10k to 14K (SPS Changes)!!!
 

Was wanting to hear of anybody's experiences with changing from a 10K bulb down to a 14k bulb (the bulbs in question are from Giesmann 13kDE to a Hamilton 14kDE) I am mostly SPS and do have good growth right now but because I am running only one set of T5 pure actinic along with the halides there is not enough blue for my liking during the day, so I am looking for a little better color during the daytime. I have read alot about this but want peoples experiences.

I am running them on a Giesmann HQI ballast.

Thanks for any input.

I got a bit different coloration, but in all honesty I think you may want the 20Ks for awesome colors.

I guess what I am mostly concerned about is loss of color! I have conflicting suggestions that the corals need to grow better to produce better coloration and that going to a lower par bulb would result in some loss of color. I guess I want the best of both worlds and have the colors to look their best all day long rather than just under the actinics.

My friend TomR is running 14k Hamiltons & he's very pleased with them.

I'm running 13k Geisemann's & generally happy with them, but one bulb seems too yellow to be really 13k. Probably a dud.

Anthony

I have the 14k Hamilton, seem okay to me but they are my first set of halides.

Crisp white light, growth on clam and SPSs and xenia going nuts. As for colour my acros are a little pale but thats a result as the red acro bug attack. Have a orange monti plate that retained it's rich colour from where it was fragged but some of the green monti plate has browned out compared to the tank it originated from (was warned as would likely happen).

Feeling little bad about forwarding RC links but here's one on the Hamiltons

We just changed a set of DE bulbs out from 13K Geisemann to 14K Hammys on one of our systems and WOW what a difference. The corals look so much better (color wise). If you like the semi-blue look you should look into the Phoenix bulbs as well. The color output is very similar to the Hammys.

I concur here - The phoenix 14k bulbs are very nicely blue, and don't have any yellow as of yet, and you can get them for about 30% less than almost any other bulb out there! I've seen 'em in action and they're pretty :)

Muck: What type of ballast are you using and what type of corals do you keep??

Ballast: Icecap 250W Electronic
Corals: SPS, LPS, Softies, Ricordea, Zoanthid, etc. (Pretty much some of everything)

I changed from 10K with actinics,to 14K without actinics.Much nicer with 14K I think.