XM 10K bulbs: How long did yours take to "break in

[Nathan1]

What is the "break-in" time for XM 10K 400W and 175W bulbs?

(I know the standard saying is 100 hours of use, but what are your experiences with colour change during those first hours?)

I got mine last week (Friday). Plugged them in and they were white, but after 2 hours they went yellowish.

This is what they look like today. The bulb on the left went white on day two, but now I am on day 4 and the right and middle bulbs are still yellow (looks like an Iwasaki).

I have the nipples pointed straight up (12 o'clock position).

How long did your XM bulbs take to whiten up?

-Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

can't really say, for my 175s I had some days when they looked nice and white, other days they looked yellow. Depending how clean the tank is etc will probably dictate how yellow it looks (brown diatoms on the surface of glass/rocks/sand will make white light look more yellow).

I dont know about the whole nipple garbage, if there was an industry standard maybe I'd care, but I'm not going to over/under tighten my bulbs just to get any particular nipple alignment.

 

[Anonymous]

My experience with XM-110K's, as well as other brands and colors is that they all vary with their burn in time. Some burn in in a day or two, others take a week. I don't recall ever noticing a color change much beyond one week.

Louey

 

[Len]

My 400W took about 3 weeks.

 

[Nathan1]

Len,

Is your nipple up or down on your bulb? And what ballast are you using? Mine is PFO Standard (M59).



sfsuphysics,

I know that nipple up/down does play a major factor with some bulbs.

See my old Ushio's, left is nipple up, right is nipple down:

Also see this one.

I took those pics myself, so I can attest that FOR SOME BULBS, it really does matter.

-Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

Well I know it does matter in some bulbs, but that's what I'm saying, none of the *#@&#* bulbs tell you what direction it is, and rather than searching the internet for days for a particular alignment I decide to not care so much. How about a sideways nipple ??

 

[Anonymous]

Almost everyone that I have talked to has been dissappointed in the colors of the XM 10K 175 watt bulbs. Perhaps that is what you are experiencing. Their 250 watt 10K almost always looks like the left side of the picture. Nice and white. At least in my experience it does. I am about to order a new one today, so I'll see in a couple of days. I have loved mine and burned it for well over it's rated lifetime (1 year three months) Time to get a new one. I have two other friends locally that use them as well and love them. I only use them and Hamilton 14Ks.

 

[spaulr]

All this talk about nipples..... :lol:

 

[Nathan1]

I solved the problem!!! Click this link to see!!

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=86419


Here is what my tank looks like today after my nipple fix!!!

-Nathan