halide bulbs

[dangal]

I currently have 10,000 ushio bulbs w/ actinics, would like a little more blue color. Does anybody have any recommendations for a 12 or 14k bulb that may approach the brightness of the 10k? My tank is pretty deep.
Thanks

 

[Krish]

I currently have 10,000 ushio bulbs

That's a lot of bulbs I tried a 12K reeflux before as well as a 14K Hamilton and I have to say, I really loved the color of the Hamilton 14K. Not as blue as the 12K Reeflux IMO on the PFO ballast I was using, but still quite blue. Just a thought...

 

[dangal]

I've heard of the Hamilton, they sound nice. How is the brightness?

 

[Krish]

It's hard to say really...Typically the more blue the bulb, the less bright it appears (atleast to me). The Hamilton seemed brighter in my tank compared to the 12K reeflux, but the eye may have been playing ticks on me. The PAR rating is what you look for. The higher the PAR rating, the better for coral growth from what I uderstand. Here's a link you may find useful though. It allows you to select different bulbs and see how they look. See if that helps you any. Just give it a few seconds to load and then go to the tab under the tank pics and change the bulbs

http://chrismorris.ca/250wcolour/

 

[matts125]

Hey I use a (one single) 400 watt 14k xm bulb on my 30'' cube and get great light all the way to the bottom!
Check out my picture...

Hope this helps...

Matt

 

[dangal]

thanks Matt, cool tank

 

[matts125]

Thanks. I get good growth all the way to the bottom of the tank with just 400 watts too.

Matt

 

[Dr. Dee]

Yeah i agree the 14k,thats what i use too.