My 225g Build Thread

 

I had been running a Reeflux 12K on the left side of the tank, and an XM 10K on the right.

The Reeflux side was a little "bluer" than the XMside - which was basically pure white.

 

Anyway, I thought I might give these Plusrite MH bulbs a try. These are the bulbs which sell for less than 1/4 the price of the more famous name brands (like XM, Reeflux, Hamilton, etc).

 

So, I went online last Sunday night and ordered (2) 400w 20K Plusrite bulbs from www.1000bulbs.com I had heard that the 20Ks were the best looking; and I was looking for a little more blue and more 'pop' out of my corals anyway.

 

Total for the 2 bulbs was $34, including shipping

 

Not bad, considering the 1 Reeflux alone set me back $80 when I got it a year ago...

 

But I was concerned about a few things; namely, how would the bulbs look (colorwise) and how well would they perform.

 

Alot of people love to tout that old adage "You get what you pay for", so I was hoping for a good deal - but would not be shocked if they, well... sucked.

 

Anyway, the package arrived Friday afternoon via Fedex truck.

Came packaged in a carton about the size of a shoebox. A good amount of crumbled paper and foam 'peanuts' inside to protect the bulbs.

 

The bulbs themselves came packed in the usual cardboard box:

 

 

The box is printed all in English (I heard these bulbs were made in China) and it shipped from Texas.

 

The bulbs look well built; they are your typical looking MH mogul bulbs. Maybe a half - inch shorter than the Reeflux, and a full inch shorter than the monster-sized XM bulb.

 

I screwed them in, crossed my fingers, and fired them up.

 

They ignited instantly, but took a good 3 - 4 minutes to come to full power and true color.

I was worried at first, because they fire up very dim and a little yellow initially.

 

Once they came full on, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised:

 

 

 

 

 

A really nice, medium blue... about as blue overall as a Pheonix 14K DE bulb, maybe a liittle less in the blue spectrum and a little more in the purple spectrum than the Pheonix.

 

What really suprised me though, was how bright these bulbs are!

 

Now, maybe it is because my old bulbs were a year old and had lost some "punch"... but these Plusrite 20Ks are most definitely brighter than the old bulbs. Enough of a difference that even my wife noticed the change

 

Here is a shot of the tank with the new bulbs, followed by a similar shot taken last week with the old bulbs.

 

New Plusrite 20K bulbs

 

 

Old Reeflux / XM combo

 

 

Now, these photos were taken with a plain old Fiji point-and-shoot digital, that is great for taking landscape shots, but only so-so for tank shots. So, I don't think the "brightness" difference comes out nearly as much in these pics as it does in person. But you can see the difference in hue and 'pop' between the two - take a look at the Neon Green Candycane colony in the far left on both shots to see the color difference.

 

So, for visual appeal, I would give these Plusrite bulbs a hearty

 

 

Now, as far as performance goes... well, I don't have a PAR meter so I couldn't say if they are performing as well as the old brands. I can just tell you the tank itself defintiely looks brighter for sure.

 

Corals seem to be loving it so far; real nice polyp extension on the SPS - and alot more 'pop' on everything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll keep an eye on coral growth and health, to see if these bulbs are really as good a deal as they seem to be so far.

 

But - so far...

 

Seems like a GREAT deal to me!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if I did, what I would want to do is a "side by side" type comparison against other brands of 20K bulbs; to make sure it is an "apples to apples" comparison.

 

I know there have been several threads on RC and other sites about these bulbs. The basic synopsis from the threads I have read - including one by Sonjay, who is like the "PAR king" over on RC... is that the Plusrite 20Ks are about "middle of the pack" in PAR values; less PAR than the 'best' 20Ks (Radiums, Guisemann, Ushio) but better PAR than some of the others (Hamilton, Reeflux, Aquamaxx). I think they were about equal to the XM 20K 400... He also said that his tests showed the Plusrite start to colorshift earlier than the name brands (about 8 - 9 months vs. avg of 11 - 12 a months for the name brands) and he recommends replacing the Plusrites about every 9 months instead of the usual once a year on most of the name brands.

 

Honestly though, with the HUGE price difference, I figure I can swap these out every 6 months @ $35 a pair (or $70 per year) to keep PAR output maximized, and still come out way ahead vs. spending $150 - $160 on 2 name brand bulbs once a year...

 

I just want to give it enough time to look at growth rates and coloration on my corals before I am 100% convinced. So far, no browning or bleaching or adverse reactions (although it has only been a few days); and going from 10 - 12Ks to 20Ks of any brand will mean a loss of PAR (the lower K bulbs almost always have a higher PAR than the higher K, better looking - IMO - bulbs, no matter what brand)...

 

As long as these things don't turn pee yellow in a month, or hurt my corals...

 

Then I am good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a few of his projects:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, heck, there were just so many cool corals and alot of great deals - what else could I do???!!!

 

 

 

I shot these pics Sunday afternoon, maybe 16 hrs after getting the corals into the tank. A couple are still not too happy about the move, but most are already looking really sweet!

 

 

And I do think I want a better camera... my wife's point-and-shoot Fuji just ain't cutting it, especially on the cloro saturation, white balance and closeups.

 

But, here are the shots anyway -----

 

 

 

Can you pick out all the new corals???

 

 

 

 

Left side

 

 

 

 

Right side

 

 

 

 

New corals from the MWRF include:

 

 

This awesome Yellow Long Tentacle Fungia from Chad... it  is about 6" across and has a neon green mouth

 

 

This sweet Orange Fungia came from Steel City Corals (sorry about the blurryness; camera limitations)

 

 

 

Beautiful Orange Torch from Reef Kingdom

 

 

 

Super nice Yellow Acro from Aquatic Dreams

 

 

 

 

And I ended up with a couple of sweet Scoly's...

 

This first one I consider the "deal of the show". It is a Peach Scoly that is almost the size of a deck of playing cards. Guess how much I paid for it - and which booth I got it at?

 

 

 

 

 

A peach ring, surrounded by a green ring, surrounded by a purple ring - way nicer in person than these pics

 

 

 

 

Should I tell you the price first, or the vendor first..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I bet you didn't guess that it was only $60  and that I got it from Brad at the "The Aquarium" booth

 

 

 

Here is the other Scoly. Definitely a pretty one, and not cheap.

 

The wife picked this one out - not that I am complaining.

 

From Dave at Reef Kingdom:

 

About 2" - 2.5" in diameter...  and wild colors!

 

 

 

With flash

 

 

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Now, in addition to those sweet MWRF corals, I also picked up a few other pieces from WMAS members at the Fest:

 

 

 

From Jackie (bstuver) I got:

 

 

 

This pretty Yellow Scroll (brighter in person)

 

 

 

 

This giant foot-wide Toadstool that used to belong to Jeff (bugzme) and is still quite 'pissed' that it got moved:

 

 

 

 

And a softball-sized,  60+ head Duncan that is also mad at being moved - but is coming out slowly:

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I got a Long-Spine Uchin from somebody - it was so crazy I can't even remember who  but thanks (in the pic it is sticking out of the rockwork; look for the spines)

 

 

 

 

 

 

PJ