Ushio 14,000K... huh?

[hahnmeister]

Hello,
I received my shippment a few days ago, and among a few misc. items for DIY (reflectors, wiring harness, endcaps, etc), I also ordered a Ushio 14,000K bulb (250wattDE).

When I fired it up, it was yellow. I let it sit... still yellow. Now, I have another Ushio 14,000K (I am currently using, and planned on using 2 of them on the new tank), and have seen a few others at friends places... and mine doesnt look like those.

Mine looks more yellow than an Aqualine 10,000K. When I took the bulb out to see what might be going on with it, I noticed black spots and a 'film' deposited inside the bulb. Is this normal? Or did I get a defective bulb? Something just doesnt seem right. Granted, the color alone didnt seem too far off, and the other one I have is on an Icecap ballast, and this was plugged in to a PFO/HQI... but when I looked at the bulb and saw all those marks... that didnt seem right.

Regards,
Jon

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/wetworx101/Ushio14000K.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/wetworx101/Ushio14000K2.jpg

[reefnetworth]

ive got 3 ushio's 20,000K, 14,000K, and a 10,000K. none of mine had that inside them. they were alll the colors they were supposed to be. the 10,000K was white with no hint of yellow. did i mention yelling? my wife complained about it being to bright. it was in the tank in the livivgroom. now its a 14,000K and were both happier. LOL!

John, :)

[hahnmeister]

Yeah, I hate to say it, but mine looks, well... used.

Confirmation number: 1163016756

Sale #: 12719

Whaddya say geek? This bulb 'aint right'...

I tried it again today outside of the tank. Its more of a tungsten bulb look, not the crisp cool white that I was expecting. I got me a bumb bulb methinks. That pic above doesnt show how yellow/orange everything is... you can see how washed out the reds are... look at that orange whorling cap... its supposed to be a deep red color, but instead it looks washed out and brown. I cant take a good pic w/o the camera compensating. But you can see the deposits in the bulb...

[ReefGeek-Greg]

Hi Hahn,

I promise you its not used as we only sell brand new merchandise through our web-site. If its defective we will gladly replace it at no cost to you.

Regards,
Greg

[hahnmeister]

It just looks used, but I didnt mean to imply that that was the case. Its just got black spots and a fil in it... its worse than a 1yr old XM 20,000K bulb I have (and thats a crappy bulb).

I tried firing it up with an icecap ballast today. Youir suggestion was to run it for 48 hours to see if it 'breaks in' more. I figured that maybe the color might shift if I ran it on the icecap like I have the other one.

Well, that didnt do much... its actually worse on the icecap now. For a moment there, I thought it was going to whiten up, but after 15minutes, it looks more like a sodium vapor lamp then ever. It actually looks orange.

[hahnmeister]

Well, today will be 24 hours of use. It looks like someone urinated in my tank and put a sodium vapor lamp over the tank.... lol. Okay, not that bad, but its more yellow than a 6500K bulb.

[hahnmeister]

This is odd... after day 4... the thing changed its output. The bulb is whiter... still looks like a 10,000K, but its not sodium vapor any more. Well... it looks okay for now...

[hahnmeister]

heck, you tell me if it looks alright... the right is the pheonix 14,000K, the left is the Ushio 14,000K (I know these two are supposed to look different, but its for comparison). Maybe I should just order another new Ushio 14,000K and compare those two then... lol. My older one looks very different by now after 9-12 months of use.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/wetworx101/ushio14000Kvspheonix14000K.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/wetworx101/IC660wiringharness.jpg

The second pic is of the IC660 wiring plug/harness. The wires are all popping out of the molex connector!! The connectors were never crimped. I figure Ill take this up with Icecap first though, since they have their own forum here.

Regards,
Jon

[hahnmeister]

I just wanted to make one thing clear. I in no way feel that I have been wronged by ReefGeek at all. I question this bulb a little, but as per their suggestion, it seems this bulb has changed over time. I simply see the forums as a way to get feedback, perhaps from other people who have used the bulb in question... it is only the bulb I question, not you guys. I thought perhaps more people from other forums might view and give feedback... but I suppose this vendor forum isnt as popular as the Tunze one...lol.

But as far as ReefGeek is concerned, thumbs up from me!

If you go through my old posts on RC, I actually suggest reefgeek now more than anyone else when it comes to lighting, for T5's, ATI skimmers, etc. I think you guys have had a mutually positive relationship with RC... word of mouth seems to be in your favor.

[Ti]

Try talking to Ushio, usually you can send it back for a spectral analysis.
I've had this done with XM.
But how a bulb turns out really involves alot of factors.
sometimes bad bulb, ballast combo.
Some say the XM 10K is white while other swear its pee yellow.
According to Sajay , a bulb takes roughly 100hrs to break in, so you can give it more time or just contact Ushio and have them look at the bulb.

[mrcrab]

I have tyhe same bulbs in my maristar unit. They were all running fine for about 2 months and then one had a color shift. The bulb is definitely a crisp white as opposed to some of the other 14K's probably between 11 - 12k but should not look yellow. I returned mine and the new one is doing fine. Probably a defect.

[hahnmeister]

Just want to check... this is the same bulb as the BLV 14,000K, right?

[mrcrab]

Not sure. The Maristar came with 10K BLV's and I switched them to the Ushio 14k's. I believe the BLV's and Ushio's are made by the same company but I don't think the Ushio 14k's are as blue as the BLV 14k's. Maybe someone else can chime in here.