be everything you need... i recommend the iwasaki 15K

Testing 250-watt Single-ended Metal Halide Lamps and Ballasts by Joe Burger - Reefkeeping.com

 

I talked with a ushio rep, he showed me a comparison of the par values between their 10 14 and 20 k 150 watt mh. the 10 was highest and the 14 was only about 10 percent less but I got the 10k.
I also like xm bulbs. If you use electronic ballast specify to the company you purchase the bulbs from, because most bulbs mogul base are made for magnetic even though the will operate on both.

 

Thanks Dingo but that article is about 2.5 years old and the new Coralvues have only been around about a year or so. I couldn't find them on Sanjays lighting site either. There are some tests out there somewhere, I just can't remember where and they showed an really high PAR. My corals would sure appreciate that!

I do use Coralvue electronic ballasts by the way.

 

ill try and talk to sanjay tonight to see if he has been doing any testing of his own on the new coralife bulbs... ill pm you if i can find anything out

 

I would go back to the xm10,000k SE's.

I also would ditch the VHO's as you will have to at some point in the near future anyway.
I bet you could find a nice t5 bulb combo that you would like if you tried t5ho.

The ATI B+ is a lot of PAR and great color, but if you don't like that blue, then the Geisseman actinic + I think is a purply color. Have you tried the UVL SA t5ho? I have and it looks to be pretty close to the VHO SA.

 

I have yet to find a T5 that impressed me, none are close to the VHO super actinics, even UVL's own bulbs. My reflectors are PFO parallels that are best for VHO not T5 so I would have to change everything to get individual reflectors in there, not worth the effort.
I don't think the T-12 VHO bulbs will go away, there are still too many end users out there that swear by them like myself.

 

I don't know how much of a rumor or if it is indeed truth, but I keep hearing that the vho t12 lamps are not being made anymore. That said, if this is true, then whatever is in stock at places is all there will be. I do know for a fact that the phosphors that are used to make vho bulbs are especially bad for the environment, far more so than for t5 and other fluorescents.

Yes, you will need to get different reflectors if you switch to whatever other kind of fluorescent lighting. The vho's are about the most inefficient fluorescent lights out there.

I can only name a very small handful of people that still use VHO. Most have converted to t5s. That alone will spell the end of VHO. I know the UVL t5ho SA is not the same as the VHO SA. I bought a 39w uvl SA for my 3 foot t5 lit tank, and I did not like the color. Even though the color was not the same as the vho SA, I don't like that vho SA look either.

I do bet that some company will make the exact color to match the vho SA at some point. Then that will be enough to appease you VHO SA lovers

Heck, just looking for t5 bulbs yesterday, I saw 2 more brands that I never heard of last time I looked for t5 bulbs about 6 months back.

 

Ya, I haven't shopped in awhile so I am sure there are many more choices now. I have always liked the 470 nm actinic vs the 420 nm blue color which is why the VHO has been my choice. There are a few shops in Phx that have all the combinations labelled on their display tanks, maybe I need to do some travelling around to LFS this weekend!