URI/UV VHO bulbs

[Adrian]

Has anyone noticed a difference in the color of URI bulbs since becoming UV bulbs? Ive noticed my new actinics are not so actinic anymore, but more of a purple, and the actinic whites are more pink, more like the aquasuns of the past...

[glipper69]

it's the same company they just changed there name

Frank

[Adrian]

Yeah I knew that ;) But what Im asking about is the color of the bulbs, the actinics over my tank that I bought about a year ago are and always have been actinic blue, whereas the 4 actinics I have at work and the actinics over two of my friends tanks which were all made since the name change are more of a purple similar to a black light. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this?

[AZDesertRat]

Do they fluoresce any better or worse? As long as they make things glow I'm happy.

[swashbuckler]

mmm..thats odd- generally speaking - a flourescent bulb peaking a 420nm will look purple no matter what- but VHO's have a long standing history of producing stronger blue hues than their PC, t-5, and NO counterparts.

ive heard that coralife's VHO actinics are very blue compared to URI's but not 100% sure.

[Adrian]

Do they fluoresce any better or worse? As long as they make things glow I'm happy.

Yes they still make the corals fluoresce, but the overall color of the tank is pink in combination with the actinic whites. Im used to a white color when these two are used, you cant really tell with the actinics when they are combined with halides for obvious reasons, but when the halides are off the purple is pretty obvious, Im not talking normal actinic color here, its more like a easter purple or lavender. I will take some pics today and post them up.

[swashbuckler]

did you change the ballast? there's a thread here on "VHO only tanks" and the pics definiltly suggest a "pink" look to many people's tanks.

[Adrian]

The ballasts on my tank, the ones at work, and on one of my friends tanks are all ARO. Not sure whats being ran over my other friends tank. I dont know maybe its just that Ive been running halides so long that Ive forgotten how just vhos look, but there definitely seems to be a difference in the color of the actinics.

[Adrian]

Heres one of the tanks from work, is this color normal, 4 110 watt actinic VHOs, 4 110 actinic whites.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/akrapora/8-foot-vho.jpg

[tangwang]

Looks normal to me.... when I used to use all VHO's to light my tank, the overall color had almost a pink hue to it. As far as the actinic URI's, they've always been more of a violet appearance, because they are true actinic. I have noticed this for years.....



Matt