Phoenix 14k DE bulbs, wow are they blue

[bc_slc]

Just traded out my bulbs last night. I have 3 pendents and set up the two outside ones with Phoenix 14k 250w DE bulbs and man are they blue. They totally make my center generic 15k bulb stand out. As soon as I get a third bulb, I am going to have to turn my actinics off. Either that or I am going to need to change a few of my actinic bulbs to daylights.

I hope the colors come out a bit more with this bulb. I have tried AB 10k, XM 10k, AB 13k and finally a generic (A-T Lamps) 15k bulb and finally started to get some nice coloring up of some of my acros. The A-T bulbs were cheap, but crappy. Two of them died by about 3 months.

I can take some pics later if anyone is interested.

Mat

 

[shallowreef]

With most bulbs there is a burn in process that takes anywhere from 15-20 hours of burn time. During this time the bulbs will look different verses what they will look like in the next few weeks. They should lighten up some over the next few days. If not i'm sure if you wanted to sell them on here someone would most likely buy them.

 

[bc_slc]

we will see what they do. I don't hate them, and if the corals color up it will be worth it. Just very different from what I expected and what I have done before. I have kept saying "more blue, more blue."

Mat

 

[Jeff]

As with most bulbs it depends on what ballast you’re running. I run them on IceCaps with two 20k t-5 and one actinic t-5 and I like the blue color. Its not a deep strong dark blue like Radium’s and I still get reds and oranges and other colors besides just blue.

On a side note I switched from fairly new AB10K DE, and a lot of my corals bleached out for about 2-3 weeks. Some of my corals are still changing colors 6mo after I changed to the Phoenix. I had a orange monti digitata that had a clearly white skeleton up until a couple months ago. Now the skeleton looks like a very nice blue.

 

[flugelnuss]

Mat - Expect your bulbs to be a more crisp white after a burn-in period. Mine did that and I really didn't like it after experiencing and loving the "initial blue". It is quite nice not to have to run actinic supplementation, but with Phoenix, they are pretty notorious for starting off really blue and then fading to a white.

Overall though, they are a great DE bulb and I would recommend them to anyone. I have noticed that I don't get great results with them with branching monti's like digitatas, IME. My orange with orange polyp digitata turned white with a faded orange polyp look when they got introduced to the phoenix bulbs (no matter where in the tank). When I switched them to another tank with different bulbs, the coral colored back up to the orange on orange. Really neat that Jeff's orange digi turned blue!

Jeff

 

[bc_slc]

Good point on the ballast issue. For me, it is a DE setup, so it is a PFO HQI ballast.

Thx for the info on the burn in. We will see if I like it still.

Mat

 

[bc_slc]

Well it has been about 2 wks now and I am loving these bulbs. They burned off some of the blue and are now a very nice white with a hint of blue. They cast a nice shimmer from the top of the tank. Even though it has been only 2wks, some of the corals that dulled out when I went back to the AB bulbs temporarily are picking back up some of their colors.

Mat

 

[szidls]

Mat,
Are you still using your actinics?
Scott

 

[MarineTeng]

o, good to see i haven't bought the A-T lamps yet? were they that low quality, i was thinking of going with the coralvue bulbs, though i was thinking about the ebay A to T lamps for a long time, the price is quite appealing

 

[bc_slc]

The price is right, but the bulbs both had the internal element break.

I am still running the actinics. Probably do not need to, but I am still working up on the photoperiod and the tank would be dark a lot. Also, I only have 2 of the phoenix bulbs right now, and in the center I am running my remaining 15k A-T plus bulb. They are a bit different in color, so the actinics blend them some.

Mat