New Coralife 150 watt MH clamp on light.

[Jazzman]

I brought it back to the store today and got a replacement.

 

What other problems are they having?

[Brian da lion]

I picked up one of those for my nanocube today. Everything is running smooth, no problems. I was kind of nervous though, because they ship the bulb inside the fixture, but nothing was broken. I have never had metal halide before, I almost blinded myself, lol.

[aquaman67]

Originally posted by Brian da lion

I almost blinded myself, lol.

 

Make sure you keep the glass over your bulb or you really will go blind from UV.

[JayGlaze379]

Hey, I have a Nanocube 12g DX, I added some lights from nanocustoms, but its not even summer yet, and my tank is running 84 deg. I'm seriously considering getting one of these lights, but does anyone think the open top will be an issue with fish jumping? My tank has 2 false percs, and I wouldn't want them committing suicide.

[Gmoney]

I had to call the warranty company myself and finally got them to ship me a new bulb and new glass cover, both which broke during the shipment....but i noticed the bulb that broke, just had a small hole and it still ran...that is because inside the outer glass bulb shell, there is an inner glass bulb shell where the gas is housed I guess... so that is why it still works...so I might use it for emergency...

 

Anyways, I did the mod that was described before and removed the metal grill...havent tried putting the grill back on to see what it does, but my corals seem to be doing fine, no acclimation needed from PC to 150de MH..I think its because the light is like 8-10in above the tank and tank is open..temp is holding steady at 80degrees...

 

The light is a bit more blue than I expected...almost purple...i am gonna give it a little more time, see if it burns in and becomes a lil less blue...if not, I might switch up to a 14k phoenix.

 

G

[rig]

Are you guys all running your light over the tank uncovered? I've been keeping my glass lid on the tank and want to take it off, but wasnt sure if this could damage the light since its not entirely enclosed? I set mine up on the back of an aquafuge:

 

[aquaman67]

They (Coralife) say not to run it over open water but I am. And by looking at the pics here, others are too!

[Jazzman]

open top for me

[Brian da lion]

Me too

[brassmonkey]

open water also

[FishFreak]

Me too

[DerKomet]

FYI,

 

I had gleamed some concerns that other people here were having over the "partial" UV glass shielding that was supplied with this light. I logged onto the forums over at the esuweb knowledgebase and asked a few questions. The following is what has transpired so far:

 

 

ME:

 

Hello,

 

I recently purchased the AQUALIGHT ADVANCED - HANG-ON TANK MOUNT for my 20 gallon nano reef and am very pleased with the product. My only concern is that the UV glass lens cover seems to only cover the bottom half of the DE bulb. I am concerned that the top half is reflecting UV-A, B and C back from the pendant reflector into the tank, living room, etc. Can you please advise?

 

Regards,

 

DerKomet.

 

 

ESU:

The Aqualight HQI bulbs do not produce any UV light. The glass around the bulb itself is UV resistant and therefore does not allow UV rays through. The sheild is designed to reduce on any aquarium spray that might get in contact with the bulb. If water does get in contact wwith the bulb it could result in the bulb cracking so that is why we installed the sheild.

 

Roland

 

ME:

So these are different than every other 150 MH DE bulb out on the market? They have a built in UV glass shielding? I know that SE bulbs do, but I was unaware of any DE bulbs that do? Can you email me the literature with specifications on this bulb for my piece of mind? The information that came with the fixture was somewhat lacking.

 

Thank you,

 

DerKomet

 

 

So, basically they are saying that thier DE bulbs are different than every other bulb on the market and don't produce UV. Anyone out there happen to know that this is true? Also, I'm not quite sure I really like this product now that I think about it, out of the box you're stuck with their bulbs if it's true without going and buying a piece of UV glass to replace that no so great "grate" that comes installed and upgrading the mickey mouse fan to cool it off with.

 

Regards,

[DerKomet]

Bump

[LampDr.]

I do have some Astralux lamps that say UV coated on the lamp...

[aquaman67]

My understanding was the DE bulbs are also called HQI. HQI stands for High Quartz Iodide. The glass the bulbs are made from is High Quartz glass. High Quartz glass lets UV light pass.

 

I don't know if the coralife bulbs use High Quartz glass...I assumed they did.

 

This is from www.Hellolights.com (by the way, the new DE XM 15,000 K bulbs are in and on sale for $59)

 

* Do not mount "double ended" HQI type bulbs without a UV filtering glass shield!! This bulb will put out UV radiation which can damage your eyes and skin, as well as your animals in the tank. The bulb MUST BE burned behind a protective glass sheet.

[First Nano]

Have anyone of you bought a glass panel to shield the bulb in case the DE Bulb is not UV proof? If so, what kind of glass have you guys used for UV shielding?

[Esper]

isn't HQI a brand in germany as well, not just a generic term?

[First Nano]

I do not know what brand HQI is in germany but no matter the brand, from my understanding, all double ended MH lamps emits UV Rays. I would rather not risk going blind and killing my inhabitants just because I was too lazy to follow through on researching the facts regarding the UV Rays generated by the DE MH Lamps during operation.

 

Coralife has indicated to me (over the phone) that their 150 watt DE Lamps are indeed UV Ray proof, but without proper literature, I cannot say I will trust information passed on by the word of mouth. This way of approach to some may be a bit paranoid but as mentioned before, I rather be safe then sorry. Even if Coralife's lamps were indeed UV Ray resistant, the moment I switch out the lamp at the one year mark and not purchase the bulbs manufactured by coralife, I would be dealing with UV rays from other manufactures that do not have the UV-Ray Shilds. So, from my personal opinion, its only a matter of time before glass shielding is needed to be added to the 150watt Coralife Advance Aquamount. Also, I have not seen anywhere on the bulb itself that indicated the lamp to be UV Ray proof on my Coralife Advance Aquamount. So I am just taking extra precaution for my own safety and the good of my inhabitant.

 

Back to my question regarding the glass shield. Have anyone added a glass shield to their Advance Aquamount yet and if so, what kind of glass was used and what thickness of glass?

 

Thank you all in advance for the replies.

 

First Nano

[Jazzman]

I just got the second (replacement) unit and the fan is making a weird noise. It sounds like its scraping against the sides. My first unit was broken, and this unit is making noise. I am not very happy with this product so far.

[Chronicles]

One of these would be too small on a 30L @ 36" right?

[GobeGobe]

I was at a local shop and the owner recomended this light to me for my 29g in an effort to keep some SPS. (previously I was looking at an orbit light but I have desided that I want to keep SPS, and do it right) I'm still kinda new to the nanothing so I figured I would poke around here to get some info on the light. For the most part, it seems people are somewhat happy with the light. There seems to be some small problems (light spill, small mods), but the recent discussion of UV had made me a little more cautious. I'm buying a new light eitherway. I'm putting a 20g tank under my 29g to use as a fuge, by way of a CPR overflow. I plan on using my current light to light the fuge. So can anyone give me some direction on this light? Or any alternatives? It seems like practical response to industry demand. So can we start an UP or DOWN on this product?

 

123 GO!

[scottj2]

Can someone post a pic of what the inside of the light looks like? Like from the bottom up. I'm curious about the grill and glass shield. I'm a bit concerned about the UV issue.

 

Thanks

[lgreen]

Originally posted by Jazzman

I just got the second (replacement) unit and the fan is making a weird noise.  It sounds like its scraping against the sides.  My first unit was broken, and this unit is making noise.  I am not very happy with this product so far.

 

coralife sucks. send it back and get an aqua medic HQI pendent. I almost went ahead and got the coralife, but I am glad i didn't since it seems like once again, coralife has produced a grade A piece of crap.

 

anyone else considering this light should just save yourself the trouble and get the aquamedic 150w HQI pendent from hellolights.com for $229.99. It's cheaper than that coralife piece of garbage anyway.

[cokevanilla]

i know that the glass needs to be tempered; if is not..it will break; if the glass won't break means no UV rays are passing through...right?

 

[Agua-man]

Do not be too skeptical and jump to conclusions with out doing some research knowing all facts about both manufactures. Even though it might appear, too many that Coralife is not producing a quality product. AquMedic in all its greatness has had many serious problems with there mini pendants. Just look it up in the RC forum and then you can make an educated decision.