Is there a better more true actinic t5?? also i like to try the 14k or 15k hqi but apparently you don't ship this item to Mexico, why is that? how come you did ship the hole fixture but cant ship the bulb?

Artur

Unfortunately none of the customer service reps from Marine Depot post on the forum, but I think I can help you out with your questions.

What lighting were you using before this one?  Your zoo's may be reacting to the change in lighting some what.  While actinics can help make corals "pop" with color, even with the metal halide on they will usually still pop some, but usually not quite as much.  It may also be that the metal halide has to burn in more.  If you have only had it running for one or two weeks, I would still give the metal halide bulb some time to burn in more to a true color.  IME the 10K bulb that CurrentUSA puts in their fixtures will burn a fairly crisp white color after a few weeks.

The T5 bulbs that are included with these fixtures are two 420nm and two 460nm bulbs.  The 420nm bulbs are considered actinic bulbs (really good at making the colors pop) and the 460nm is a blue bulb that helps give a brighter color to the tank but really doesn't enhance colors like an actinic bulb.  If you want more pop from the actinic lighting, changing out the two 460nm bulbs for 420nm bulbs should help with that.

You could also try a different brand of bulb instead of the CurrentUSA bulbs.  There are many manufacturers out there making T5 bulbs such as URI and Giesemann.

I have one of the Outer Orbit with PC supplemental lights and I like a fairly bluer color from my metal halide bulb so I ended up trying one of the Phoenix 14K bulbs and was very happy with its color.  So a 14 or 15K bulb would be fine to change out if you want more blue in the tank.

As for shipping bulbs internationally, unfortunately FedEx will not cover any breakage of bulbs that are shipped.  Therefore Marine Depot can not send them with any type of guarantee they will arrive safely, so they simply can't ship them.  But from what I understand when a bulb is sent inside of a fixture it is considered part of the fixture and is therefore covered under the FedEx policies for replacement coverage. 

HTH,

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Keith

"Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer

thanks for the reply, I didnt know about the burn in period, about 5 years ago i had a tank with two 175w 10k, and I didnt notice any thing like that, but maybe because those were my first.

this is a new tank, I will give a couple of week more, since I only have them on for 4 hr a day, do you think it may get a little longer than that

and about the international shipping of bulbs, is this a recent thing?? because those MH that I had a few years ago were from MD along with 2 PC bulbs that they ship with out any trouble back then.

thanks anyway

Artur

As for the international shipping, yes it is fairly new.  I don't recall exactly when it started but I think it was a little over a year ago that FedEx let MD know about the new policies and then MD had to change their policies. 

________________________________________________

Keith

"Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer