neilanh
Sliced Bread
So, I was overdue for new MH bulbs for my reef tank. The past year I've been running the Reeflux 12,000K bulbs. Growth has been good, I've been pretty happy with them, except that they're bluer than I wanted my tank to be.
So, I set out to do some research. Iwasaki 15000K bulbs were killing all the other 175W bulbs (As well as many 250W bulbs) in terms of PAR output and looked to be closer to what I wanted (well, "looked" as best as I can tell from photos.)
I use SE bulbs, by the way.
The price tag was a little concerning, but I've always been told you get what you pay for. Well, I happened upon a guy on RC selling a Brand New Set that he bought, then decided to upgrade to higher output lighting. He sold me these with no burn time on them at all for a really good deal.
I took a series of shots during the switch. Take a look and let me know what you think.
First - here's the tank on the Reeflux 12000K right before the switch.
Then, I swapped out just the right side bulb and took a shot with 1 of each. I made no adjustments to my camera prior to taking this shot. Look how much brighter the right side is!
Finally, with both of the Iwasaki's running. Again, no adjustment to the camera.
Then, I went and adjusted the white balance on my camera a little bit to get it to match closer to the eye. I left it alone in previous pics for a direct 1 to 1 comparison, even though the camera wasn't picking it up exactly the way it looks.
First impressions
So, I set out to do some research. Iwasaki 15000K bulbs were killing all the other 175W bulbs (As well as many 250W bulbs) in terms of PAR output and looked to be closer to what I wanted (well, "looked" as best as I can tell from photos.)
I use SE bulbs, by the way.
The price tag was a little concerning, but I've always been told you get what you pay for. Well, I happened upon a guy on RC selling a Brand New Set that he bought, then decided to upgrade to higher output lighting. He sold me these with no burn time on them at all for a really good deal.
I took a series of shots during the switch. Take a look and let me know what you think.
First - here's the tank on the Reeflux 12000K right before the switch.
Then, I swapped out just the right side bulb and took a shot with 1 of each. I made no adjustments to my camera prior to taking this shot. Look how much brighter the right side is!
Finally, with both of the Iwasaki's running. Again, no adjustment to the camera.
Then, I went and adjusted the white balance on my camera a little bit to get it to match closer to the eye. I left it alone in previous pics for a direct 1 to 1 comparison, even though the camera wasn't picking it up exactly the way it looks.
First impressions
- WOW, these are a TON brighter.
- The color is much closer to what I'm wanting (Crisp white is what I'm after) - Time will tell if it holds as the bulbs burn in. These are much whiter, I do see a tint of yellow in them, and maybe slight hints of blue. We'll see what they look like after a few weeks of burning in
Last edited: