Phoenix 250w mogul

The highly popular Phoenix 14K which is a favorite of DE halide users ourselves included has just been ported to the classic mogul base. Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid 90s and has worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years.

Jake is interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe.

His primary interest is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The popular Phoenix 14K is now available in a mogul base.

It appears that I had accidentally mixed up a new Phoenix and an old Aquaconnect bulb, and replaced the old bulb into the fixture while discarding the new Phoenix bulb. This means that this bulb was actually about 15 months old when the study began and 27 months old at the study's conclusion. In order to make the measurements consistent I built a simple device for holding the probe Figure 1 above. Before each set of measurements was taken the glass shields were cleaned of any salt spray.

The holder and probe were moved along the glass shield to search for the highest reading Figure 2 below. When this peak level was found, the measurement was recorded. These measurements were made monthly for all seven fixtures for a period of one year.

Those calculations are reproduced in Table 2. This equates to about hours per month and hours for one year. This bulb was, in fact, already over one year old at the start of the study rather than new as were all the other bulbs. The intensity curves had flattened considerably by 12 months, which suggested only a very gradual further decline in intensity beyond a year. Initially, we could shield or raise the lights and then gradually lower or unshield them over the first four months or so, when the intensity is at its highest but falls most quickly.

Doing this may considerably extend the bulbs' effective life. As I indicated earlier, bulb 3 was actually an old Aquaconnect 14,K bulb that had mistakenly been retained when the other bulbs were replaced. That means that this bulb was actually about 15 months old when the study began, and 27 months old at the study's conclusion.

The Phoenix and Aquaconnect bulbs are thought to be the same bulb sold with different labels. I have been in the habit of replacing my bulbs about once a year as is so often recommended. The measurements suggest that this may not be necessary, though. In my aquarium setup, my lighting is suspended by a pulley system, which allows the lights to be easily raised and lowered see Figure 3 below.

Having a reliable light meter, I can measure the output of all seven of my bulbs in fewer than five minutes. For now, I will continue using the same bulbs and perhaps take a quick follow-up reading after 18 months and see if the other six bulbs have held up the same as the Aquaconnect bulb. Of course, light intensity is only part of the story. The light spectrum, however, has been found to be far less important to corals' growth than total PAR levels.

These effects are somewhat subjective, though. Conclusion I have shown how the output of one particular metal halide bulb diminishes initially and then slows its decline over time. I have suggested a method for extending the bulbs' useful life by adjusting for this drop in their light output over time. This is only a single bulb and ballast combination, but it does suggest that at least some bulbs have a longer useful life than is commonly believed.

If you have any questions about this article, please visit my author forum on Reef Central. References 1. Burger, J. Reefkeeping Magazine. Vol 6 3. Joshi, S. Aquarium Frontiers.