So far what is your opinion of the "new style" and the original Coralvue bulbs?

[Leopardshark]

Hi,
I´m writing this thread in order to know what you guys think of this "new style" coralvue bulb.
My story is this: I first bought a 10k 400w and a regular PFO ballast to run it. The color was amazing! A white bulb with a blue hint on it... couldn´t get any better.
So then I bought 2 x 250w 10k and I run them with my "new style" ice Cap ballasts.
After a month, the 400w bulb quit turning on, so David @ Coralvue contacted me and sent me a "new style" 400w 10k bulb. At the beginning the bulb was too blue so I contacted David because I thought he had send me a 20k bulb, but he told me the bulb should turn white in a matter of 100 hours of being turned on.
So far I think the bulb has being turned ON for about 400 hours and the bulb is TOO DAMN BLUE!!! (just like at the beginning) and too DIM!!!!. There is no way that my bulb is a 10k, and it is even a lot dimmer than my 250 watters!!
The old 250 watters are now very pink, too pink IMHO and don´t like their color anymore, besides the vibrant colors that my corals showed when I first used them are now gone. And some other corals are really suffering now.

:mad: :mad: :confused:

So please let me know what you think.:bum:

Regards
TIA
Marco

[Jive Turkey]

I guess you get what you pay for.

I'm thinking about switching to the CV 10k and adding more actinic VHO, but this isn't promising.

Joe

[Florida Reefer]

I was planning on using the CV 10K on my new tank that I'm setting up now. I heard that the new bulb was blue at first but thought it went to white with a hint of blue. I don't want another Blueline 10K+ looking bulb. To blue and dark. I'm interesting in what others have experienced with the new bulbs also.

[Leopardshark]

1 day and only 2 opinions??

[Frisco]

[moved]

[TroyPierce]

I've never tried the CV bulbs. I've used Hamilton's from the start and from what I've read, the 10K Hamiltons are a true white. I can't argue with it, they looked great.

I just recently changed to their 14K bulbs and they're a bit bluer. I'm thinking of going back to 10K even though the colors of my corals are super under the 14Ks! Guess I'll give these some time and evaluate how happy the corals are with 14K. Under 10K they grew like weeds.

[srfndoc]

I'm running the CV 12k bulbs (new style) and haven't had any issues with them. They are very similar in color to the Hamilton 12k I used to run but brighter.

I would contact David if your still having problems, he will make sure it gets resolved.

[lilbuddy]

yes contact david@coralvue.com david is not on RC so he can not respond to this and he is the best person to do so....

Coralvue has a new 14k bulb that should be in stock this week or early next week this bulb is going to take place of the 12k and 15k cv......also I would advise against running the CV bulbs off the ic hqi ballast. IMO these bulbs should be ran off the cv ballast or the ARO ballast.....also the XM bulbs have had a hard time firing off the hqi ic ballast....good luck and keep us posted but I would def contact cv...David is a great guy and will take care of you.

Mike

[Leopardshark]

Thanks guys, I think I will contact him because I´m certainly not happy with my bulbs.
Thanks for your comments.

[michaelg]

My experience with a 400W 10K bulb. I initially had some burning of my corals. Then the super colored up. Now they are all browning out to some degree. Don't know if the bulb is old or new style. Is the browning directly related to the bulb? I don't know. I am seriously considering switching bulbs to the XM 10 or 20K's. Unfortunately for all us 400Watters, all bulb analysis has been done to date on the the 250W bulbs (though sanjay did do some of the older 400W bulbs, none of the new ones have been analyzed). All corals are in general not looking as healthy as when I ran Ushio bulbs- though did color up more initially.

Michael

[Leopardshark]

Michael, I´m having the same experience, first the corals were doing great but now they are browning a lot.
Marco

[Aged Salt]

Well, my experience with the original 400K-10K CV[bright white] now the "new" 400W-10K CV is bluish in color. Definitely, dimmer than the original, but agree the SPS coloration is better. Since it's only been fired for a few days, I have not seen browning-out of the SPS yet,Bob

[Leopardshark]

Aged, but don´t you think it is TOO blue???
It looks just like a 20k bulb doesn´t it??
Marco

[Aged Salt]

Yes, Marco, & dim,Bob

[Leopardshark]

Yeah, very dim, so that´s why I wonder why they are labeled and sold as 10k when they have NOTHING to do compared to other 10k bulbs.
Do you think it is a bad batch?

[Aged Salt]

Marco,:confused: when compared to their original 10K,Bob

[Leopardshark]

Yeah, if you compare it to the "old" 10k or any other 10k the color difference is too much, so do you think it is a bad batch or a mislabeled batch??.

[Aged Salt]

Marco, probably not a bad batch as they perform as if 20K,Bob

[Tek]

I am running the 15K with out actinics and I like the color more then the 14K Hamiltons. I have only used them for a little over a month.

[Leopardshark]

Marco, probably not a bad batch as they perform as if 20K,Bob
Exactly!!!:D I didn´t wanted a 20k but a 10k!!! I don´t think people wants to buy 10k bulbs that perform as 20k right?:(
Thanks man for your input.
Marco

[Reef Bug]

I have had my new 10K 400W coralvue bulbs in for two weeks now and they are fantastic. They seem a little dimmer than the older bulbs but the colour is better IMO. These are really nice bulbs that do not need actinic supplementation to drown out the yellow hue of most 10K bulbs. It will be interesting to see how the acros do with time. So far there have been no signs of burn.
Cheers
Paul

[jazztown]

The new coralvue 10k bulbs are way to dim even dimmer than some 20k bulbs i have seen,i'm using a pfo hqi ballast that over drives the bulbs and they are still way to dim so i have taken them off and bought pfo pendants with Hamilton 14k bulbs much brighter i'm really happy with this new setup.
Bill