Reeflux bulb lifespan?

[grandp10]

Heard a rumor that Reeflux bulbs need to be changed out more often, like Radiums, to keep good light. Is this true?

[grandp10]

Anyone?

[pwilk20]

13 months at 7 hr a day, looks fine. Will replace soon.

Paul.

[grandp10]

Thanks very much for the reply, did you happen to test par comparatively between timeframes?

[Froggy]

Originally posted by pwilk20
13 months at 7 hr a day, looks fine. Will replace soon.

Paul.

I do not know of the lifespan reccomendation for the Reeflux bulbs but keep in mind how it looks and how it performs after a given amount of time are two different things. The bulb may still "look" good to the eye but be nearly spent with only a fraction of the PAR it once had. Most halides will last a year. Some bulbs like the Radiums mentioned require a more frequent bulb change. I am not sure if the Reeflux falls into this category or not.

[pwilk20]

Originally posted by grandp10
Thanks very much for the reply, did you happen to test par comparatively between timeframes?

I do not have the ability to test par, last year I changed the bulbs exactly at 12 months, this year the money is a bit tight, I will be changing all 3 within the next 2 weeks.

So far I can tell you that reeflux 10k have been great bulbs, at 13+ months sps seem happy .

Paul.

[grandp10]

pwilk, is that a 250 watt reeflux 10k? Do you use actinics? I just got mine and have only ran about 15-20 hrs., so I am not sure how it will look after the burn in time, but now it is basically perfect, real crisp white color, and the corals still fluoresce pretty good. What color change if any did your bulbs look like after the burn in time?

[pwilk20]

Yes it`s a 250 watt 10k. I am using just two 39 watt ATI blue+ T5 for actinic. Looks perfect.

I did not notice any difference after burn in, the bulbs still look good after more than a year. All three bulbs look exactly the same.

Paul.

[grandp10]

Thank you very much for the help!

[grandp10]

Actually, one more thing please pwilk. What do you think it would look like with superactinics? Would it maybe be a little too pink? I think the blue sounds good. Does the blue make the corals flouresce more or just a bluer spectrum to the color? I am just wanting to have some options. Thank you very much.

[dukes707]

fwiw, i noticed my 250w 12k's needed to be changed at around 7 months. dont know why such a short lifespan, but i did notice a color shift and negative response from my corals at around that time. this is the second set of 12k 250's i am on, and i gotta say i'm hooked on this bulb. fwiw i also use 4x 39w t5 actinics as a supplement. blue + and superactinics 2/2. looks awesome IMHO.
-dukes

[bdare]

Hey guys,

I have a 250w Reeflux 10K on an Icecap ballast. I also have 2x39w T5's for supplementation, but I'm using 1 B+ and 1 super atinic.

Check out my red house for pics...

[grandp10]

Thanks everyone!

[pwilk20]

Originally posted by grandp10
Actually, one more thing please pwilk. What do you think it would look like with superactinics? Would it maybe be a little too pink? I think the blue sounds good. Does the blue make the corals flouresce more or just a bluer spectrum to the color? I am just wanting to have some options. Thank you very much.

Well, my hood consists of two 39w T5 AND two 72" VHO super actinics. When the MH are on, I supplement with the T5 only. It adds blue spectrum to the color and a bit of flouresce. It looks perfect this way. I have VHO on, only when MH and T5 are off. Just LOVE the look of VHO on by themselves.

There are days when I turn on all three, T5, VHO, and MH. Makes it brighter, a bit more bluish, very nice but not necessary. I save ~360 watts by turning off the VHO .

Used to run XM 10K and they looked better with the VHO for supplementation. Reeflux the opposite is true. My opinion .

Paul.

[grandp10]

pwilk, that is an absolutely perfect answer! The XM 10k is the exact other bulb I have and am contimplating whether to use it or the Reeflux 10k and what to use with what supplementation. What ballast did you use with the XM 19k? Agian, I appreciate the perfect input. Thank you very much.

[pwilk20]

Originally posted by grandp10
pwilk, that is an absolutely perfect answer! The XM 10k is the exact other bulb I have and am contimplating whether to use it or the Reeflux 10k and what to use with what supplementation. What ballast did you use with the XM 19k? Agian, I appreciate the perfect input. Thank you very much.

The ballasts that I use are IceCap 250W, I have heard that the Reeflux look different on mag ballasts. The XM`s have strong par numbers, but just a bit yellowish for me. The Reeflux 10K is much nicer in color and also has good par.

I have tried Hamilton 14K, nice but lost a lot of intensity at around the sixth month. Also used Aquaconnect 14K, now that was my favorite bulb, but way too expensive at ~$120 . I would say that the Reeflux 10k is the closest to the Aquaconnect in apearance as well as par output, all for half the price .

Btw, I`m not sure if it was mentioned before, these are all single ended bulbs, the double ended look slightly different.

Paul.

[grandp10]

Pwilk, I am using Coralvue ballast for the Reeflux 10k. I was not sure how performance was affected on the XM not using a probe start m58 ballast, I have a pulse start magnetic ballast. I may use the Coralvue ballast on the XM'a also, what do you think about what ballast to use on the XM? I was also talking se bulbs. I have tried the Aquaconect and did not like them. I bought 2 bulbs that matched perfect then after 2 weeks 1 shifted to almost a 10 k look, and the other stayed blue. I got a replacement bulb and that one looked totally different than either of the Aquaconnect bulbs I had. I figured especially for the money they did not seem to be that good (consistency of color) to try them anymore. So basically, if you think the Reeflux 10k looks really close to the Aquaconnects (many people say the AC's look really nice) and you said the Reeflux seems to last pretty well, then I think I may stick with it or the XM. Thanks, your information has been very helpful.