The dreaded Lighting Question

[Darrell]

ok i have up graded my tank to MH from PC's.
Witch is the better bulb ,10k,20k ect and brand and were is the best prices for them
Im looking for 2- 250w bulbs any ideas would help
Darrell

 

[Macbeth417]

Just a personal opinion, but I don't think you can go wrong with Ushio 10Ks.

-Says the man who let low price talk him into XMs...

-Erik

 

[plumber_bob]

Remember the higher you go up in spectrum the faster the bulb goes bad. 10k ushios look a little yellow at first; however, once the bulb gets going it shows more of a whitish blue look. I also like the Aqualine Bushke 13k's, but if you have a lot of actinic in your tank this bulbs might be too blue for you.

 

[G~]

i have played with a lot of bulbs lately. i have tried the Coralvue and the new GS-Maxim 10k's. these were all 400wers though. the Coralvues were a touch blue for my taste, but the corals coloured up nicely. the GS-Maxim has a true white light to it. great for true colour rendition of fish and non flourescing corals.

i finally went with the Coralvues, mainly because my wife liked the way it coloured up my flourescing corals. i really liked the truer colour of the maxim though.

G~

 

[Darrell]

ok great any more input?
darrell

 

[jazznreef]

to clarify, you are talking single ended right? ushio 10ks are a very nice way to go once the bulbs burn a bit and mellow on the yellow spectrum. lights are really a personal opinion and a lot of people experiment for a long time and go back and forth. the ushios are a good place to start though.

 

[NaH2O]

The choice on bulbs is a matter of personal preference. Here is a link to Bulb Comparison.

Here is another article on Spectral Analysis of Recent Metal Halide Lamps and Ballast Combinations

Check out our sponsors' websites for prices on bulbs.

Hope this has helped!

 

[SueT]

Darrell, I recently switched from iwasaki's that I have used{not continously} since I got back into reefkeeping to the XM 10k's. It was a hard decision cause I have always made every decision like pulling teeth. This is the lighting study that helped push me off the fence. http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm

They have been on my 180g tank for 3 weeks today and I really like how they are burning in.

 

[Darrell]

Now being that this tank will have both Softies and sps's i think ill go with ushio 6500K's on one side and XM 10k's on the other. Now do you think the 10k will be effencint for sps's or have you had better luck with the 20k's

 

[reedman]

You'll have better growth in your SPS if you stick with the 10K rather than the 20K. The 20K bulbs are really for the aethetics. They bring out the flourecense of the corals.

My humble opinion.

 

[Katchupoy]

Heres my 20 cents...

I have Ushio 10k 175 and an AB. Ab is know for its being on the bluer side.... they said its actually 14k

10k to me is white and ab is blue but not enough to make my corals fluoresce....

my point... whenever I use my 10k , my corals tend to shrink... and when using ab they extend more.

solution.. when i use my 10k... i raise my canopy for about 6 inches higher than the ab bulb...

hope this helps

 

[SueT]

In the lighting study I posted earlier, another reason I did change to the XM's was that PAR in the XM's was only second to the iwasaki's. IME, sps corals have got to have the intensity, so say a 20k won't privide enough PAR to aid the coral/frag in growth. These 10k's by XM will certainly put out the intensity.

 

[reefsupply]

Sue i totaly agree with you in our tanks we use 2 10k xm and one 20k over each tank

 

[mojoreef]

Another thing to concider is that its going to look kinda goofy with a different color over each side of the tank.


Mike

 

[Darrell]

so you say i should stay with the same on both sides and let the Softies adjust to what they get i also heard that putting layers of window screening between the tank and bulbs and removeing one layer every so often they will adjust to the intensity of course while keeping them on the bottom of the tank
Darrell