Bulb Quality?

[RoxyDog]

I think APW mentioned buying some bulbs which didn't live up to what he thought they might.  How do you know what kind to buy?  In this case they're PC...Current-USA, Coralife, Jebo Odessa are a few I've found on the net...some certainly are cheaper than others.  Is it a case of you get what you pay for?

[porcupinepuffer]

It's exactly you get what you pay for. Especially when it comes to Jebo, they're pure junk in every department. You just have to make sure you're getting the right K rating on the bulb you want, and then narrow it down from there to what brand you'll go with, and then check out feedback on the item...

[darkdep]

I can give a definite thumbs down to ARC bulbs.  I bought 4, and ALL FOUR burned out within 6 months.  Not got dim, not were off colour, they burned out.

I'm a little torn on bulbs right now.  I used to be very much into retrofitting common bulbs over tanks, but man, I really like the higher colour temp bulbs for the look and you just can't find them through lighting stores (best I found in T5 was 6500k, special order).

Thanks to the SP sales, I'm using all Hagen Power-Glo 18,000k (whatever) T5HO bulbs.  I like the look.  Hopefully they last a while

[RoxyDog]

funny I don't like 18000k, found it made my fish glow weird.  to each his own.    I know what colour temp I want, jsut wondered about the brands.  Now, who needs bulbs so we can try a group order?!  Anyone have a preferred place to buy from, either in the states or in Canada?

[darkdep]

I think Muad'dib tried to do a bulb group order from Litemore a while ago, for high-colour temp bulbs and it went nowhere because they wanted him to order them in case quantities (40/case).

I looked into shipping bulbs to me in the spec I wanted, but many places wanted lots of extra shipping cost for 4' bulbs for some reason.

The 18,000k are a weird colour, but I like the effect it has on the blues in the fish.

[sniggir]

I find that it also varies between company I have the 18k and I don't find them to be as blue as i thought they would be... were as the giesman higher k bulbs are very blueish.. I like the hagen so far bu for the price you can get realy good quality ordered in like UV or giesman which I will do nxt time for sure.

[darkdep]

Someone might want to ask Ray about a group order; he carries the Giesman bulbs that I've heard lots of good stuff about.

[sniggir]

Pat from Ottawa inverts can order them in aswell

[redbelly]

I also carry the UV bulbs (previously known as URI). Their actinics are the only true T5 actinic on the market. The color difference when i switched to UV actinics on my main tank was quite impressive.

[dpatte]

I never know where to post anything anymore.

I have posted a comparison of my odyssea light to my satellite in the planted section of the board.

I agree that jebo oddysea lighting fixtures have serious problems, but the bulbs themself seem better for planted tanks than those that came with my satellite.