# cheep bulbs on eBay?



## FuzzAz

I was looking at these CF bulbs on eBay and they are really cheep compared to other web sites. I was wondering if anyone knew if they were acceptable quality. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-x-65-Watt-Pow...46314QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

My main concern is if I buy one, I may not notice a difference in light but maybe my plants will. I have no way to measure that these bulbs actually are what they say they are. full spectrum, 6500k, last a long time, etc. without a graph how should I know if most of the light from these bulbs might be unusable to plants. my tank only has one bulb so I am looking for an optimized bulb for my plants.

My better judgment tells me to go buy the coralife bulb from the LFS, I get a discount there. Even with the discount I can get two bulbs on eBay shipped for about 5 dollars cheaper than one bulb at the LFS.


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## fish_4_all

Ebay is a crapshoot but the bulbs look right. 6500K is the right spectrum but don't get Actinic Blue, useless you have enough lumens and wattage without them. Make sure they are the right pins and socket size. 

For me Ebay is simple, read the feedback and go from there. If you think they are good then give them a try. Use paypal so you have some way to dispute the transaction if they try to rip you off. 

Also, from the looks of the listing and the shipping chart they are not made in the US and are likely being shipped from a warehouse or from overseas. There are a ton of sellers who use California as a warehouse location to sell foreign goods. Is an extra good reason to make sure you are getting exactly what you need for your fixture.


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## FuzzAz

well I bought some. they work, yay. they seem solid though about an inch shorter than the coralife bulb I replaced. still the seller would not respond to my questions about C.R.I. and output. I wish I had a way to test this stuff for myself. one other note, they have a brand on them sealife werks I cant find any info on the internet about a company called sealife werks.


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## FuzzAz

6 months later, my plants are still alive. ocasionially when the lights go on, I notice dark sections in the bulb that go away after a few minutes.


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## Sydneysider

You really need to be careful when buying lights from ebay. For a start you dont know for sure if they are compatable, or if they have been used. Lighting needs to be replaced every few months for good plant health, these could have been used and then moved on so to speak. Glad you have had success so far though, but always good to remember if these people don't reply to your emails, best to give them a wide birth.;-)


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## FuzzAz

Well, I can tell for sure that they are not used because the ones I have used get brown at the base. And the seller has sold hundreds of these and has a bunch listed. Mostly I am concerned about the light quality. I am still not %100 sure about these bulbs but I don’t think it is always necessarily true when people say you get what you pay for. In many caces I have found the cheep stuff is just as good as the name brand, often both came off the same production line. But one comes in a brown box and one comes in a name brand box. I dont know if that is the cace for these bulbs, but I am pretty sure coralife doesnt have their own factory, they import their bulbs from a supplier in china just like this guy on ebay does.


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