My lighting debacle...

[Toker95]

Howdy folks... this is part story, part question.

Question - How does a 55W PC 12000K Daylight lamp fair for plants? Shouldn't it be all white, not one tube white, one tube blue? Explanation as to why I'm asking below...

I'll try and keep this is as short/sweet as possible... I purchased a JEBO 48" PC light 220W, 55Wx4 from Aqua_Deal on ebay. It was stated from the beginning that bulbs would not be replaced if broken, however he would sell replacements (up to 4) at 6.50 a piece. (light sold for $60+$20 shipping). Only catch was it came with 2 Blue Actinics, 2 10K Super Daylights.

Since I only needed 2 bulbs to get me going with a planted FW tank at first, i figured I would sell/trade the blue's and get 2 more 10k's in time.

Ok, received the light with 2 broken bulbs (1 of each). Bought 4 10K's to replace them with and received them yesterday, 2 more broken

Anyway, I know the seller didn't specifically insure the items, so I have to go through UPS (the insure the first 100 of every item shipped).

Before I called though, I plugged in the 4 working bulbs I have. Here's the twist. -- the bulbs are marked 'Odyssea 65W 12000K Daylight'. I fired them up, and 1 of them is all white, the other is white and blue like a 50/50 bulb. I willl try and post a picture here of them litup, and a kinda fuzzy one of the labels.


Should the 12000K Daylight bulb have a blue tube? if yes? then I have one that doesn't... if no? then I have one that does. Either way, I need to understand which one is correct to go back to the seller with.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated as always.

 

[Toker95]

Quick note - the bulbs are labelled as to what each one is supposed to be in the comments for the file, so it has to be viewed to see them.

I guess I should update my sig/profile to reflect my soon to be cycling tank. (finally)

72gl AGA Bowfront (DIY Oak Stand)
220W 55x4 Jebo PC Lighting
Emperor 400 Power Filter
Whisper 200W Heater
Eco-Complete substrate

 

[fishfreek]

I belive plants will fair better with a lower K bulb like a 5500K. Of course im not a plant guy so please take that into consiteration. This guy seems to have a hard time packing his bulbs for shipping. You can get replacment bulbs from just about any online retailer so I would get them from someone else in the future. The key is to just match up the pin type when ordering. I suspect your bulbs have 4 pins in a line like this .... vs in a square pattern like ::

 

[Toker95]

Yes, these are straight pin bulbs.

- As for this retailer... to points
- He appears to be reselling wholesale items. $60 buy it now price on a 220W PC light is pretty darn good, so far as I've found. It might not be the best hood out there (no fans or legs, but it has 2 switches).. but for that price I couldn't resist.
- That being said, all the items are coming in factory shipping. The light itself came in a Jebo box, inside of a larger box tightly matched against it. I would presume though that when the manufacturer ships them, the shipper is moer aware of what he's shipping, since he is delivering a couple hundred of them. As for the bulbs.... $6.50 a piece, versus $28 (lowest online price i found) and $50 (local petco price, only store that stocks them around).... I'm not going to argue. Its really a shame they didn't package the replacements better (bubble wrap does wonders).

Unfortunately for the retailer, my wife used to be a UPS employee, and knows full well that they were not packed to UPS standards, so when UPS gets the claim, they will take it back up with the shipper, unless they had a UPS Store package them. Which my wife assures me they did not.

At this point however, I'm just trying to find out whats up with the bulbs i DID get, so I can get him to replace them with the 10K's I requested (presuming the 12000's are not Ok for FW plants). If I have them replaced, maybe I can convince him to use bubble wrap instead of peanuts for the outer box.

Isn't it fascinating though how two bulbs marked the same, show up so vastly different? I even tried leaving them on for 20 minutes, but no change in color once warm.

 

[fishfreek]

Maybe the bulbs are factory seconds or manufautruing defects. that would go along with why the price is so low. A 12K bulb should not look like a 50/50 with one tube white and one tube blue. The 12K bulb should be slightly bluer/whiter than a 10K bulb from the same manufacturer. Although a 10K and 12K from different manufacters could look the same or very different.

 

[malkore]

I don't suggest going over 10,000k for plant bulbs. Those look almost like fake actinic bulbs.

I personally like to mix my bulbs with several 6700k and then some 8800 or 10,000.

www.hellolights.com has bulbs cheaper than $28. I wouldn't trust a new PC that was $6.50. Sounds like a scam or junk.

 

[Toker95]

I don't suggest going over 10,000k for plant bulbs. Those look almost like fake actinic bulbs.

The all white 12000k bulb(bottom left) looks pure white no real visible difference from the 10000K (top right bulb), but nothing like the actual actinic that I have but don't need. It still strikes me as very odd how two bulbs labelled exactly the same are physically not.

www.hellolights.com has bulbs cheaper than $28. I wouldn't trust a new PC that was $6.50. Sounds like a scam or junk.

Thanks for the link, depending on how this goes with the original seller, I'll probably head there or to AHSupply.com, they have'em for $19. (forgot about that when i posted)

Nonetheless, I just attributed the price to him dumping wholesale / clearance items. Until i received these bulbs, i took the attitude that well, how could i be scammed? Oddly enough, while the seller is definately not the most communicative, he has a pretty darn good rating on ebay.

What strikes me funny though, is that I can't seem to find any 12000k bulbs around... almost everywhere has the 6700k, 8800k, 10000k but then its to the blue's.