[zhenya]

Hi all,

Just installed new bulbs that I've recieved yesterday,the XM 20K bulbs-250W. Not sure if I like them yet as they look a tad too blue for now.I think they need about 100 hours to burn in. Anyhow, here's a pic with them on and two actinics.Didn,t want to turn actinics off as the light looks dim compared to the two Ushios I had of the same wattage.
To my eye it does eliminate the slight yellow tint that any other 10K bulb I've tried and I think I just about tried them all. I think I need to invest in the lax meter to see how they will be compared to the Ushios in that departament I'll give them a few more days to burn in and post another pic or two.

PS. Forgot to add that they're on the PFO regular ballast,wich is supposedly the ballast that is recommended for them,we'll see.

[Reefland]

Hummm I'm not too sure about um; everything looks the same color in there. Does it look like that in person too?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Reefland

Hummm I'm not too sure about um; everything looks the same color in there. Does it look like that in person too?

Hi Scott

Not really, it actually does look a bit better in person and not as blue anymore.As the day progressed the lights got brighter and brighter and I'm hopefull that it will be the lights of choice for me. I was warned that they may appear dim at first but it will pass after the initial 100hrs or so.
You should've seen it when they first came on
I thought for sure I've made another mistake

Here's another view...

[Joaco]

Originally Posted by zhenya

I think I need to invest in the lax meter to see how they will be compared to the Ushios in that departament

I just ordered an Ultralife Lux meter:



from www.aquariuminstruments.com

Ninong has it now, he will test-drive it in his new tank and tell us what he thinks about it, etc

scubadude has the same one if I'm not mistaken

Joaco

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Joaco

I just ordered an Ultralife Lux meter:



from www.aquariuminstruments.com

Ninong has it now, he will test-drive it in his new tank and tell us what he thinks about it, etc

scubadude has the same one if I'm not mistaken

Joaco

Hey Joaco,

Thanks a ton for the link-will order right now

[Joaco]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Hey Joaco,

Thanks a ton for the link-will order right now

You are most welcome. They have it cheaper than Ultralife itself:

http://www.ultralifedirect.com/lux_meters.htm

I think the best thing about this lux meter, is that it has a submersible probe
Having to use a Zip-Lock bag to protect the probe of a non-submersible one is not ideal having this other option.

Joaco

[SueT]

A local friend of mine came by several weeks ago and he brought this lux meter to see what my iwasaki's were running at 9 months of age. He really like this meter. Eric Borneman gave a lighting demonstration at one of our MARSH meetings and he had the zip lock baggie meter. Half way through our presentation we had to stop due to the probe getting wet.

Gene those lights are really different. Jim Norris is using them over his 240g sps tank although he is running the 400w. I was all set to give them a try til I found out how much less intensity they have. He was even getting me a heck of a deal on them.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by SueT

A local friend of mine came by several weeks ago and he brought this lux meter to see what my iwasaki's were running at 9 months of age. He really like this meter. Eric Borneman gave a lighting demonstration at one of our MARSH meetings and he had the zip lock baggie meter. Half way through our presentation we had to stop due to the probe getting wet.

Gene those lights are really different. Jim Norris is using them over his 240g sps tank although he is running the 400w. I was all set to give them a try til I found out how much less intensity they have. He was even getting me a heck of a deal on them.

Well, I ordered the lax meter and will see how much I lost in intensity.
If it is a lot I'll remove them and stick with the Ushios instead, they did perform beautiful after all. I was just looking for something different to try and will give them a full week to burn in and then hopefully the meter gets here as well

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Joaco

I just ordered an Ultralife Lux meter:



from http://www.aquariuminstruments.com

Ninong has it now, he will test-drive it in his new tank and tell us what he thinks about it, etc

Joaco

I haven't even opened the box yet. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I have to clean my sump and do my first water change tomorrow, too, before my detritivore kit arrives. I just finished cleaning the tank glass to get rid of all the Southdown film from yesterday when I dumped the live sand in there. I used a turkey baster to blast all the sand off the rocks. Boy, there was sand all over the place. No wonder the coralline algae looked somewhat lighter.

Still have to hook up the Neptune Systems AquaController. Gotta get that done this weekend for sure.

[Ninong]

Joaco,

That picture above is NOT what yours looks like. This is a picture of what they sent me:



I just followed the link you gave me originally and it now shows the picture I just posted here and a new price of $92.95 instead of $88.95. However, they only charged you $88.95 plus $8.50 shipping. I guess they changed the model and raised the price by $4.00 but they shipped you the new model at the old price. As you can see in the picture, there is no flat lens covering on the sensor, just a round white globe about 7/8" diameter.

I haven't tried it underwater yet, but I did stick it under my desk lamp just to make sure it worked. It does.

I wouldn't want to use a lux meter to compare different lamps, such as 6500K vs. 10,000K or 20,000K because the lux meter is too heavily weighted in the visible bands but at least you could use it to take periodic measurements of the same lamp to keep track of any loss of intensity. That would give you a pretty good idea of when to change lamps.

Maybe we should ask Sanjay to test these new XM metal halide lamps? They seem very blue to me. I wonder what their PAR output might be?

[zhenya]

So...,Ninong,what you're saying is that the bulbs I bought is... junk
That should teach me I do like the appearance however. I'll give them a week and see how they're then,I still have the option to switch back to Ushios and scratch the experiment as a flop
Its only money...

[naser]

so do you like them yet... update. update... i just ordered three for my tank but im gonna run two 55 03 pc's and two 110 daylight vho's with them..

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by naser

so do you like them yet... update. update... i just ordered three for my tank but im gonna run two 55 03 pc's and two 110 daylight vho's with them..

So far I do like the appearance of the tank with them on but I'm not sure if they are equal in PAR to Ushio bulbs.I just got back from vacation yesterday and will try to do some testing with the lax meter. FWIW,I have two aquasun VHO 110W bulbs and will try to run then with the XMs maybe it will be a better combo

I'll post later on today what it looks like.

[naser]

Originally Posted by zhenya

So far I do like the appearance of the tank with them on but I'm not sure if they are equal in PAR to Ushio bulbs.I just got back from vacation yesterday and will try to do some testing with the lax meter. FWIW,I have two aquasun VHO 110W bulbs and will try to run then with the XMs maybe it will be a better combo

I'll post later on today what it looks like.

thanks..

[zhenya]

If anyone is interested,here are couple of shots that I took of the tank with 250W Ushio and XM side by side.The first pic is taken with actinics off and second with them on. In my opinion when actinics are on there isn't that much difference in color between the two,exept that the Ushio lit side looked much brighter to my eye.