Best MH Bulb

[morgan]

well 10k is better for coral expansion and even tho it may look yellowish to me and u its the right colour spectrum your corals are looking for but with 2 flour antincis it will give and asetheticly pleaseing clour 20ks are a bit to much but a 14 is a good balance and with the extra fluros should get a good look
10s or 14s id go the 10 if u got fluros to give the blue spectrum

 

[Boomer]

Actaully Morgan 10 K is not the best for corals in a reef tank, as 6500K, like the Iwasaki 400 MH is, which is yellow-bluegreen. This is much more to the actual type of light the get on a reef.

 

[Rod Buehler]

I dont think you can say that one bulb is better for any coral, whether talking about the health of the coral or the appearance. Corals react differently to different lamps.. Corals like A, humulis, gemefera, purple monties, etc will pop with some of the most brilliant colors under 6500K and even 10KK, and may look like crap under 20 K, on the other hand there are corals that seem very drab under under 65s and 10s but look great under 20s.. Same goes for health.. Pulling a coral from deep waters and tossing it under a 65K lamp is not goingto make it happy, and visa versa... taking a humulis and trying keep it happy under 20s is going to make it less happy than if its being baked by 65s.. There is no best bulb for all of our corals so we have to chose what is most pleasing to our eyes and to what makes the corals in our tanks looking their best.. Just because joe blow has good colors with a 20 K lamp doesnt mean that chuck suck will get the same colors from his. He may be keeping different corals

 

[alison]

let the coral decide

I prefer the deep blue colors, and they do fade lighter as they wear, but I like to research what my corals like best. I like a combo flourescent/MH, it does show off colors better, and the corals/anemones get the spectrum they need. I also always watch the placement of them. They all do great in various light, but place deeper plants lower in the tank, shallow corals higher in the tank and they'll do great under any MH.

 

[Boomer]

Rod

I dont think you can say that one bulb is better for any coral, whether talking about the health of the coral or the appearance

You surely can in general not that this bulb is the best for any coral and that is what I meant. You are takling about the corals developing colors that we like, the do not do this in nature. Coral reefs do not get 20K color temps. Furthermore, it is not K that is important to coral growth but PAR and K has a very wide range. K is more of a fucntion of getting the corals to produce certain colors that we like. The coloring-up of corals is a human only thing, which is fine with me. Who wants a drab reef tank :lol: But, there are more important things to a corals growth and health than K. It is a very minor issue.

Pulling a coral from deep waters and tossing it under a 65K lamp is not goingto make it happy

Based on what ? It is PAR not K. There is no evidence that K is a big thing to a corals health or growth, accept in the reef keepers mind You are trying to attach K as a single function with no mention of intensity, which by far out weighs K. No, I'm not saying K does not effect corals, it does have a use in their development. This has recently shown in a study on artifical lighting.

 

[Fijikid]

Where is the best buy for MH bulbs?

 

[Scooterman]

Where is the best buy for MH bulbs?

I guess you got plenty of information by now lol!
We have several vendors in the sponsor forums that have reasonable prices & just about as large of choices as you can get. I hope by now you have information to take into consideration before making your purchase. Please post us what your thinking about getting and I'm sure we can give you another swarm of thoughts, opinions etc. that might also help make your final choice.

 

[reefman23]

You guys are so polar. 10k or 20k, what about 14k phoenix bulbs, or 15k XMs. I personally started with 10k, then 13k, now 15k and I think I still want to go bluer even with actinics. I have found over the years that I would rather have bright, brilliant, amazingly colored corals with a generally pleasant coloring of the tank than faster growth.

Mat

Have you checked out the PAR on 15,000k lamps? Even on a 250 watter, you are generally lookin at a PAR of just over 50 PPFD. You can get almost that much (~47 PPFD) out of a 150 watt 20,000k Radium.

Just thought I should point that out.

Jesse

 

[Boomer]

Mat

I have found over the years that I would rather have bright, brilliant, amazingly colored corals with a generally pleasant coloring of the tank than faster growth.

Yes that is usally the reason behind higer K's. However, as gbt and reedman have tried to point out at particular K value means nothing about output and often neither does is wattage to a point, when it comes to K K values

You may want to go back and look at the links srudeanduncouth posted