Giesemann Coral 14.5K or Phoenix 14K ?

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

In users opinions, should i get Giesemann Megachrome Coral 14.5K or Phoenix 14K ? (2x150 DE)

* If all else equal, i'm looking for which is 'brighter'

Thank you in advance for any feedback.

[hahnmeister]

I think the G-man Coral is actually brighter... but fair warning, the G-man is no where near as blue as the pheonix.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

what % brighter would you say, if you had to put a # to it?

....also, IYO, what is the visual 'K' of the 2 bulbs(10,11,12,..17,18 ?)

[hahnmeister]

Well, the pheonix is pretty much a 20,000K (its curve is nearly identical to a radium) without the actinic spike. The G-man is more like a Ushio 14,000K... no huuuuge blue spike, and a wider range of all spectrums, just slightly more in favor of the blue side of the spectrum... no huge spikes though. If I were to consider the pheonix a true 14,000K, the G-man would be more of a 12,000K. But, FWIW, I consider the pheonix to be more of a 16,000-18,000K bulb... its just soo blue. I think that the G-man is about as close to a 'true' 14,000K that there is out there.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

would i need actinic supp. with the Gmann IYO?

....oh, and this is the 14.5K 'Coral' not the 13K 'Marine' you are speaking of correct?

Thanks for the help man!

[hahnmeister]

yes, the 14,500K coral. I think it could still use actinic/blue supplimentation.

[Driftwood]

I have a Giesemann megacrome coral bulb in my 250watt MH. Nice bulb, but definitely needs some actinic.

The XM 15,000K are VERY blue though. I have a friend that uses those without actinic and his tank looks nice.

[hahnmeister]

But they have less than half the output of the G-man or pheonix bulbs. Thats why XM 15,000K and 20,000Ks suck so bad. Sorry, I dont say that about any other bulb... not even their 10,000Ks... just their 20,000Ks and 15,000Ks... they blow.

[Abe77901]

I've used both the g-man and the phoenix 150 de hqi bulb. My preferance is the phoenix, its much more "blue" and really shows the coral colors a lot better. The g-man is bright, but "white" light. Just my 2 cents here.....

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

thnx guys...keep experiences and opinions coming

[geckofrog]

You can see my tank running phoenix 14K's here: link removed

[REEFGREENER]

Let me sneak in hear a minute. I have been running phoenix 250 and 150 de's for a couple years and really like the color. I don't use any supp. actinic, so seemed to work the best. The only problem I have is that the bulbs don't seem to hold thier par for more than about 6 months, at 10 hrs. a day. Is there a bulb that lasts longer and has the same color, par? It is the only knock I have on them.

[hahnmeister]

No, not really. Blue light is just harder to produce than warmer spectrums... the frequency of the blue wavelengths is much shorter than the greens and reds... so the more blue you want... the lower overall output. Considering how high the pheonix starts out at though, if it only lasted 9 months, at that 9 month mark I bet it would still shred the output of half the 20,000K bulbs out there.

I found that you can get a near identical color match with T5s though, and they last much longer. Corals seem to be responding better to it as well.

The top tank is a pheonix on an icecap ballast, the bottom is 6x39watt T5s, 2xaquablue, 2xblue+, 2xtrueactinic03 (G-man bulbs). The color is nearly identical, but the T5s are easily brighter.

I dont find the pheonix to wear out too bad. I ran my last one for a full 12 months... then again, I only run about 7 hour days... not 10. IME, 6-8 hours is all you need anyways.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

that phoenix tank seems dim...not what i want ..... so it looks like 2-$100 bulbs it is

[hahnmeister]

Nah, thats just the photo. The pheonix has a higher output than the Ushio 10,000K and 14,000K... its an amazingly bright bulb considering its as blue as it is. I was just trying to show the color.

[djperezo]

Question is, what ballast would you be running? I've seen phoenix 250's side be side where one is powered by ice cap electronics, and the other a m80 hqi ballast. bigg difference in brightness in favor of the m80. IMO DE bulbs are engineered to be powered by hqi ballasts, and to get their true potential. I myself run these 250 phx w/ an m80 with no supplements, very bright w/ a nice blue tint.

[hahnmeister]

Thats very true. I have both ballasts as well, and the HQI runs the bulb much whiter as well.... the Icecap runs the bulb like a 20,000K. That pic is the Icecap BTW...

[NewSchool04]

have you thought about the the 12K Reeflux? I changed from Phoenix to Reeflux and I love it. Nice bright light with a blue tint to it, I run it without actinic supplement on my 30 cube.

[IndyReefMan]

Does anyone have a picture that they could post showing the 250W reeflux 12,000K with an HQI ballast?

[REEFGREENER]

Does reeflux make a de bulb?

[RunDrums]

yes , just picked up 3 today 10K. I hope I like it. they come in 10K and 12K.
you can do a google search and find them.

[NewSchool04]

I'll post a pic when I get home. I love the look but I'm having a hellova time getting a decent pic to show true color. I'll try again and post tonight.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

well, i used both 10K and 12K "SE's" on icecaps before....now i have 2-150W HQI ballasts, so maybe it would burn the 12K brighter? Because the se 12K's were dim on icecaps-IMO.

Newschool........what ballast? same as one you ran Phoenix with?

[NewSchool04]

Yep, a HQI ballast, same one I ran the Phoenix on. It's not dim at all, much brighter and clearer than the Phoenix 14K.
I always liked the look of the Phoenix from about 3 feet away from the tank, but when I got close, things looked dim and blury.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Abe......how much brighter was the Gmann than the Phoenix - IYO?


New School......the Reeflux 12K is brighter than the Phoenix? How much? Does it flouresce as well?