Halide UV issues?

[sumphead]

I have begun a little research without much luck on the Coralvue (or any) halide bulb UV issue. When I first got the halides they severely burned a large merulina colony and killed in within days. This conclusion of course comeing after closely monitoring water conditions and perameters closely combined with a little retraction of the lozer level corals such as softies and shrooms. I chalked it up to burn-in UV and assumed it would settle. Since this time span of a couple of months my softies have done very well and all seems great with levels nice and steady. However I still remain at about 60% to 70% successful with SPS corals. Usually becoming bleached or showing signs of RTN and deminishing rapidly. This is perplexing because the majority of my SPS colonies do quite well even some places higher in the tank than those who haven't made it. Since I have purchased some corals from the same store brndfrb got the acro with the small red parasite I have closely monitored for this with no observation of such and with the merulina supposed immunity to this parasite I doubt this is the culprit.

So given my levels are stable and acceptable, water canges performed on a weekly basis of 20% (using Ocenic), And a sucess rate of 60-70% on othe SPS mainly acropora spp., I am stuck believing it is my bulbs.

Question directly for Reefrunner: Did you experience any of this with the coralvue bulbs?

Oh and to be more specific I am running 2-250W coralvue 10K with 2 54W T5 03 tru actinic supplemets at about 10 to 11 hours a day on a timer.

 

[kribbz]

i have never heard of this. is there something wrong with the coralvue bulbs? because i was looking at using them for my next bulbchange. please let me know any more info if you find it.

 

[sumphead]

Just tag a long and watch for responses. I don't think coralvue bulbs are bad at all. I think I may have bad bulbs though, which is quite possible.

 

[reefrunner69]

Check out these links. FWIW, yes I experienced burning of some of my corals from what I believe is UV buring from the coralvue bulbs. I got the same from each bulb I've tried and to this day I cannot run my halide without a 1/8th inch glass shield between the bulbs and the water. Some of my corals love it and some hate it, I do know that with the glass shield in place it effectively blocks all the UV and my corals are losing some of their color. I emailed David at coralvue and he is replacing my bulbs. I read on another forum a post that some of their bulbs went out with too thin a glass envelope (this does not apply to DE bulbs as they require the glass shield). When confronted with this question, he admitted I was not the first to complain and also admitted they felt they had a bad batch of glass go out, see below for the full email.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=18204&highlight=acclimation+light

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=37

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=314378

Hello Kevin,

Sorry about the problems you are having. Can you tell me what kind of ballast you are using? You are now the 23rd person that is a reporting a problem like this, out of the 22 before you all but three were using HQI ballast and over driving the electrode. We are thinking now that a bad batch of glass went through. That does not have the proper thickness and can produce higher UV levels. I would love to replace your bulbs with new ones. I have a new batch of 10000K bulbs coming at the end of next week. I also have new 14000K bulb that is awesome. I will have this bulb around April 9th. Take your pic of which ones you want or if you want to take a look at one each. I am really sorry about the problem this has caused you. We will do all we can to make you happy. We have sold 8000 bulbs since June of last year so I know it is a isolated problem. Perhaps we you see the results with the new bulb you can write a review on what you think.

Thanks

------

David D'Aquin
President
Vue Technology LLC
5 Emile Ave.
Kenner, LA 70065
USA
504.305.3246 Office/Fax

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Riley
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 10:06 AM
To: david@coralvue.com
Subject: Bulbs


Hello, my name is Kevin Riley, I am one of the owners of an online fish forum, www.AquariumAdvice.com I recently (January of 2004) purchased two of your bulbs, a 12K 175W and a 10K 175W. I acclimated my tank to the different bulbs very slowly by reducing the photoperid to a couple hours per day and increased by 1 hour per week. Even with this acclimation, my corals experienced burning. At the time I thought it was simply an acclimation problem, my first day with the new bulb we had a family emergency and I spent a couple of days in the hospital, so I was unable to alter the light schedule for the first two days. I was changing from an Ushio 175W 10K and wanted to see the difference in color of the 12K and the 10K, while I was very impressed with the color, I was less than impressed with burning of my corals. Even 2 months later, I cannot run either of your bulbs without a glass shield to reduce the UV. I lost a couple of corals and a good deal of them looked like doo doo until I was smart enough to add a piece of glass between your bulb and my corals. I really would like to remove that piece of glass, as it noticeably alters the color of the tank and is blocking pretty much all the UV. Some of my corals are starting to loose some of their color, my blue tort (that incidentally didn’t mind all the UV before) is getting a green ground color, my purple digitata is less purple and my pink pocillipora is tan now. So I’m browsing the web (and I’ve found many posts on online forums about the bleaching incidents with CoralVue bulbs) and I come across a post where a poster says that some bad bulbs went out and you are redesigning them with a thicker glass shield. Is this true? Are you remanufacturing the bulbs with a thicker glass shield? I am very taken with the color of your bulbs but I am about to scrap them for another brand. I would really like to be able to recommend your bulbs without having to add more than a normal acclimation disclaimer, as of now, I am warning every one of the bleaching occurrences with your bulbs. I would also like to have the color I get from your bulbs with the safety of not having my corals bleach without a 1/8th inch piece of glass between the bulb and the tank.



Kevin Riley

www.AquariumAdvice.com

 

[jamal-188]

sumphead: I have the same exact lighting setup as you and haven't had any problems? I start new corals on the bottom under a ledge and gradually move them out. No losses yet?

 

[brndfrb]

I have one 250 watt 12k coralvue on my 65 gallon tank and i have not had one problem. All of my SPS and softies seen to be loving it.

 

[sumphead]

yeah I came across most of this in my searching over the last few hours. Thanks very much for the links. I attempted to call David with no luck reaching him, I think I will consider the 12K or 14K if he offers a replacement. As you said some corals seem to love it and some don't. When I was burned from exposure is when my curiosity became really piqued. Thanks again for the info. I just hate it for my losses.

BTW, brnd after talking to you I walked in to find the one colony completely white after only 8 hours. Grrr. Everything else seems fine.

R-

R-

 

[reefrunner69]

I have one 250 watt 12k coralvue on my 65 gallon tank and i have not had one problem. All of my SPS and softies seen to be loving it.

To me this would support it being an isolated incident, or your getting a good one is an isolated incident, I'll let ya know when I get my new ones and atempt to fry my corals again.

BTW, did you know the 12K is actualy bluer than the 15K, wierd

CV 12K w/out 03

CV 12K w 03s

CV 15K w/out 03s

CV 15K w 03s

 

[sumphead]

Yeah and I always wondered why some actinic PC bulbs were billed as 7200K. Who know hopefully all will be well. Have you decided which you are going with yet?

R-

 

[reefrunner69]

brndfrb,
just to make sure we are comparing apples to apples, describe your MH set up.

Placing a piece of glass between the bulb and the corals will take care of the UV...do you have glass tops or a glass or acrylic splash gaurd for your MH bulb?

 

[reefrunner69]

I'm probably gonna go with the 14K to start and see what it looks like after burn in, I like the look of the 12K, makes taking ics a pain, but I like the look.

 

[reefrunner69]

I attempted to call David with no luck reaching him

Email him, he answered my emails within a couple of hours and a few of them within a half hour.

 

[brndfrb]

My setup is . Just a regular 250 watt coralvue 12k bulb. The reflector is mounted in my canopy about 12 inches off the water. There is no glass between the bulb and the water. I have a montipora capricornis frag about 5 inches from the water line that is already showing signs of growth. Also i have a finger leather about 5 inches as well and it is growing very rapidly. I dunno what to say. I think this is a case of bad bubls.

sumphead- What colony bleached?

 

[kribbz]

so overall would you all encourage some one to buy these bulbs or discourage them from buying them?

 

[reefrunner69]

They have begun using a new glass manufacturer and from what David has posted at RC, they will filter more UV than any other bulb glass, at the moment. If this is true, then yes I would recommend them. After putting a 1/8" glass splash guard back in my pendant all my corals have recovered and are showing good growth. The color on these bulbs is very nice, however, on the 10K the Ushio was more intense (looking) probably because it is much more yellow.