Lighting XM Bulbs

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Saltyfish

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I read somewhere and I think it was Dang said he was going back to XM bulbs because he liked the blue.

Has anyone used a 250W DE HQI 15K or 20K XM bulb?

Anyone know of a research on these bulbs that shows pictures of the difference?

Thanks for ALL feed back.
 
Saltyfish said:
I am looking for more of pictures of tanks using the bulbs 15K and 20K XM bulbs 250W DE HQI
Click to expand...


IMO photos of someones tank with a certain bulb or pretty worthless for web site comparison. My same tank can look five different ways with two cameras depending on which settings im using to suit my visual mood for that day.

Also, Dang uses 400W SE XM bulb driven with and older PFO M-90 ballast and I love the color on his tank. I picked up the same XM bulbs and hated the color on my tank driven with Ice cap electronic ballasts. There are alot of variables.

For DE 250s, Id vote for Phoenix 14s all the way to the reef.
 
I use the same bulbs as Dang, I love the look of 20K, Mine are SE using HQI. XM bulbs are great quality.
 
Has anyone done business with this website?
http://www.altisreef.com

My bulbs are $11.00 cheaper than the XM website.


I sent them an email lastnight before I went to bed because their website does not have a phone number or an address

Where are you located? I would like to place an order but do not know
Where you are located or how to get a hold of you besides this form.

Do you have the XM 250W 20K DE HQI in stock?
Click to expand...



I got this response:

We drop ship these bulbs directly from the manufacturer in California.
They are in stock and normally ship within 3 business days.

Rob
Click to expand...
 
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The absence of a phone number, or physical address would normally be a bit of a concern. However, their rapid response to your email is promising. Seems I've actually heard some pretty positive feedback about this website on another forum, in the past.

If it were me, for $10.00 more, I'd go with Reefgeek, a site with a very good reputation. Greg is a great guy to deal with and DOES have an address and phone number...lol. Besides, he sends candy with his shipping!! http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/Me...tal_Halide_Bulb_(Double-ended)_by_XM_Lighting
 
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Dang I forgot about the candy!!! No Dang not you I mean dannnnnnnnnnng it!

Well when we talking $33.00 it is worth it to just try it out and see what I get.

I ordered the 20K XM bulbs

In the mean time I was thinking about switching to a 20K bulb last week and I order the 3 bulbs off ebay for 70 bucks.

Figured even if I don't like them I am only out 70 bucks and I could sell them on RC to get back at the reef nazi's. Just kidding!

So I got these bulbs today and put in two of them. I love the Blue they have and it make my red planet pop. Oh yeah it is a red planet I can finally see the colors.

The down side, The bulb is not straight hard to get into the socket. Infact I was on the phone with Matt while I was trying to install one of them and I said all well there goes 70 bucks!. Yeah it broke the ceremic tip off it.

I looked at the other two bulbs and they were just as bad if not worse. I got two of the three installed and I have a 30 day money back if I am not happy and they unbroken. Well duh if you cant make them straight of course we are going to break them.

Brand Name is PlusRite.

I also have a 14K set and they were built a little better and they have great color. The coral grew pretty well so if you are on a budget and need to replace lights you might want to give them a try. If you can afford your favorite brand then you might want to stick with your favorite.

I would not buy these again unless I had to.
 
I just ordered new XM DE 20k bulbs for doc fosters & smith..they were 63.99 each....time to repace my xm's now...Great bulb and awesome color..Was that an ok price?



Thanks..Shane
 
Shane and John said:
I just ordered new XM DE 20k bulbs for doc fosters & smith..they were 63.99 each....time to repace my xm's now...Great bulb and awesome color..Was that an ok price?



Thanks..Shane
Click to expand...

Yes that beats the price I paid for them! Wonder if I can get a refund?

I check it out and I got free shipping so really only would have saved $1.23 if I got from drsfostersmith.com
 
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I was using two 400w XM20k bulbs on my 100g tank and really liked them. I was looking at the big display tank and frag tank over at Barrier Reef and asked what they were using since it seemed almost the same color / brightness, they're using Reeflux 20k I believe? I was very surprised at how good the lighting looked, I never really noticed before (was always too busy looking at livestock, not the equipment :lol:). I think on my new system I'll try either the Coralvue 400w 20k or the Reeflux 20k bulbs (which are supposed to be just as good as the 400w Radiums according to Sanjay's site).
 
20kxm,20k coalvue,20 refflux,20kradium,20k blueline,20k helios.
i did try them all ,i end up using 20k xm for the last 2 years and i like it,,the last 20k i like to try is 20k ushio,,:),,it comming soon:D,,just my 2cent
 
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