150W MH DE Bulb Comparison

[reeflobang]

Hi Guys

Reef Depot just came over my place and we tried out the bulbs he brought.

We used the same light fixture and ballast (bought fron Victron) throughtout.

First, my own BLV 10K :

[reeflobang]

CV 10K Bulb:

Definitely a lot bluer than the BLV. I thought I had fixed on the 20K by mistake...

[reeflobang]

Finally, the CV 20K Bulb:

[ryz]

hmmm... interesting... The CV 10K and 20K doesn't seem to have much of a difference. How much is one CV 10k Kelvin bulb going for?

[reeflobang]

I think it will take about 100 hours of use before the bulb "reveals" its stable colour.

Price... PM Reef Depot, one of SRC's sponsor....

[SharkBait]

What ballast are you using?

[reeflobang]

Not sure actually. All bought from Victron.... It has a big ballast that looks like the usual iron ballast and another thingy that looks like the starter that we see in FL setups, forgot what its called already....

[Maxima]

What ballast are you using?

I believe the ballast you using is not a HQI base ballast.

[ervine]

Victron uses a MV ballast if I am not wrong

[BarraCudaTM]

almost all fixture uses MV ballast, I believe the longer giesemann fixture also uses MV ballast.

[DaY]

i gotten the coral vue eballast and the coral vue 10k SE bulb. Will post a pic of it soon. The picture of the 10k taken by reeflobang seems much bluer compare to my coral vue 10k. Not sure if it due to the ballast?

[boxfish]

read from reef depot thread that CV bulb not suitable for MV ballast. Victron ballast is MV right? hmmm...

[Maxima]

I installed my CV10K 250W DE using HQI VG(German) ballast and the color for 10K is petty good. It actually looks like a 14K to the eyes...........................very bluish white. The bightest is definitely in-sync with the test reported done in US, it is on an average of 15~35% dimmer than BLV 10K or AB13K, unless you are using CV e-ballast. Well all blue bulbs are dimmer, let's see if this lost in normal PAR and increase Blue PAR will color up my SPS better. I'll run a review after another 1~2 mths of useage on it's impact on SPS colorations.................you can definitely throw away your FL/T5 Blue supplement............. Max

[Reef_Depot]

I had the opportunity to see all DE and SE bulbs in action.

My personal visual assessment of the different bulbs:

(1) 10KK DE is bluer than 10KK SE.

(2) Not too sure about this, but I feel that 15KK SE is bluer 20KK DE.

(3) 20KK SE is the bluest of them all and closest to Radium.

(4) In terms of blueness, the difference between 20KK DE and 10KK DE is not very great, but still noticeable.

Regarding the MV ballast, the manufacturer had not tested CV bulbs with it. Hence, he does not recommend it. If reeflobang's Victron ballast is indeed MV type, then there is a possibility that the configuration works. Perhaps, reeflobang can post his review on the performance of the bulb after a few months.

[Achilles Tang]

Take a pix of the ballast and we'll clear all doubts.

[Maxima]

i gotten the coral vue eballast and the coral vue 10k SE bulb. Will post a pic of it soon. The picture of the 10k taken by reeflobang seems much bluer compare to my coral vue 10k. Not sure if it due to the ballast?

Hi Day, any feedback on the CV10K with the CV e-ballast for your 250W setup? I've search & read thru most of RC's post on CV10K, seems like major/all of the RC user's of CV10K are SE and most reported white light. I noticed that the CV10K 250W DE is very blue in fact for a 10K and wonder if you tested your CV10K with e-ballast?

BTW, wonder if 110V and 220~230V makes a difference? I believe it does, especially to the ballast and throughput of the ballast, that's is also why AB & Giesemann took sometime to get it right to the US market....????....

Max

[reeflobang]

Take a pix of the ballast and we'll clear all doubts.

Does this pic tell what kind of ballast it is?

So far my tank is doing well - less the algae bloom on my glass tank surface and LR - not sure its because of the UV-filter glass or changing from BLV 10K to CV 10K.

[Maxima]

you need to open up and sho what's inside, else no way