Not even in the ballpark - DE bulbs

[ErikS]

Really just an FYI -

 

I recently bught two of your HQI bulbs, one 14K & one 20K................neither of which are anywhere near the specified color temp. Both are closer to 10K & even then they're on the yellow side - might even be near 6500K (almost no blue at all).

 

Funny part is that the 14K is "bluer" (if you could call it that) than the 20K.

 

Note - this is not a reflection on AWI, they have always treated me decently as a customer.........just and FYI so they can send this back to the supplier. I knew going in that the chances of these bulbs being good were small based on the price.

[flowerseller]

How long did you burn them?

 

 

 

Different location but I got 4 of those chinese bulbs in a GB and some where blue, one was yellow/white and one I swear had a green tint.

[ErikS]

How long did you burn them?

Different location but I got 4 of those chinese bulbs in a GB and some where blue, one was yellow/white and one I swear had a green tint.

ROTF - I can believe that. That would be the biggest thing with these "budget" bulbs, little or no QA.

 

Only a few hours, but I've never seen any DE bulb go farther into blue, generally they go the other way - more yellow (or green).

 

At the $29 price I didn't have really high expectations, just figured I'd see if I liked the look of 20Ks............not this particular one - I do not like that

 

As I said, not blaming AWI - they're new to lighting. They should just pass it back to Sanesco (importer????) - you can't compete in the reef light game if you can't get the spectrum right.

[flowerseller]

I hear ya on the "At the $29 price I didn't have really high expectations",

but what in real realistic terms makes a bulb cost more than that?

(Please don't send this down the R & D path.) :wink:

 

Are we all just conditioned to believe that a bulb has to be $60 + to "be any good".

 

What do the chineese use anyway?

Do they have them imported in from here and do they then have the same stigma, oh it's an American bulb that they over price so it must be good?

 

FWIW:

2 of the bulbs from the chinese bulb GB that appeared to be 14K like we wanted, are what I use in the Afarm.

Nearest I can tell, I'm cranking the things out faster than anyone else I've heard of. While I do feed some SS's, it not very frequent so the rest is growth and color is clearly LIGHT and of course some of it is water quality.

[ErikS]

If I had to guess we're paying for the name & the QA. The Chinese bulbs are hit or miss for color - the more costly bulbs are more certain...........though that's not to say I haven't had some $60 disappointments (Reeflux).

[ErikS]

A further bit of what we might be paying for with brand name bulbs -

 

I

[Boret]

Just browsing I came across this article. It is a comparison of several bulbs (250W MH) connected to several different ballasts and the PAR reading for each combination. It also includes pictures of the different light bulbs on the same tank, with ans without Actinic VHOs.

 

LINK [Reefkeeping.com]

 

If you want the bluer color and the highest par the best bet seems the AQ14K: AquaConnect 14000K

 

The difference in PAR from the 6500 to the 10k+ is quite impressive.

I might be posting on the wrong place but I thought it was interesting as a comparison.

[ErikS]

JBNY's article & web site are about as good as it gets for 250w SE data - a definite bookmark.