Just a heads up on some very cheap metal halide bulbs that got even cheaper. Plusrite bulbs from 1000bulbs.com are now priced at $10.
I bought some as emergency bulbs to have around for when my tangs decide to break another bulb. I started off with the 14k bulbs but they were too yellow for my liking. Their customer service is pretty nice and they exchanged them for me for 20k bulbs. I tried the bulbs just to make sure they would work when I needed them and I'm still using them because the color is nice and I'm getting great growth.
I usually buy Reeflux 12k bulbs but they seem to break rather easily when splashed. The Plusrite ones seem a lot sturdier and I've had to clean them off a couple of times with no cracks detected. Another issue I started having with the Reeflux bulbs, my zoas on the bottom of my tank were stretching for light under a new 400 watt bulb. This is not happening with my Plusrite 20k that have far less par than their 14k bulbs.
Here are some PAR measurements on the Plusrite bulbs and even if they don't last half as long as Radiums, you could replace them every 3 months and still save a lot of money.
PAR Summary 6" 12"
Radium 610 430
old Aquamckzo 20k 430 330
Plusrite 14k 778 560
Plusrite 20k 477 350
Ushio 20K 530 382
http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/35542-400w-se-mh-bulbs/
I bought some as emergency bulbs to have around for when my tangs decide to break another bulb. I started off with the 14k bulbs but they were too yellow for my liking. Their customer service is pretty nice and they exchanged them for me for 20k bulbs. I tried the bulbs just to make sure they would work when I needed them and I'm still using them because the color is nice and I'm getting great growth.
I usually buy Reeflux 12k bulbs but they seem to break rather easily when splashed. The Plusrite ones seem a lot sturdier and I've had to clean them off a couple of times with no cracks detected. Another issue I started having with the Reeflux bulbs, my zoas on the bottom of my tank were stretching for light under a new 400 watt bulb. This is not happening with my Plusrite 20k that have far less par than their 14k bulbs.
Here are some PAR measurements on the Plusrite bulbs and even if they don't last half as long as Radiums, you could replace them every 3 months and still save a lot of money.
PAR Summary 6" 12"
Radium 610 430
old Aquamckzo 20k 430 330
Plusrite 14k 778 560
Plusrite 20k 477 350
Ushio 20K 530 382
http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/35542-400w-se-mh-bulbs/
