What bulbs do I want?
 

I've decided to replace my MH bullbs. This is the first time ive had to replace them and have little knowledge of what to buy. I have a 48" coralife 2x250w DE MH with actinics. I am a lil confused with what 10k 12k 14k...etc...etc means. I really like the crisp white/blue look but more on the bluer side(if that makes any sence lol) if someone could suggest what i should get or maybe you folks could post pics of what the lights look like in your tanks that would be awesome! plus you can show off your tank:wink: haha

Cheers
Ray

10000k will be closer to white/yellow and 20000k will be blue....slight differences between makers

I Love the look of a 20M metal halide tank... :mrgreen:

This was my old 75G with 20K Ushio bulbs...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...tinued/20K.jpg

is there a brand to stay away from? i hear alot about pheonix and gliessmen

This site might help you. It shows side by side comparisons of a handful of bulbs. http://chrismorris.ca/250wcolour/

The trick is to pick a bulb that looks good to you, with a relatively high PAR rating and at a reasonable price. For a 10K bulb my choice is XM and for a 14K I like Phoenix.

thats a great site! thanks! the xm 20ks dont look that bad. i wish they they had the gleismenn 20ks vs the phoenix 14k

I like the natural white look of Giesmann 20,000K, but Phoenix 14,000K bulbs are bluer and are surprisingly 20% brighter under a lux meter (comparing new bulbs in the same fixture). The human eye registers yellow colours more readily than blue, so you have to decide if you want it to look bright, or actually be bright. Both bulbs are excellent.

I also like Aqualine Bausche 20,000K bulbs if I want a really blue light that doesn't look dim or eerie. They are cheaper than Giesmann or Phoenix if that matters.

So i guess the phoenix 14k sounds like they are the better bang for the buck?

im not worried to much about price. i would much rather pay for the quality and performance instead of cheaping out

I have the same fixture and tried the Pheonix 14K, had them in for about 4 months and just took them out last month... The Coralife ballasts don't like them and they flickered quite a bit.

I now am using Ushio 10K bulbs, they are more compatible with the ballasts and I actually like the light output, very white light not much yellow.

Not all bulbs work with all ballasts... I have read the Ushio and Kolorchrom (Geissmen), are both German made bulbs and have the best compatibility.

I think most people would prefer the blue colour of the Phoenix bulbs, and find the Giesmann too white, but for my own tank I would use giesmann's.

I prefer the Phoenix to the Geisemann 13000k, but I love the Aquaconnect 14000k bulbs. Almost twice as expensive as the Phoenix though.

Anthony

I just changed my bulbs a few days ago with 14k phoenix.
The lfs told me that with 10k you get white color + a lot of growth,
with 14 k gets a bit blue color + growth,
with 20k gets blue + no grow (mostly use for nice pics)

If you can afford them, I agree with anthony and go with the Aquaconnects. They have one of the higher PAR values for the 14000K. They are a higher quality bulb than the phoenix bulbs, and will give you a very nice pale blue look.

Where do you get those?

J&L aquatics has the Aquaconnect and phoenix bulbs.

do you think its worth upgrading ballasts? or would it be better to buy a higher quality fixture for the long run? my birthday is comming up so i might ask for some gift certificates lol

A touch of blue in a coral tank looks great but keep in mind that if you plan on continuing to use your supplemental actinics, those put out a lot of blue also. If you plug in 20k halides you may find that there will be too much blue!

Generally speaking people who run 20k halides don't need or want to supplement with anything else. So if you go this route, you could in theory stop using the actinics. Generally speaking again (and in my opionion) these types of combo fixtures are meant to utilize the actinics to add that touch of blue to complemt less bluer bulbs like 10k or 14k halides. I've never run 20ks but I would guess that a bluer 14k halide with actinics would look similar to just running 20ks alone. Now, I say bluer 14Ks because some 14ks are much more white than blue.

Where these combo lights excell is there ability to compromise between great growing lights (such as 10Ks) and the nice look of a blue light.

In the end it all boils down to personal taste though. Just because someone likes to blast their tank with blue light doesn't mean you will. Just because one or two people don't mind the yellower glow favouring growth doesn't mean you will or will not :-)

I personally wouldn't change the ballasts, I have found the Ushio very compatible, and the bulbs are very high end... Now spending $3-4K on a Geissmen or something would be nice, but who wants to spend that type of money... I find the Coralife very nice, now I found a bulb I like.

I am using AB bulbs 20K and love the light, not too blue and very bright.

so i am a complete moron!:sad: i went to J&L today and ended up buying 2 giesemann megachrome 250w 13k De's. i get home unhook all my cords and take apart my fixture pull out my old bulbs to find...... I have 150w lights! SON OF A B****!!!!! so im heading back tommorow morning to return them and im gonna pay the difference and go with the aqua connect 14k ONE FIFTY WATT! lol

Ray

Just installed my aqua connect 150w 14k's and they look amazing! Thanks for the help every one!!

Ray