time to replace MH bulbs

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I currently have 3 - 250w 20k lamps on my 125 reef. I'm not sure if I want to keep the 20k's. They are VERY blue. The coral growth is also very slow with the 20k's. ( I do NOT have any actinic lamps on the tank. )

I would love to go with 10k bulbs for the coral growth (SPS) but I don't want to have to buy another lighting set up for the actinics that I will have to have then.


If I switch to 14k bulbs, will I still have to add actinic lamps or is there enough blue in them to overcome the yellow tint? Does anyone use 14k's without actinics on their tanks? How do you like the color? What brands are good ?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Angie

[perpetual98]

I've got Hamilton 14,000K bulbs over my tank. I like them, but I don't have much to compare them to. I also think that they run better on certain ballasts, so you might want to check that out too. I'd check out Sanjays tests/comparisons.

Eric

[Reptoreef]

Ditto... I hear well of a few with phoenix being an appearant favotrite... BTW, double end or single end??? I even like the AB20k, but par is not super.

[davejnz]

What kind of ballasts are you using?The new CV10k Reeflux(not CV10k) is an awesome bulb IMO.Its white w/ a touch of blue(depends on the ballast).It has a 450nm spike like the 14k+ bulbs do which brings out some nice colors.On e-ballasts like IceCaps,its color is closer to a 15k but on magnetics its about 11-12k.Definately not your typical 10k bulb.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

They are single ended bulbs. I think I'm going to get the 14k's then. Now which ones, lol. Thanks everyone.

Angie

[Reptoreef]

10k AB's(actual 13k), hamilton 14k(a bit too blue for me), and the reeflux.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

The ballast I'm running is M59 magnetic ballast

[davejnz]

I'd go with the CVReeflux,its a nice white w/ a touch of blue.Looks great as a stand alone bulb IMO.My friend uses them,he got to test out the prototype because this is a newly developed bulb.I could aske him to send me a pic if you would like to see one in action.

BTW,That bulb has higher PAR than the Phoenix and most all of the 14k's as well,especially on the mag-ballast

[davejnz]

I juse checked out the spectral analysis of all the 14kbulbs,the reeflux has higher PAR than all of them.On your M58 mag ballast,it actually will look like a 14k bulb too.

If your interested,here's the link to the analysis charts http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/5/aafeature

[davejnz]

for some reason,i cant edit the post.I had mad a mistake earlier when is said that this bulb looks like closer to an 11k on a mag ballast.That is what it looks like on a M80.On that ballast,it has a PAR value that would =l most of the 10k bulbs on the market.

[davejnz]

I just looked at your first post,you have a 3x250MH setup.I think you'd be better off using a combination of bulbs.Personally,I would go with 2 of the CV reeflux and 1-XM10k.That should give you a nice 14k look but still have excellent PAR.The XM10k has the most PAR out of all the 10k's when ran on your M58 ballast

[Reptoreef]

That would definitely be an awesome combination.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Ok, next ? Where is a good place to order the 2 14k cv reeflux lamps and the 1 xm 10k lamp from? The only place I have ordered bulbs from in the past is A to T lamps off of ebay. They have cheap bulbs but I think I'm getting what I pay for there :( The bulbs usually run me about 34.00 ea for 20ks and there 14ks are about the same. I think they are Venture brand.

Thanks for all of the help everyone. It's nice to get everyone's opinions then pick and choose which advise to follow. At some point I will have to invest in the actinic bulbs and ballast, but I would have to redo my Canapy and I don't want to do it now.


Angie

[Reptoreef]

Check out www.hellolights.com I know they carry XM's for a good price... just not sure of the reeflux.

[davejnz]

http://stores.ebay.com/Club-Reef_Lighting_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQftidZ2QQpZ2QQtZkm

[davejnz]

They carry both brands of the bulbs.The reeflux is $68,the XM is $65

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Now that I have all of my new lighting, I have to change my canopy around. How will the light "spread" of the MH's affect my tank? Will this work? I'm afraid that the corals that are between the MH's won't get enough light this way. Also, because I'm going from 20k's to 10k's should I move them higher so they don't burn the corals? The 10k's are going to be so much brighter than the 20k's. (If you remember or look in my pic gallery, my lighting is on a track system so I can raise or lower the lighting up to 2 feet)#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Here are some crude drawings to show what I plan to do. Any suggestions are welcome.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thanks,#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Angie#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#IMG alt="image file name: 2k41cd3535a7.jpg" src="http://www.captivereefing.com/richedit/upload/2k41cd3535a7.jpg" border=0#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[dakar]

Angie, Since you have the luxury of being able to raise and lower your lighting I think you are on the right track but starting them higher and slowly brining them down weekly or so to acclimate to acoomidate increased lighting. Maybe even consider cutting back the daylight photo periods a bit during the whole process.

I'm in the planning process of doing the same thing of swinging the halides 90 degrees as you did (we've got a 65w PC on each side of each halide and converting things over to use 8 x 48" T5's). The overall lighting spread of the hadlides should be about the same, so no real worries there. The change from 20K to 10K is likely to provide you with upwards of 50% more light for the tank.

Of course we need before and after pic!

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thanks for the input Dakar. I did get all of the lighting moved around and it's up and running. I did not get pics yet. We seem to have misplaced the digital camera, lol. I think it may still be in one of the semi trucks. I will take pics as soon I find it. I LOVE the actinic VHO's !!!! For the first 2 hrs, me and my husband just sat and looked at the tank(VHO only, no MH)and all of the "COOL" colors we didn't see before with just the MH's. I just wish I would have added them a lot sooner. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Angie#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[dakar]

Glad they are working out for you!

BTW let me know if you want to part with your old worn out bulbs, I'm still looking to get my paws on as many SE and DE bulbs as possible for some experimets with different ballasts types. Putting on my evil scientist hat again, pretty sure we are all getting ripped off by manufacturers, and on a mission to prove that we are not limited to certain high end ballasts/bulb combinations.

[davejnz]

BTW,What 10k bulbs did you end up going with?