Best metal halide bulbs?
 

At the moment I have 3 Hamilton 10k, hqi 250w bulbs on my tank and I hate the colour, it washes out all the red in the tank. What bulbs is everyone using and are you happy with them?

I am using 14K DE Hamiltons and really like the blue it gives off.

I love my Phoenix 14k 250w DE. They have a pretty good rating as well on Sanjays site.

I use a Gieseman 150W megachrome 14.5 K bulb. It is not horribly blue like some other 14,000K bulbs. It is expensive though, but I have found it to be worth it.:mrgreen:

20k DE Ushio bulb for me...it's pretty blue though. Planning on swapping with the 14k Phoenix for my next, or the Gieseman 14.5k Megachrome,

I like the look of my 20K XMs with no supplimental actinics. More PAR than the 15K XMs too.

Do you have any pics?

I had those bulbs aswell /. I had 2 running on my 120. Looked ok at first but after 8 months they were really yellow. Wendell at OA recommended the Geinsmann 13k 250 hqi. Amazing difference, My colors really stand out now. ie regal tang and my brains.. I have 2 vho actinics aswell.

My camera is not good enough to pick up the color correctly, the camera shows more blue that it looks to me, so my pictures wont give you a very good sense of the bulbs.

Mogul EVC 250 Watt 14K. I LOVE it!

as an example of what I mean, this is the 250w 10k hamilton. Note the monti cap looks blue and the open brain on the sand bed is completely washed out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...05175g0010.jpg

and this is how they looked under 175w 10k xm's. Purple monti cap on the upper left and the brain on the sand on the right

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7Image0012.jpg

You are right, that is ugly.:sad:

what was wrong with the xm 10k's? i have run them and was quite impressed. i have also heard good things about the coralvue 10k's. i think jessie runs them on his sps tank.

There was nothing wrong with the xms on the 175w system but now I have a 250w hqi system and I just want to be sure of the new bulbs before I spend a bunch of money. Is the 250w de, 10k, xm comparable in colour to the 175w se, 10k bulb?

I don't think any bulb can hold a torch to the AB 10K 250 watt. the actualy color is ~13400K

Sun aquatic 10K have a nive high PAR rating but they are hard to find and the company isn't the most reliable, but for a cheep bulb they were good.

Steve

you're in luck, steve.

http://www.prairiereefsupplies.ca/index.php?id=36