Decided to make a thread saying CSL hoods are great but the blue bulbs are JUNK!

[GSXR1000]

I see it this way say some how but i dont think so you get 2 28/32 and they run at 28. THat is still 4.6 watts per gallon which is awesome in that eclipse. But i know your ballast will drive it to 32x2 and youll be good. Yes same thing with me my hood is CSL 2x40. I am getting two 36 watt bulbs. Make sure you also get the 28/32 10k bulb to so you have a even 50/50 for best apperance. If you order know look at it this way you will have back up bulbs if needed. I know im gonna use those 2 40 watter for something maybe a 2.5 nano:) Or even for a hang on fuge.

[bneyman]

I was planning on ordering both bulbs anyways, been almost 8 months on these bulbs, just been procrastinating, (yes, I know the consequences!). This post makes me want to get the bulbs TODAY so I can see the difference!

Glad you posted it, I've noticed ultra actinic and 03, but never really paid attention to specs. thinking they were the same...

[KrackerG]

Less than a month after owning my 20" CSL, I've since converted it to 2 40w actinics and 1 70w MH. I may try those 32w bulbs when the time comes to replace them, but as for now, not a lot out there's gonna make my tank any better:P

[GSXR1000]

awesome do you have some plans i can so im very intrested. Also where did you get your 70hqi from and how much.

[trmiv]

So it's safe to stick a 32w bulb in a 40w ballast? I might consider getting one for my 20" CSL when my tank is done cycling.

[GSXR1000]

Remeber it will be 2 inches shorter the bulb. I would also get a 36watt 10k so you will have a even 50/50. You dont want 36watt pc and 40 watt 10k unless if you dont mind. Not sure if even would make a diffrence.

[KrackerG]

im getting ready to start a new thread on my "CUSTOM" CustomSeaLife 70w MH 2x40 actinic...still taking pics, etc. all going very very very well !

 

here is a link to what i have so far:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=24344

[birdman204]

GSXR, I believe CSL has now come out with the "true" actinic bulb, but most of their old fixtures already made will not have them.. Fant is pretty right on, It is asthetics.. I love the dawn/dusk flourecent effect, hence I will always use at least 1.

 

FWIW, T-5's actinic color sucks compared to PC actinics...

[GSXR1000]

Thats pretty cool theni wonder if mine will come with the new TRUE atinics. Even if it doesnet make that big of a diffrence i still prefer the more of the purple tint over the blue it just looks better. But i still know for a fact it brings more floresent out of the corals cause i seen it first hand on my broters tank when he just had the actinics on. When he first showed me with just the regular ultras i was like niceeeee. THen he said check this out and swapped in the 03s i was like ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Then i found some info about peoples expeirences and decided to make this theard.

[jasontatro]

Just a note...... everyone here is aware that Cutom Sea Life is going out of business, right?

[trmiv]

Yes, I know they are out of business. Exactly why I don't care about modding my hood, no warranty anyway!

[jasontatro]

Precisely

[GSXR1000]

Your not modding it. YOur just replacing with a new bulb. Also i am getting a warranty. ChampionLighting bought custom sealife. Custom sealife is not going out of business they just sold the buisness. SO.

[trmiv]

Originally posted by GSXR1000

Your not modding it. YOur just replacing with a new bulb. Also i am getting a warranty. ChampionLighting bought custom sealife. Custom sealife is not going out of business they just sold the buisness. SO.

 

No, I've modded mine. Ripped out the original fan, replaced with 12v PC fan. Cut the opposite side to accept a fan as well. I also might consider KrackerG's 70w halide mod if his goes well.

[KrackerG]

It runs like it was ment to be! I LOVE MY HOOD! 70w MH w/ 2 40w PC blue UltraActinc bulbs w/ 2 LED moonlights w/ 2 cpu fans WoWW! I got it coming on first on the rear blue bulb...30 mins later, the other comes on...then 30 mins later, the MH fadesssss in THE SUN 9 hours later, the procedure reverses.

 

'm happy to help if more info/pics are needed but check out my thread about this light here:

 

STARTED---> http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...2846#post212846

 

kracker

[wetworx101]

OMG, I cant believe I didnt see this sooner. Never have I seen a bigger thread of misinformation at this site. I dont even know where to begin. How about this...?

 

If you take out a 40watt bulb, and replace it with a 32watt bulb...ya know what? Its running at 40watts!!!! The ballast determines the wattage...not the bulb. The bulb will be running hotter, at a warmer Kelvin, and burn out sooner. Maybe a 36watt would work better. 8 watts over on a 32watt bulb is too much IMO. ( I see you corrected this info later in the post...but shame on you for misinforming us in the first place!)

 

With the exception of the 96watt powerquad POS that I hate (50/50s have a crappy actinic portion)...the current coralife bulbs ARE perhaps the best Actinic03 available...very purple. heres a thread I made with the bulb colors are compared...

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=22012

As you can see...50/50 bulbs have rather crappy 03 output.

 

And ohhh God, that link to saltwaterfish.com...they dont know what they are talking about either! Since when do bulbs have coatings on their surface that 'filter' out certain spectrums of light? What a load of crap. That Bang Guy doesnt know how flo bulbs work even. There is no coating! The colors that a flo bulb produces isnt due to a coating that filters!

 

Thats what you get when the NOOOOB is providing the info. Sorry GSXR1000...you are the NOOB OF THE WEEK for this thread.

 

The one thing you were right on was about the PAR. Actinics have more of it than 7100s. So FANT...how can you say that actinics are just for looks?!!! WRONG. They also provide a good deal of PAR. EX: In Europe, where most lighting trends start (cuz thats where it's developed)...actinics have been used for years...many years before over here. But they started small. People were using small 13watt bulbs to add some actinic. So in order to add enough with such small bulbs...many Euro reefs had the actinics on 24/7. The corals response was much better then just daytime. Actinics were the original moonlights folks...dark enough to allow the reef to sleep, but enough PAR to give the reef that added boost.

[wetworx101]

Oh, BTW, both are actinics. Both have peaks in the 420nm range...it's just how they look in the rest of the spectrum that makes them look different. K ratings are pretty much marketing terms. A 7100K and Actinic03 can have the same PAR reading because we are just measuring at one or two light points...not the whole spectral analysis. Heck, a 4000K bulb has a PAR...it just doesnt peak at 420nm, thats all.

[GSXR1000]

You might be right but i can ASSURE you that kip over at saltwater fish knows his stuff he is the most knowledable person ive ever got information off of so far. You have also gave me some good info. Just check out kips site http://www.billsext.com/fishtank.htm hes got a 50 pentagon, 2 30 gallon propagation tanks and a 55 gallon propagation. I got alot of great info on him. Even if they both do peak at 420 id take the true 03 over the ultra actinic any day. And why did CSL switch there bulbs in the NEWER models of there pc hoods to True 03 over the ultras. I just got mine and it has true 03s in it.

[GSXR1000]

Also i dont know how times i stated ITS THE BALLAST THAT DRIVES THE BULB. Ive seen people including my brother swap out the ultra actinic for the true 03 and seen a DRAMATIC diffrence in look and CORAL colors. I was just worried about the bulb being short and having shady spot in the tank. ANd i was worried about the pin configuration. I cant wait till i get pics of my brothers tank with the ultra actinic and the true 03. I still think that the True 03 PAR is better then the ultra actinic. Maybe not but much but deff better. Im not a expert but i know the basics. And i do know its the ballast that drives the bulb. I dont think numerous people would post threads on diff fourms wow what a diffrence between the ultra to the true 03. People are gonna buy what they wanna buy reguardless. Over at saltwater fish there is some real knowlegable people i asked about this. There some over here but saltwater fish deff has more people who are how can i say it kinda on the einstein level of reefing. I also got some other suggestions from people from reefcentral another great site. I consider you wetworx one of the people who know your stuff. . What do you have in your CSL hood ultra or true 03? IM sure if you had to choose you would put a true 03 in your hood.

[wetworx101]

"Also if you have the 20" model you would have to settle for a 8watt lose cause they dont make 40watters just 32. But that is a 8watts well worth losing cause the ture 03s are still problay better. "

 

Thats from your second post dood. You said it there and a couple other times...making the suggestion that if you put a lower wattage bulb in a hood it will actually run at a lower wattage. I know you seemed to correct yourself as your posts went on...but I want to make sure nobody takes that and thinks wrong. Only an e-ballast set up to do that would do this (and those are not very common).

 

I have no opinion on actinics different than yours with respect to prefs. I prefer the coralife03's to anything, or the ultras, whatever you want to call it...the purple ones...not the 7100K blue. The funny thing is that with the exception of refugiums, I quit using PC all together. Everything is halide now. Even the blue...I just use bluer bulbs like 15,000 and 20,000K.

 

I was really going after fant for saying that actinics provide no benefit as well.

 

As far as that dood over at saltwater fish. He describes actinics as less efficient than normal bulbs because their light is filtered (by a coating or something) and the final color is the result of color subtraction. Wrong. A flo bulb starts as a clear bulb. It has gas that gets a current passed through it. This natural light from a flo is almost pure UV (UV filter bulbs are just these clear flo bulbs). The phosphors act much like the pigments in corals. They get heated up and energized by the UV light on one side...and emit a more visible color in return. Their exact output color depends on the composition of the phosphors. No filtering as you can see. The reason I mention this is because: FLo bulbs can last a very long time. The only reason they wear out really is that the phosphors break down over time due to heat. Keep your bulbs cool, and your bulbs will maintain their true colors longer, and the bulb will last longer. If it wasnt for heat, flo bulbs could be overdriven as much as we wanted. With proper cooling, many people used to run dual ballasts on flo bulbs, overdriving normal 15watters to 30 watts or more. Now, a 32wattPC bulb may seem like its not too small to get plugged into a 40watt ballast, but... the starters for these bulbs are mounted in the bulb base (instead of a seperate can like the normal tubes). If the current passed through these bulbs is too much you can simply blow the starter and end up with a useless bulb. PCs also run so much hotter than normal bulbs, and so overdriving them can really push the phosphors over the edge and cause early degridation and eventual death.

 

Cross your fingers and hope that championlighting will continue to make 40wattPC bulbs...otherwise people are going to have to start ripping up their 20" moonlights...

[GSXR1000]

Yea i orderd extra 32 watt achtinic 03 and extra 10k that arent even from CSL for backups they didnt seem to have the CSL bulbs yet just the hood. Thank you for saying i corrected myself as the post went on. And that post i posted from saltwaterfish.com is soooooo old. THat guy kip really knows his stuff. And about the bulb being to small for a 40watt ballast the ballast is prob ment to handle less and more. FOr instince i just orderd a Icecap VHO retro with a 430 ballast. The ballast can hanlde up to 300watts 4 75 watt VHOS. I orderd just the kit with 3 75watters that im putting over a 29gallon. And they make the same kit in 2x75watters with the same 430 ballast. Why wouldnt the ballast be able to run less. I could see if i overloaded and the ballast cant handle it but there should be no problem. Im sure VHO and PC ballast works the same.

[emokid]

Originally posted by wetworx101

...never have I seen a bigger thread of misinformation at this site...what you get when the NOOOOB is providing the info...

I think this was adin's point.

[GSXR1000]

I dont understand are you telling me i dont know what im talkin about. Please say this is not true. Im not a noob by the way i know everything there is to know. Ultra actinic has nothing on TRUE 03 plain and simple. But hey im not gonna sit here and argue. I know my stuff. There is many people out there that thing that actinic is only for only LOOK rather then PAR.