MH from Champion Lighting questions

[JohnD]

I was looking at the PCMHRET24 from Champion Lighting for my 37 gallon tank. The kit comes with 2 32 watt 7100K blue PCs and a MH.

I am planning on upgrading to either a 175 watt 10,000+K Blueline or a 175 watt 10,000K Red Sea bulb. Does anybody have any experiences with either of these 2 bulbs?

I am also planning on upgrading to the Blueline e-ballast. I did a search and found a few positive comments back in Septemeber, but I haven't seen too many comments, either positive or negative since then. Anybody?

TIA

 

[Green Mariner]

John, check out this deal 10,000K Aqualine Buschke 175watt 59$ & with an IceCap ballast for $159! I just ordered a couple of these bulbs over the weekend so I will post a review of them in the next week or so!

HTH

[ October 29, 2001: Message edited by: Green Mariner ]</p>

 

[CLAY CRUDEN]

Hey John,
Ive done peeelenty of business w champion, and they probably have one of the best $ around. the blueline bulb is VERY blue. the 10k is more like a 14K in apearence. i've swithched over to hamilton 10k as they are a more "noonish sunlight white" great rendition bulb with almost the same useable spectrum. i've seen the RS bulb and it seems ok Both are great bulbs. I'm not a big fan of pc's and had too much trouble w/ them. flicker, burn outs etc. so i switched to vho(whoa!). maybe since your going to spend the dough you could do a 2x175w halide and have a couple of fans for heat, just a thought.

 

[choimoreef]

anyone dealt with this vendor before? they don't even have a phone number

 

[JohnD]

Wizard,

I know what you mean about PCs.

I was looking at a MH combo with something that would provide 03 blue color.

The MH/Actinic combo is over 30 inches.

There are 2 - an 18 inch and a 24 inch straight VHO setup, but once again I was looking to have 1 MH.

So, that leaves the MH/PC combo.

Looking at the Red Sea color description, it says "Crisp White".

Do you have any opinions on the e-ballast?

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

I saw an interesting advertisment for the Red Sea bulb the other day. I can't recall where though.

The interesting part was the color spectrum graph - it was *identical* to the graph that BLV has on its website.

I suspect that the Red Sea bulb is really the BLV bulb - I guess you could ask them?

A can say the BLV 10K bulb is a very nice color indeed (I guess you would call it white) and their bulbs are cheap too.

I personally would not want to buy a bulb with an aquarium brandname on it - it's clear those suppliers don't make the bulbs - they are just another link in the gravy train at the consumer's expense.

The BLV 250w 10K HQI bulbs sell for the equivalewnt of $48US from the local NZ distributor. You can also land them from Germany for about $58US. Either way they seem cheap compared to the prices I've seen on websites.

Maybe I should start a website and sell Teapot's 10K bulbs for $90US? heh I've got as many as you want - free shipping too

 

[CLAY CRUDEN]

JOHN,
THE E-BALLAST IS MUCHO QUITER AND COOLER AND SLIMMER AND USES LESS POWER BUT FOR, I THINK ITS LIKE $169? UPGRADE. TO ME, THE WAY POWER BILLS ARE GOING UP, IT'LL PAY FOR ITSELF. PERSONALLY I HAVE A TWIN 175 10K TAR BALLAST FROM CSL & RAN TROUGH A WALL AND HID IN MY LAUNDRY CLOSET PLENTY COOL AND LOWER HUMIDITY THAN NEAR THE TANK, ALSO QUITER BUT 1 WENT HALIDE JUST BEFORE THE E-BALLAST HAD ANY TRACK RECORD FOR RELIABILITY, BUT THERE JUST FINE. FEEL FREE TO E-MAIL IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE QUETIONS.

4 CHINO

CHAMPION IS AN AWSOME COMPANY. ONLY ONE MISTAKE MADE IN ABOUT 12 ORDERS AND THEY FIXED IT WITHIN THE WEEK-THE "MISTAKE" WAS WRONG IWAKI TYPE JAPANESE MOTOR, I ASKED FOR PRESSURE RATED, THEY SENT WRONG ONE THEN SENT THE RIGHT ONE AND LET ME KEEP THE OTHER ONE. AWSOME COMPANY ALL AROUND, AND THEY DON'T SELL JUNK EQUIPMENT.

 

[CLAY CRUDEN]

DID I SAY QUITER, I MEANT QUIETER. ALMOST ZERO NOISE.

 

[Anonymous]

Here's some info on E-Ballasts:

http://www.geocities.com/john_r_chase/blueline.htm

 

[mark h]

I BOUGHT A BLUELINE 175 WATT 10K BULB TO REPLACE A HAMILTON JUST TO SEE IF I LIKED IT. THE BULB HAS A DISTINCTIVE BLUE TINT. HOWEVER, IT ONLY PUTS OUT ABOUT 1/2 THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT THAT THE 10K HAMILTON DOES. SO TWO WEEKS LATER I ORDERED THE USHIO 10K BULB WHICH IS THE SAME THING AS THE HAMILTON BULB. THE USHIO IS A CRISP WHITE. I ALSO RUN TWO 30 WATT NO FLOURESCENT ACTINICS. THIS COMBINATION PRODUCES A NICE COLOR IN MY TANK. I HAVE NEVER USED A RED SEA 10K BULB.

 

[nin0]

Hi i purchased a blueline bulb from champion and in my opinion it sucks...the bulb life is very short...had mine flickering after 6 months and although it had a nice blue it lacked the intensity.

 

[CLAY CRUDEN]

well to put all this to rest, the blueline which i have owned and run 3 bulbs for 18 mos. doesn't SUCK. Some just don't prefer to use that particular color rendition. as i have said earlier, i switched to hamilton in favor of the crisp white but as far as bulb life and intensity are concerned they ARE equal. so sayeth the luxmeter and my foot/candle meter. Just because your eyes aren't evolved to see the usable spectrum (by corals i mean) doesn't make this product inferior.

 

[JohnD]

Cheese - Thanks for the link. Very informative.