coralvue bulbs

cjps67 · Post by **cjps67** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 7:52 pm

Hello,
Does anybody out there have any experience with this brand 400w metalhalide bulb.I am looking to replace to since I think the 6500 Iwasakis are the reason I cant get rid of the algae problem.Any suggestions on a place were I can find some good bulbs for a reasonable price.

Post by **snoopdog** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 8:10 pm

I think some of the True 10k 175w i bought a while back were coralvue, had a nice white color.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 8:40 pm

Somone on Ebay out of New Orleans has been selling coralvue for a while pretty cheap. Might want to do a search on ReefCentral for coralvue and bleaching. Seems many people were having problems with the high uv the bulbs put out... don't know what the outcome of all that was but it made me think twice.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:51 pm

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... t=coralvue
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... t=coralvue

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:53 pm

Thanks Scott, I knew I hadn't imagined that.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:54 pm

The second one (I think) is a Coralvue test result that discusses a spike in the red specrum that may be causing the bleaching problems.

cjps67 · Post by **cjps67** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 4:54 pm

Hello,
So what brand of bulbs would you recommend.I need 2 400w halides.I already have 2 6500 iwasakis but I am thinking those bulbs are what is causing the outbreak(algae).I have done everything there is and that is my last resort.Any help will be appreciated

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 5:40 pm

XM, AB, Sun Aquatics would all be good choices for 10k. If you are using a electonic ballast or M138 you could add Ushio's to the list. I have heard a lot of good things about the Hamilton 14k but if you are using enough actinics to offset the yellow from the Iwasaki's you may have to change one out to a daylight or 50/50 to keep it from being too blue.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 7:35 pm

Is that the 14k on electronic or standard ballast? I've got the sun aquatics 14k, and I bet it looks great on an electronic ballast, but just too blue for me on my standard. I did love the colors on the hamilton 12k, it was perfect! , but not bright enough.

ps: I can't imagine the iwasaki's causing an algae outbreak unless there is just an excess of nutrients in the water already.

If it were me and I were going to switch bulbs, I'd go with the XM 10k's, very bright crisp and reasonably priced. I just switched from the Iwasaki 6500's not too long back. I am running the Sun Aquatics & XM 10k's and I can't tell the difference between the two, but not sure if Sun Aquatics are available right now.

cjps67 · Post by **cjps67** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 8:02 pm

Hello,
I have heard alot of stories about the XM bulbs burning out to soon.Some I have read say they lasted as little as a couple of weeks.Some have no problem at all.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 8:39 pm

This is just my opinion:
With the XM bulb, there may have or still a problem with them, I have no idea. They, like the Sun Aquatics are Chinese bulbs, so the quality may not be what the German bulbs are. But I will say this if you're reading it on ReefCentral.. there are 58,469 members, I think people will tend to post about a problem they're having more than something positive. I really think that the Coralvue problem is overblown and a lot of people are probably not having problems with it. I just think the mob mentality takes over sometimes at RC and things get blown out of proportion

Ever heard of these on Reef Central:

Presenting the well known (according to RC) piece o' crap Power Sweep. Mine keep on working.. I bought another one based on my experiences with this first one. I did have to clean out some after a couple of months, but my wife didn't divorce me, my tank didn't crack, etc...

It ain't a Tunze but I gave like $20 I don't expect it to act like a $300 powerhead.

Sorry.. off my soapbox.

Xster · Post by **Xster** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:27 pm

Remember that CoralVue came out with the new designed bulbs.

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 12:48 pm

Brandon wrote:...ReefCentral...there are 58,469 members...

I'm always impressed by people's ability to be precise!

Now from what I know about Brandon so far, I wouldn't be suprised if he set up a dynamic link to ReefCentral that would automatically update his posting with the most current count which is 58,514 as of this posting.

Brandon · Post by **Brandon** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 2:35 pm

Don't know how to do that in bbcode.. Guess I could have posted it as an image and parse the rc home page and build the image with the numbers. I just copied and pasted it.. Had to go look , I knew there were butt loads of people on there, just wasn't sure how many.

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 2:49 pm

If you can figure it out... I'd be impressed.