cheap MH lights?
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yes
wow, great explanation there Loren. Regular MH lights are basically what you see in a Home Depot etc. SW MH lights have a "spectrum" that fades after about 11 months or so. Why the spectrum fades is beyond me. I am sure there is a more technical explanation but the spectrum is the main thing.
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dont waste your money on ebay bulbs the par on them suck.
they are decent for back up bulbs only...then again I've heard some people have had luck with them. Personally I havnt used them or tested them so i cant comment too much. Heh, I wish they were to the standard as the ones I get....80 bux per bulb is killing me! But its well worth the PAR 
I have no experience with these bulbs and likely they aren't as good as $50+ bulbs many of which have a warranty. That said, MH bulbs aren't overly sophisticated and to my knowledge don't contain any materials that warrants their price. A good knock off from China might be OK. I personally wouldn't recommend them as I am sure quality in the manufactoring is probably low and I have never personally tried/tested them but I also wouldn't be suprised if they run as well as some of the name brand bulbs either.
skriz
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I am sure they are not as good as the $50 bulbs that you would find at MD. HOWEVER, it depends on what you want to keep, the look you want and how much growth you want. I have seen tanks running on these cheap bulbs and they nice. I am sure their growth is not the same as it would be under better bulbs, but he is cool with that. If we ever get the par meter back, I would love to test these bulbs and see where they rank.
check out Sanjay's site; he has tested a lot of mh bulbs. You'll notice that a lot of them have very crappy par, and these are not the cheap ebay bulbs either.
check out Sanjay's site; he has tested a lot of mh bulbs. You'll notice that a lot of them have very crappy par, and these are not the cheap ebay bulbs either.
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China bulbs are covered with lead paint, be careful!!!
I used to use E-bay PC bulbs, they worked fine. I do not know that I would risk it with a Halide bulb, but if you want to be the lab rat, buy one and I am sure one of us will come over with some testing equipment and test it out.
I used to use E-bay PC bulbs, they worked fine. I do not know that I would risk it with a Halide bulb, but if you want to be the lab rat, buy one and I am sure one of us will come over with some testing equipment and test it out.
for right @ 10 bucks a piece, I probably will check it out--what does the lead based paint have to do with a light bulb?? Or is that just a joke or something a/b the toys??I'll let you guys know-I do have some 10K bulbs in now-and they have some chinese name--usaki or something another--anyways---any more comments let me know
I have been <span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">using </span></span></span></span>
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I have used these on several occasions and have had good results in softie and LPS tanks. The 20ks looked pretty good. I'll try to find of pics of a 135 I setup for someone with them. I got good growth, but this was before I had a PAR meter to play with. They're coming from HK, but shipping was cheap and came reasonbly fast. This guy is a great seller.
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This pic is about a year into the setup. Those might have been the 14ks, as he doesn't have 20s listed. It's been a while since I've ordered. They're 150w HQIs
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Danny, what is that light setup (not that I'm ready to get into one yet.... but I can marinade it in my mind... it looks really cool)?
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Ok
I got a reply back
I am getting mixed review from all his feed backs on these bulbs
most people are saying they are excellent bulbs and the PAR rating are up their
so far one guy said they were not bright enough for reef tanks
here is one of the feed back:
"great light bulbs, whiter then XM 10000K i love them for my SPS reef tank adriantc1 ( 111) Nov-05-07 12:29
TWO 400 W Watt 10000K Metal Halide Aquarium Reef Bulbs"
For $10.00 a bulb I think we should do our own testing
maybe they can work for nano tanks
I'm running a cheap Ebay bulb on my tank.
I bought the bulbs after the "Where's the PAR Meter" thread I started. I'm new to MH lighting and don't know the look of various bulbs, since I already was using a 10K, I purchased a cheap 14K and 20K from ebay, with shipping, both bulbs only cost a total of 24 bucks. I was going to use them just to see which color </em>of light I prefered and buiy a more expensive bulb in the same kelvin rating, but once I screwed the 20K in, I've really liked it and just left it. I would still like a PAR meter to see what my clam is getting along the lines of PAR in the bottom of my tank, but not terribly concerned as my tank is supplimented with a lot of natural sun in the winter time, another reason for the 20K as it counteracts the washed out yellow of the natural sunlight.
I bought the bulbs after the "Where's the PAR Meter" thread I started. I'm new to MH lighting and don't know the look of various bulbs, since I already was using a 10K, I purchased a cheap 14K and 20K from ebay, with shipping, both bulbs only cost a total of 24 bucks. I was going to use them just to see which color </em>of light I prefered and buiy a more expensive bulb in the same kelvin rating, but once I screwed the 20K in, I've really liked it and just left it. I would still like a PAR meter to see what my clam is getting along the lines of PAR in the bottom of my tank, but not terribly concerned as my tank is supplimented with a lot of natural sun in the winter time, another reason for the 20K as it counteracts the washed out yellow of the natural sunlight.
