Not happy with my new Viper HQI Lamp

pszemol · 01/27/2007, 01:15 AM

Just before Christmas I got Viper 70W HQI Clamp Lamp from marinedepot.com to put over my nano-reef made of a 10 gallon AGA tank.

I has arrived very, very cheap looking... Styrofoam box it came in looked as glued quickly from flat pieces of styrofoam in some garage by a 6-th grader...
One of the knobs on the back had the stainless steel bolt sticking out through the plastic, visibly shorter than the other one...
The reflector does not provide equally intense light - the light is visibly brighter near front of the tank than in the center...
The bulb itself was already installed and with a strange, orange looking blob in the middle, casting yellow shadow on my tank...
With no previous experience with HQI light I assumed that everything is ok and decided to give it some time to worn in...
Today I have seen the same lamp in the store and the light was much more bluish than from my lamp. I have not seen this orange looking blob inside the bulb visible in my lamp...

My bulb is bluish only about one minute from starting the lamp - then the orange blob inside the bulb "takes over" and the light gets yellow tint loosing its bluish coloration... And it supposed to be 14000K bulb, which should be bold bluish!

Definitelly not happy with this purchase so far...

What could be wrong with my lamp ?
Should I contact Marine Depot for help or this is normal for new lamp and will get better?

edwing206 · 01/27/2007, 02:08 AM

def email and try to get a new unit. good luck

01/27/2007, 01:15 AM	#1
pszemol Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: La Grange, IL Posts: 632	Not happy with my new Viper HQI Lamp Just before Christmas I got Viper 70W HQI Clamp Lamp from marinedepot.com to put over my nano-reef made of a 10 gallon AGA tank. I has arrived very, very cheap looking... Styrofoam box it came in looked as glued quickly from flat pieces of styrofoam in some garage by a 6-th grader... One of the knobs on the back had the stainless steel bolt sticking out through the plastic, visibly shorter than the other one... The reflector does not provide equally intense light - the light is visibly brighter near front of the tank than in the center... The bulb itself was already installed and with a strange, orange looking blob in the middle, casting yellow shadow on my tank... With no previous experience with HQI light I assumed that everything is ok and decided to give it some time to worn in... Today I have seen the same lamp in the store and the light was much more bluish than from my lamp. I have not seen this orange looking blob inside the bulb visible in my lamp... My bulb is bluish only about one minute from starting the lamp - then the orange blob inside the bulb "takes over" and the light gets yellow tint loosing its bluish coloration... And it supposed to be 14000K bulb, which should be bold bluish! Definitelly not happy with this purchase so far... What could be wrong with my lamp ? Should I contact Marine Depot for help or this is normal for new lamp and will get better?

01/27/2007, 02:08 AM	#2
edwing206 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Shoreline,Washington Posts: 4,518	def email and try to get a new unit. good luck __________________ The name's Luis. :) Current Tank Info: 50G cube