New Coralife 150 watt MH clamp on light.

[cokevanilla]

hey ..I will buy one of these this weekend; hope everything is going to be OK; anymore inpust guys...?

[DerKomet]

Im actually very happy with mine now that I got a nice insert of tempered glass from One Day Glass. I'm guaranteed to be UV shielded and I can always just replace the bulb with that sweet new Phoenix 14K I been eyeballin over at Illuming's site.

 

I'll try to borrow a camera (mine decided to go belly up on me finally) and take some pics in the next couple of days. All in all, I'm fairly happy with mine. The main fixture fan (not ballast, ballast is totally silent) is fairly noisy on startup but quickly quietens down after 2 minutes or so. My corals seem to love it. I do have a bottle brush acropora that's needing to be moved up a notch in the tank for lack of light though, came from a 400W tank...sigh.

[cokevanilla]

thx DerKomet

 

i have a 21g via aqua cube...so the fixture is going to be ok for my only colony of 11 polyps Zoas

 

 

and be sure i am going to get that Phoenix 14k as replacement bulb

 

 

 

i'll let u know how everything went ... with plenty of pics

[cokevanilla]

overall pic

 

 

 

 

on the side

 

 

 

 

down-up

 

 

 

 

underwater

 

 

 

 

if u want more angles just ask

 

 

btw the light it is not so blue like the pics are showing...

 

 

now if only I can find a way to squeeze that AquaCRemora...well i will congratulate myself

 

 

PS I have lost my molding (or was missing) .. what can I use instead? any ideas ?

[cokevanilla]

does any1 knows what I can use instead of the molding that comes with the fixture; mine never had one..it was missing, or maybe i've lost it during transportation :|

 

any ideas?

[DerKomet]

Not sure what molding you're referring too. Your fixture from the pics looks complete unless I'm missing something too.

[zombiereef]

i may not have read every post to a tee, but to answer the question about the glass being uv filtering. the bulb is shielded by a semi-tubular piece of glass that the instructions claim to be a protective sheild that if left off will result in uv radiation entering your tank and surrounding areas.

as for my opinion on this light; i think it seems to be fairly well made. there is the typical coralife quality concern on some components and the quality of work is very shoddy. i have had to straighten brackets out etc.. mainly for an asthetic enhancement. the light is quiet and i like the clamp on feature, although i would like to see more articulation. i have one on my 20L and it is forced to hang towards the front of the tank more than i would like. a pivot at the base arm would be a great touch. other than that, the 20k bulb seems to be great color-wise. it isnt super blue and i am reading more about the advantages of 20k bulbs. i was really hoping to be able to get a 15k bulb,but i am not so sure now. we will see how my crocea clam does under this. he has only been in my tank for a day so i dont have any long term analysis on this. my tank is fairly new and i dont have any corals in it yet. i think the light output for my tank is optimal. i get a fairly even lighting accross the whole tank. it is bright but not blinding and it really is sweet if your water is crystal clear(like any light). for $239 it is a decent deal for sure. if you buy a pendant, you will spend more money on hanging hardware etc...so is it really a better deal?

[Naperville Reef]

i spoke to someone at Coralife and he told me that the MH bulb glass is UV resistent and that the glass tubular shield serves as a splash protector.

[tmerrick]

Here is my setup

 

 

10g tank, I picked up the light used from a friend. The light brought my temperature up pretty quick so I had to attach a fan to blow across the tank/light. So far my temperature stays stable.

 

I too had to rotate the fixture and cut that piece to mount it backwards. For anyone that has mounted it backwards how did you get it to attach securely? I have cut 2 5" pieces of pvc to go between the clamp and the inside wall of the tank and that helped a lot but isnt as secure as I would like. Any ideas?

 

More pictures/videos and information at TylerMerrick.com

[rig]

So could you not use like a phoenix 14k bulb with this fixture because of UV rays?

[zombiereef]

is the pheonix glass uv resistant/blocking? if it is you could use it.

[Naperville Reef]

as far as i know, Coralife makes the only HQI MH bulb out of UV resistent glass. others may as well but i'm not certain of any that do.

 

the tech guy at Coralife told me that the tubular glass shield will offer additional protection but he was not sure if UV has the ability to escape via the reflector.

 

instead of reversing the neck of the MH lamp i built a stand from 2x4s and secured it to the wall. the light is mounted on the stand and so is a 80mm fan that keeps my temps down.

[zombiereef]

i was thinking of building my own wall-mounted bracket also, but i think i am going to go with turning the clamp around. seems like it would be less hassle and look better.

 

also, if the bulb is a hqi it means it is made of quarts which does not block uv light. it seems that coralife was giving false information about this.(surprise!!!). most bulbs are not glass, but quarts. it would be worth the research to find out which ones are made of different materials. the other problem we have is that, who reallly makes the bulbs? does coralife make them or put their name on them? did the manufacturer give the specific details of the bulbs to the cust. service rep? it is a typical concern when working with corporate types. the rep. just doesnt have the information and will tell you what you want to hear. call them and ask them in a different way and i bet they give you a different answer. just a theory of mine...dont take it as fact, but i am very, very sceptical when dealing with any business in america anymore. the ethics are totally gone.

[lgreen]

every DE bulb needs uv glass. only SE bulbs dont need uv glass because they are surrounded by it.

 

RIG-

 

you can use whatever 150w DE bulb you want. A phoenix 14k would be fine. just use the uv glass provided w/ the fixture.

 

and if corlaife said that DE bulbs don't need uv glass, then that is proof of what idiots they are, as if there products lighting on fire wasn't enough.

[Naperville Reef]

"and if corlaife said that DE bulbs don't need uv glass"

 

i did not say Caoralife said that. i said the bulb is made out of UV glass which is different than all other DE bulbs.

[Naperville Reef]

zombiereef.....

 

making a mount and securing it to the wall took an hour or so. i secured it level with the tank so you can not see it from the front. i have a nano cube and i was concerned about the stress the mount would put on the back part of the tank. now that is not an issue. i also have my thermometer and heater gauge attached to it. i will try to post some pics.

[lgreen]

if that's the case, why do they provide uv glass in all there hqi lights?

[calvin]

astralux bulbs claim to have "UV block" also. Let's not judge too quickly. this could be ligit.

[Naperville Reef]

not sure lgreen. just reporting what the tech guy at Coralife told me.

[lgreen]

ok, i'll just take your word for it then

[Naperville Reef]

or you could call Coralife yourself and ask them.

[lgreen]

nah, i'll just take your word for it, i dont really care anyway.

[Naperville Reef]

zombiereef.... here are some pics of the mount i built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

not sure how to post a pic. they are in my gallery if you are interested in viewing them.

[rig]

if the semi-cynlider glass is not uv resistant, wouldnt you be unable to use any bulb other than coralife's?

[lgreen]

?

 

i dont know what you are trying to say.

 

you can use what ever bulb you want as long as it is a 150w DE bulb.

 

the coralife fixture has uv glass, so it does't really matter whether you a bulb that is "uv safe" or not.

 

i would use the glass though just to be safe, regardless of what you use.