14k MH bulb dim

[DogsRule]

My ballasts say HID Electronic Ballast. I‘m new to MH. Does this mean anything?

I can‘t find any information on the CoralVue bulb, it appears to be discontinued.

I woud do a search of your exact Coralvue bulb & see if you can find any info on what type of ballast should be used to run it at optimum performance.
It's a long shot, but try shutting off the bulb. Allow it to fully cool & then rotating it slightly in the socket (say 45-90 degrees). Wipe the bulb off to remove any oils from your hands & re-fire bulb to see if it alters the color &/or intensity. I have had to try this with the odd bulb over the years.
Lastly, MH bubs require a burn in period, I think it is somewhere around 50-100 hours depending on the bulb. During this time the bulb may not look the same, but it should still have plenty of intensity. Hope your search can provide some info for you.

 

[WVNed]

https://hamiltontechnology.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=24_88_93

 

[C. Eymann]

Any electronic HID ballast should fire and run the bulb to where it looks visually correct, sure some ballast/ bulb combo will run up to a better spec as far as PAR /CRI is concerned.

However, actually being able to fire and run a bulb is usually only issues with trying to run a DE /HID bulb on a probe start, non hqi magnetic ballast which usually wont fire the bulb at all.

An electronic HID ballast should be able to fire and run almost any bulb out there to my understanding. Im not an electrician though.

 

[ThePurple12]

Any electronic HID ballast should fire and run the bulb to where it looks visually correct, sure some ballast/ bulb combo will run up to a better spec as far as PAR /CRI is concerned.

However, actually being able to fire and run a bulb is usually only issues with trying to run a DE /HID bulb on a probe start, non hqi magnetic ballast which usually wont fire the bulb at all.

An electronic HID ballast should be able to fire and run almost any bulb out there to my understanding. Im not an electrician though.

So that means the bulb is defective, right?

It's a long shot, but try shutting off the bulb. Allow it to fully cool & then rotating it slightly in the socket (say 45-90 degrees). Wipe the bulb off to remove any oils from your hands & re-fire bulb to see if it alters the color &/or intensity. I have had to try this with the odd bulb over the years.

Thanks. Still no results from searching. I'll try rotating it. Just curious, what does that do?

 

[DogsRule]

I'll try rotating it. Just curious, what does that do?

It may or may not change the color output/intensity of the bulb. No idea if it will do anything to a DE bulb, but I've had a couple of single end bulbs that looked awful on initial firing. I let them burn-in for required hours & was still not happy with the color output. Rotated bulb slightly in mogul socket & bingo, it was like a completely different bulb. Had it happen on 2 different brands from what I remember.

 

[jda]

I had to stop using CV MH bulbs in the mid 2000s because they varied so much from batch to batch. Some looked awesome and some looked horrible. If you did not replace all of them at the same time, it would look like you had multiple bulbs on the tank.

 

[ThePurple12]

Well, the bulbs are at it again.

I picked up 2 250w lights with bulbs and IceCap ballasts from Facebook (amazing deal- $70 for everything!). They apparently worked well for the seller, but when I hung them and plugged them in, the exact same thing as before is happening. Both bulbs are dim.

This makes me think it’s my fault, not the bulb’s. I tried plugging them in to different outlets with no change. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Bpb]

Perhaps your expectation is that they should appear brighter. Have you seen them running anywhere else in person before purchasing?

 

[ThePurple12]

I see what you're saying. I haven't seen them running before as we didn't meet at his house, but I've seen pictures with blue spectrum 250w metal halides and it's nothing like what I have now.

I did order a 10k bulb, so we'll see how that looks.

 

[Bpb]

Pictures are ok but you can make a picture look as blue or as yellow as you want with a couple camera sliders. They’ll be an especially poor indication of visual brightness. If you have tried 3 different bulbs on multiple different ballasts and they all look dark to you, I would strongly lean toward just mismanaged expectations Moreso than faulty equipment. But seeing them run for someone else or someone who has used them before actually laying eyes on them in person to verify if they are burning as they should would be the only real way to make sure

 

[Bpb]

An indication on how deceiving pictures can be. Same exact image. Literally changing two one simple edit. Color temp and brightness. Most people who post pictures of their tanks will fall into one of 3 categories

those who are able to successfully edit the images to what are true to the eye can see

those who use software deceitfully and artificially change the image to enhance what is not in reality actually there

those who do nothing and accept what the camera sensor gives them which is usually too heavily blue represented.

again. Same exact image. 20,000k mh

 

[ThePurple12]

Which one represents your tank the best?

 

[Bpb]

Top one.
This is the raw picture without correction. Looks NOTHING like the tank in real life

 

[ThePurple12]

Is the tank darker than that in real life? I'm starting to think you're right, as there's no other possible explanation and I'm used to yellow 6500s, but I still just can't see my lights growing corals.

 

[oreo54]

Is it darker than that in real life? I'm starting to think you're right, as there's no other possible explanation and I'm used to yellow 6500s, but I still just can't see my lights growing corals.

Your eyes aren't good at seeing blue or red and it also shifts sensitivity based on light levels.

What you see has little to do w/ what corals "see"..

schoolphysics ::Welcome::

www.schoolphysics.co.uk

 

[ThePurple12]

Either way, I think I'll stick with 10k from now on ;Smuggrin