For this months Reefkeeping edition show, i interview Allen Chantelois. Allen has spent the last year measuring and documenting the light output of 7 metal halide bulbs over a period of 12 months. In this months edition of Reefkeeping Magazine he publishes his results, and in this show we talk about those results.

Article: (Link not active until release date)
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/ac/index.php

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Where can I find one of those $30.00 spectrometers you mentioned?

Did you check eBay?

here is the one Allen and i were talking about getting
Spectrometer from Project STAR (http://www.astrosociety.org/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/p-OA160.html?L+scstore+kssh1938ff172b17+1178298609)

Hi Rob,
Let us know when/if you get this Spectrometer. I am curious as to how it works. I work in prepress and I change the bulbs on our light booths every 6 months and we notice a difference in output and color shift when we put in the new ones (fluorescent - 5000K).
-Ralph

Just order one, will let you guys know when it gets here.

Just order one, will let you guys know when it gets here.
me too.. :)

I've also ordered one, but haven't gotten it yet. Since I now have 1 Phoenix 14K bulb that is only 1 month old and 6 that are over a year old I can do some comparing right away. I'll let you know what I find.
Allen

Hi ReeferAl,

:welcome: to TR. I'll look forward to hearing your results.

My spectrometer arrived today. I only had time for a quick look though. Since I work all this week and the weekend I may not be able to do much more than that for the next week to 10 days.
Currently the 1 new bulb does appear slightly bluer than the old bulbs. All I can say about the spectra is that it appears that all spectral lines are still present, but until I can photo them and compare side-by-side it will be tough to tell if there has been a noticeable decrease in the intensity of any of the spectral lines.
Allen

i got mine a few days ago as well. its about what i expected, definetly not for your everyday hobbyist from what i can see. i too am going to work on some docs and images show how it works.