MH bulb lighting help..please

[blk822822]

I just got my first MH lighting fixture. It's a Odyssea 48" with 4-t5 ho actinics 6 dual moonlights and 2 -250watt 15k HQI MH lights. have already read about the ballast not being very good, but on a 75g tank I think the bulbs are bright enough for now. The problem I have is the bulbs look like 10k not 15k and I was thinking about replacing them, but don't know which brand is a good brand with good color. I don't really want to spend $100 each on them eaither, but want something good. I want to be able to have blue light without the actinics going all the time. Please help ....like I said I am new to MH lighting, so bare with me. Thanks

 

[apollothesun]

give a shout out on some used bulbs on the for sale forums. heard good things about the phoenix bulbs

 

[apollothesun]

oh, saw you had less than the 50 posts

 

[NC2WA]

so the lights are more white than blue??

btw, I believe Odyssea units have to use a particular bulb, you might want to check with the vendor you bought it from to confirm this

 

[blk822822]

so the lights are more white than blue??

btw, I believe Odyssea units have to use a particular bulb, you might want to check with the vendor you bought it from to confirm this

Yea they are really white, the first day of use they were alittle yellow. The unit is only three days old, do they need to break in to get the right color??? and the bulbs in it look just like all the HQI bulbs I see on the websites.

 

[blk822822]

Also noticed there sure are alot of people from Washington on this site.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

yeah most bulbs need to break in some a week some longer some sooner.

 

[fishoutofwater]

i use the pheonix 14k. nice blue color right out the box. I run my actinics after the halides are off. lvsuckerfish has seen them. mine are 3x250w hqi

 

[lvsuckerfish]

thats what your's are I like that color temp of your set up thats a good choice for double ended bulbs

 

[Holygral]

I went to Coralvue 20 k's in Jan. I like them much better than the New Pacific's 14 k's that I replaced. They are 2x 250.

Here also is a link that lets you seen different bulbs at different K value

http://chrismorris.ca/250wcolour/

 

[blk822822]

Thanks guys, the link helps. what a difference in the bulbs.

 

[roblou]

bulbs are so subjective so it's going to be hard for you to find the right one for your personal taste without actually seeing. I am using the phoenix 14k 250W DE bulb and I like it, although personally I think it could use more blue... I've tried other 20k bulbs, such as megachrome and others, and they were ok too. But for price/asthetics ratio, the phoenix bulbs seem like a good compromise.

I don't have experience with T5 fixtures, but maybe there's another bulb choice for your T5's that would provide more blue? Super actinic, actinic plus, etc?

 

[knyreefguy]

i have found that for me the best combo is 14k se phoenix with 2 vho actinic 03's.. i have got the best growth and color... like radiums , but have found that the phoenix is as close as you can get to a radium and last twice as long!...

 

[blk822822]

So looks like I may have to just get one and try it then maybe try a different one in the other fixture. Do some bulbs get bluer when broken in?

 

[vinny2261]

Also the 10000 k are really more yellows and the 14000 k are more whit to slight blue and the 20000 k being blue. it is some time hard to tell unless you have each side by side. I found that going around to msome of your friends or LFS to see what lights they are burning. Then I would take a good picture of each one. I would then lay the side by side. THis really allowed the differences in the color to be seen. Also I think I heard some where the whiter lights actually grow the corals faster. Mostly it comes down to what pleases you.

 

[NaTe R]

Do some bulbs get bluer when broken in?

yes indeed

 

[TheNobleSavage]

Here is how I started out in the 2 1/2 years of using different bulbs, all of which are 250 watt HQI (Doouble Ended)

Current (14K came with my sunpod)
Changed it right away with a Guiesman 15k (I think)
I returned it because it was waaay to yellow for me. I exchanged it for a:
Phoenix 14K and used it for about 10 months (I really liked it but I wanted a 20K) when it was time to change I went with :
SPS 20K and I really liked it and after almost a year I changed brands of the bulbs and went with a:
Ushio 20k. This is by far the best light for my tank, by the time I turned it on, the first week it was almost a deep blue to purple/blue.

After about a week, the deep blue purple went more to a deep blue and is maintaining that color. My corals are growing very well given the short amount of time since I started using this bulb. Now my softies are fully extending and looking very healthy such as my finger corals and my mushrooms. They are 2 times the size as they were before with the other bulb. I am thinking that the SPS bulb was dying and not allowing enough light penitration. With the new bulb, there is plenty of penitration and corals are happy so far.

 

[TheNobleSavage]

To add on to my post, the Ushio 250HQI 20K are looking very nice but I would like to get supplemental lighting such as some actinic 03. Now I have to find a place to put them at!!!

 

[blk822822]

I got soem off brand bulbs from a guy on E bay. I got 2 250watt HQI DE Fc2 20K bulbs for $49 shipped. They are great bulbs so far. Really nice blue color but not to strong. Corals are all doing great and getting colored up better than with the old bulbs. We will see how long they last.

 

[TheNobleSavage]

Thats cool to hear BLK!!! I am sure that the no name brands are actually name brands but not printed on the bulbs its self. I have a few halides that I no longer use that are name brand but have no name on them.