Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #59

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #59
From: schmaus at drmail_dr.att.com (SchmausJ)
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 12:19:02 -0700
In-Reply-To: Aquatic-Plants-Owner at actwin_com "Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #59" (Nov 9, 3:39am)
References: <199511090839.DAA22972 at looney_actwin.com>

On Nov 9,  3:39am, Aquatic-Plants-Owner at actwin_com wrote:
> From: George Booth <booth at hpmtlgb1_lvld.hp.com>
> Date: Wed, 08 Nov 1995 17:13:01 -0700
> Subject: Mercury vapor lites AND shop light question for "the George"
>
> 1) The [Lights of America] fixtures don't seem to be long lived.

	Gotta agree here.  I was lured by the $7.00 price and bought three.
	They were completely burned out after 2 years.

> 3) The sleazo fixtures seem to greatly shorten the life of some bulbs,
>    most notably Tritons.  Consumer Reports noted this same thing when
>    they tested compact FL bulbs that are designed to replace incand.
>    bulbs - some electronic ballasts greatly shortened the bulb life.

	Gotta agree, again.  My tritons burned out after less than a year
	(yeah I know I'm supposed to replace after 6 months) and the Vita
	Lites didn't last much longer.  The LOA ballasts start the bulbs
	instantly, blasting them with an electric charge that's accompanied
	by groaning from the entire fixture.
>
> I wonder how it compares to the $120 digital unit I got from a reef
> place?  I have an expensive camera light meter and it's lux reading
> does not match the luxmeter.  A cheap meter I saw in a hydroponics
> store matched neither one.  The luxmeter seems to agree with rated
> lumens of some bulbs ...

	My LunaPro light meter matches neither of my Nikons.  It's almost
	a full F stop off.  The Nikons agree within 1/2 F stop of each other,
	but the whole thing is confusing.  I'm using 8 bulbs just to be
	sure I've got enough light!