Twin Arc MH bulbs 10K/20K

I have scrapped the idea of the $20 250w.

I have seen another that really interests me. It is a 250w twin arc tube 10K/20K made by Reefbrite for 100 bucks a piece. Does anyone have any experience with these?



If not I will just go with the Phoenix 14K's as recommended.


I picked up my pulse 2 ballast yesterday.
This thing is HUGE! I wanted to stay away from digital ones and knew it would be a bit bigger/heavier but wow, I could stop a home invasion swinging this thing!

 

I don't think anyone has used them yet. They are brand new. However it is an awesome concept. Would also cut the cost of bulbs as they would be good for 18 months instead of the usual 9.

 

Looks like the retailers are discontinuing them. Wonder why?

 

how so? they are on at the same time.

 

Nope... not on at the same time. They have a flipflop switch in them. They switch back and forth between the two arcs at startup.

Sooo, lets say you run a 8 hr cycle per day for you halides.

Day 1 10K
Day 2 20K
Day 3 10K
Day 4 20K
and so on.

This allows the best of both worlds. Fast growth with your 10K, and awesome coloring of the 20K.

The design allows for weirder setups as well. You can split the hours of the day.
10:00-2:00 10K
2:30-6:00 20K

 

No kidding...First I have heard of them...Do they come with a timer/controller??

 

this really is the best of both worlds! i guess i prolly wouldnt look at my tank on the 10k days!!lol

why hasn't this caught on??

 

Ok..did a little more research, and found a blog with some people that are using them. The way they alternate arcs, is every time they are powered down. The other one comes on when powered back up. So....If you had a digital programmable timer, with multiple events for each day, you could set the timer to come on say, 4 hrs on the 10k while you are at work, and 20 min before you get home, have it turn off, and right back on to enjoy the 20k side for the remainder of the evening. Pretty neat concept...need more info on why MD and others show it dis-continued. Would also need more user feedback..But would consider it.

 

Is the switch instantaneous? Most MH bulbs/ ballasts recommend some sort of cool down period.

 

They say it is about 10-15min Think of it as a cloud going by!!