Switched to 150w Phoenix bulb

[Mattewell]

I just switched my lighting from a 150w DE Coralife 14000k to a 150w DE Phoenix 14000k bulb and HOLY COW! The colors that my corals were giving off were awesome! The tank is much bluer, and my corals fluoresce under the new light. I will observe my tank carefully over the next couple days to observe any changes... Pictures will follow.

Going to have to give Jim credit on his expertise, thanks for the recommendation.:)

[tarax]

You put up a post like that with no Pic's... Shame... :) How dare you neglect my dependancy..

[Turbo5oh]

i just got the same bulb about a month ago, the first couple days i thought it was too blue but it burnt into a nice color, its does seem to cast more of a shadow under over hangs of rocks though

i realy wish mh would give the coral colors that fluorescent bulbs do

[tarax]

did I hear the shutter of a camera from your building.. I swear I did.. You know we live close so I can hear those things.. :)

[michaeltwana]

I just switched too. Hopefully they will burn into a better looking bulb. Right now not too impressed but only a couple days in and I know it takes time.

[Mattewell]

Well, now I'm frustrated. The Phoenix bulb must have been quite a bit different from the old Coralife bulb I had. Even with the bulb moved a couple inches up and a screen put between the tank and the bulb, I still managed to burn my corals. All growth has stopped, and burn spots appreared..... man.... everything was going nicely and now I feel like I'm back at square one.

For now I put the old Coralife bulb back in until the corals repair themselves... then its back to the Phoenix but with more screen between the tank and the bulb.

Turbo, I hope it burns into a less blue bulb also. With the phoenix bulb, it looks as though only actinics are on. I didnt notice that with Jims bulbs... maybe the color will change.

[Turbo5oh]

wow i realy couldnt see it burning corals, maybe just stress from the bulb change? thats just plain weird

the Phoenix isnt supposed to be as high as par as some of the better bulbs

the first couple of days it was realy blue but it brightened up in a few days.

did u install the bulb correctly? the little nipple in the bulb is suppose to point up i think, it suppose to screw up the bulb if its not installed right

i realy dont know the answer just spitting out some idea's

[tarax]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11045746#post11045746 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mattewell
Well, now I'm frustrated. The Phoenix bulb must have been quite a bit different from the old Coralife bulb I had. Even with the bulb moved a couple inches up and a screen put between the tank and the bulb, I still managed to burn my corals. All growth has stopped, and burn spots appreared..... man.... everything was going nicely and now I feel like I'm back at square one.

For now I put the old Coralife bulb back in until the corals repair themselves... then its back to the Phoenix but with more screen between the tank and the bulb.

Turbo, I hope it burns into a less blue bulb also. With the phoenix bulb, it looks as though only actinics are on. I didnt notice that with Jims bulbs... maybe the color will change.

Wow.. Sorry you are having coral problems. But to be honest I don't know if a light can burn corals. What I do know is that it does take corals time to get used to different lights which is why whenever you get a new corals (I have read this several places) you should start with a lower photo period on your halides and gradually increase it to your normal time to allow them to acclimate to the light.

Is it all of your corals or just some? Are you sure your not having some coral warfare happening at the same time as your light change?

[icereefer]

I have never had a problem with bleaching my corals with my phoenix's? but I use pendents to and at first I will set my pendents high on bulb change and slowly drop them , I've ran many different type K bulbs and brands and I can only say I have never gotten better color or growth out of any other bulb then the phoenix

[Mattewell]

Hmm, well I don’t know what is going on.... Nope, don’t have any coral warfare... tried to keep all parameters as constant as possible because I knew the light change would have added stress. The effects were worse on the corals that were closer to the light (IE. higher up in the tank) than the corals lower down. On all the effected corals the sides not directly facing the light were fine, and the sides that were directly facing the light are bleached, so I gather that the light did this and not some other factor. I do not believe that there were any other factors that could have added to the stress to make them more susceptible to bleaching, all tank parameter were kept constant.

Unfortunately I have that stupid hang on tank light fixture and I was unable to move the light up much higher like I would have done if I had a pendant, so I tried to use some window screen to lower the amount of light. (Guess that didn’t work)....

For now my old bulb is back on... corals are noticeably healing, but growth has still stopped. Once everything has healed, I will try again with the Phoenix bulb but I’m going to disassemble the hang on light fixture and suspend it much like a pendant and slowly drop it.... Hopefully that will work.

I don’t blame the bulb. I blame myself for not realizing the effects a new bulb would have.

Turbo, I didn’t know there was a special way to put the bulb in... Next time I put it in, I will make sure to put it in the way you described. I'm not sure if I put it in correctly before, I suppose I had a 50/50 shot at it.

[Turbo5oh]

yeah ive read that inproper installation can affect the way the bulb fires, and can affect color and bulb life. im dont know what realy happens ive always was just careful to read what the bulb manufacture says to do

oh and another thing is it possible that ur fixture dosnt have u.v. shielded glass? its possible that the original bulb had u.v. protection in the bulb itself so the fixture was able to use a cheaper glass and now that u have a non u.v. shielded bulb and non-shielded glass maybe the coral is reacting the to much u.v. rays?
this is just a theory i dont know if its even possible

[icereefer]

if he already has a HQI rated hood it should have the proper UV glass in it, I would say if your bulb is older you could of easily burned your corals with the intense lighting the new bulb put out, this is why I don't like running my bulbs over 8 month's after 6 month's of use the wave length really start to drop and if you go to long it's best to always raise your hood or pendent and slowly drop your lighting back down or layers of screens under your lights and slowly take one layer at a time off.
this is one reason I went to pendents and another reason was heat issues.

[Mattewell]

Well, the fixture came with a (I am assuming quartz) shield that I would suppose protects against the UV rays. Now that you mention it though, the shield only goes halfway around the bulb and also leaves the ends exposed, could this have played a factor?

.... Just did a quick google search and noticed that someone who bought this same fixture emailed Coralife because they wanted to know if this shield would protect against UV rays... Coralife claimed that they use a special bulb that doesnt emit UV... Curious... perhaps I should email them myself and see what they say.

The fixture I have is the Coralife Aqualight Hang on Tank mount light, if you are interested in looking at how its setup. I used the coralife 14000k bulb that came with the unit.

[Mattewell]

Found this quote by a guy on a fourm......

"I have read alot about these lights on other forums. It seems that Coralife uses a bulb that is UV coated-regardless of what your CSR told you on the phone. The biggest problem people report about this is that you can not exchange the bulbs for non-coralife bulbs. This is because the other bulbs do not have the UV coating. Personally, I dont believe in Coralifes claim of no UV or their use of a coating. If you ever switch bulbs you will need to attach a shield to protect your corals."

Could this be my issue? Does anyone belive him?

[icereefer]

I guess myself I've never heard of a HQI bulb that has any kind of UV protection coat over it this is why you need a UV protected lens over HQI bulbs, SE bulbs has a UV shield casing.
but then again I never used coralife. I've always stuck with Phoenix because of the reveiws I read on my research before I went on to the MH side. :)

if you have area's were the raw lighting is not being protected by a UV type glass it will surely burn corals.

[Mattewell]

I am skeptical that Coralife would have a bulb that doesn't emit UV. As far as a glass UV shield goes, the "shield" that came with the fixture seems to work fine when used with the Coralife bulb...

So... If the Coralife bulb DOES emit UV then the shield works... (and should also work with the Phoenix bulb)... If the Coralife bulb doesn't emit UV then the shield is merely so stuff doesn't come in contact with the bulb and I will have to add some glass.

[Turbo5oh]

i would check w/ the manufacturer and ask if the reflectors glass has a uv coating or not that way they dont give u the run around about the bulb specs

[Mojo Jojo]

Mattewell - Wow! Thanks for the thread! I too wanted to place a Phoenix 14k on these lights. Did your tank ever handle the bulb?

[Mattewell]

Mojo,

I think what I will have to do is hang a piece of glass under the fixture but I have yet to figure out a good way to do this. I think for now I will continue with the Coralife bulbs until I get a pendant.

Let me know if you hear anything additional about this situation.

[Mattewell]

Ok, I am finally getting around too trying to convert this fixture to accept any DE 150w halide bulb.

My plan is to replace the aluminum fins in the fixture with a piece of tempered glass to block the UV. I feel that this should block out most but not all of the UV emitted by the bulb.... I don’t think the UV that escapes the glass will do much harm to the life in the tank. I know this is a controversial topic, so if you have a different opinion, please feel free to express it. I would like to gather as much info as possible.

The dimensions that are required to do this modification are; 3/8in thick, 8 and 1/6th in long, and 4 and 1/2in wide. A piece of glass that size should slide into the fixture perfectly without any modification to the fixture itself.

I stopped into Fargo Glass and Paint in town here to see if they could get me a piece of tempered glass. They said that a piece of glass with those dimensions is too small to be tempered because when they put it in the oven, it will fall through the grates.....

Does anybody else know a glass company who could make a tempered piece of glass this size?

[icereefer]

I'll look up here for you? give me dimensions.

[Mattewell]

3/8in thick, 8 and 1/6th in long, and 4 and 1/2in wide

3/8in X 8 1/6th in X 4 1/2in

Thanks for looking Jim