CBConcept metal halide bulbs?

RacingTiger03 · Oct 22, 2014

Has anyone here had any experience with these? The reviews are hit or miss, but at $13 each it's tempting....
link for product reference.. if this is unacceptable I can copy the info over I suppose.
http://www.amazon.com/CBConceptÂ®-D...1-1-catcorr&keywords=150+watt+metal+halide+20

revhtree · Oct 22, 2014

Never heard of them personally.

RacingTiger03 · Oct 22, 2014

I'm tempted to try them just knowing if the color is crazy or they blow within 30 days amazon will credit me, LOL. I would RATHER hear some reviews first.. but if I bite the bullet you guys will be first to know how it comes out

RacingTiger03 · Oct 22, 2014

FYI, They are $10 each direct from the MFG, and they seem to specialize in lighting. The bulbs they offer are 10,14, and 20K. All 3 show as 11,200 lumen and 5000hr life, both of which I'm very skeptic about. 5,000hrs life would be over a year! They do include "UV stop" though, which is interesting since the fixture I have shows non-existent uv stoppage as my transition lenses will turn BLACK under them now, LOL.

The bulb looks weird to me though.. I suppose UV stop is the white, and the bulb is meant to be installed with the arc facing the reflector? hmm

iReef86 · Oct 23, 2014

People around my part of the world have used plusrites for years, I just found why!! they are so Cheap!

https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/aquarium-lighting/

RacingTiger03 · Oct 23, 2014

I've run across those as well! I just can't get the lovely return policy amazon has on those, lol.

G_Sanab922 · Oct 23, 2014

Those plusrites are interesting.

RacingTiger03 · Oct 24, 2014

Just ordered the CBConcept bulbs. I'll grab some before/after pics (vs coralife 20K's with about 6-7 months on them). Should be in monday or tuesday

iReef86 · Oct 24, 2014

Let me know!! Haha

RacingTiger03 · Oct 28, 2014

I SHOULD have these in tonight... but so far no delivery from fed-ex. Likely they can't find my house.... again -.-..... If I see red letters and address in-correct from them one more time #!$#%.. ugh that could be another thread on it's own though.
I still plan on before/after comparison picks with and without T5 Marine-glo actinic supplement

RacingTiger03 · Oct 28, 2014

iReef86 here ya go!
First 2 are without actinics, last two are with actinic! The color is awesome, and there is a significant brightness improvement over the old bulbs! As long as these hold up to time I've found my bulbs. For <$30 for both, I doubt I'll be using anything else unless these are toast after only a couple months, LOL. I really had my doubts about the color spectrum (per some amazon reviews this had some green) But I only see bright white with a tinge of blue, MAYBE some purple, but the actinic cleans that up.. what little I can make out. These are totally over-powering the T5 that I once could tell a night and day difference between it being off or on. I forgot to grab a before shot.. turned off the lights to let them cool before I grabbed my camera and they didn't want to come back on hot, sorry guys.. I have an older before though (about 2 weeks ago) here - off of my phone vs D7000 for the others unfortunately

Don't let the limited EV of the phone fool you into thinking pre-swap was brighter, LOL

iReef86 · Oct 28, 2014

I don't see green. Definitely white! Thanks for sharing. Keep the updates coming, interested to see how it maintains! Got a PAR meter accessible?

Get that gha under control brotha!!!!!!!!

RacingTiger03 · Oct 28, 2014

iReef86 said:
I don't see green. Definitely white! Thanks for sharing. Keep the updates coming, interested to see how it maintains! Got a PAR meter accessible?

Get that gha under control brotha!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately I do not, at least, not a submersible one.

Working on that last bit! These bulbs were the last step actually! You should've seen it 2 weeks ago in fact I see I had almost uploaded that one LOL. The "before pic" is from 2 DAYS ago

*gag* This is after more than half of it is dead and gone! Swapped to a better water source, started carbon dosing, and now the new bulbs for the halides (honestly thinking that was a chunk more of the problem than I thought now!). At first I thought it was normal cycle algae.. until that was over and it was still growing and taking over -.-