PC bulb preferences

[blenny]

hey folks, i was just wondering...

for all those power compact users out there, which brand of bulbs do you prefer? which do you think provide the best color, growth, etc?

i know of coralife, custom sea life, and hellolights and have tried the latter two, but i'm interested to see if anyone out there has come up with any preferences or has observed any noticeable differences b/n them.

thanks for the input in advance!
blenny

 

[PSU4ME]

i ordered everything from hellolights.....i think the are just fine.....got 96 w from them......i am a little partial to the 10K's.

I did alot of research before i bought and hellolights was the best

JMO


PSU

 

[Tasslehoff]

I get mine from North Coast Marines. I think they're Panasonic.

In eight years I've only had one burn out. I try to change out every 6 months but 8 months is a little more acurate.

tass

 

[ReefLady]

IMO, CSL fixtures and bulbs are well worth the money. I strayed to save a few bucks, and paid the price. I'm still paying.

As my 96W PSL bulbs go (won't be long) I'm going to switch to square-pin endcaps so I can use CSL bulbs once again.

T

 

[Cougra]

I've only used GE bulbs. Haven't tried any different name brands.

 

[fidojoe]

I'm not sure exactly what brand mine are, but I think they are Jebo, because I got them from the same guy who sells the Jebo lights on ebay. I paid $40 + s/h for them, they are 55w 50/50 10k/actinic bulbs, and are way brighter than the JBJ bulbs that came with the light strip. I've had them for three months, and have had no problems, and the color/brightness has not degraded since I started using them. The color that they put out is a very nice white/blue, but not too much blue, and no nasty yellow.

 

[wooddood]

im with travis,csl's are the best you can get in my opinion. dave.

 

[CAT]

I have the coralife 65w daylight bulb on my tank... too yellow. The actinic one looks ok but I'll be looking for another brand of daylight straight pin in a few months.

 

[wooddood]

cat, i've had coralife pc fixtures and switched 1 actinic bulb with a csl build and the light spectrum with the custom sealife bulb was so much brighter it was amazing.you should check it out. dave.

 

[CAT]

Dave, do you find that the csl daylight bulb is better also? I don't mind the coralife actinic but the daylight bulb is a disappointment. I can always buy a square pin end cap to switch bulbs.

Cherry

 

[wooddood]

i think their both better,and you can get the csl bulbs in a straight pin also.hth. dave

 

[blenny]

i agree w/ you wooddood. my previous PC's were "ok", but when i got a good deal on CSL's, i was pretty amazed at not only the intensity but also the color of the custom sealife bulbs. as for actual coral health (i only have softies and LPS), i'm not sure if the CSL's have been better in that regard, but they definitely bring out more color.