Who is using XM Bulbs?

[Chaotic Cricket]

Originally Posted by whaase

I've been running the XM250 20k bulbs, but I notice my acro's never seemed to thrive/grow all that much. But my coraline growth is outragious! Anyone using these? I've been avoiding having to go with a 10-14k and supplement with actinic. Thought? Opinions?

Maybe a Radium?

I would look at xm's 15k bulb. Not as blue as 20 but still quite nice. Unfortunately growth rates and aesthetics do not go hand in hand. best growth rates I've seen were 6500 k bulbs. if you supplement with the proper placement of actinic it looks quite nice. But you need good quality vho or t-5's. I have 6500k bulbs with t-5 actinic in my grow out tanks (when i used them that is) i used just the t-5 actinic s to get my live rocks covered in Coraline before moving to the display. But corals seem to respond best to 6500-10k. Anything else is purely for our viewing pleasure. It all depends on if you want to look at your tank for your pleasure or have your tank purely for the pleasure of the corals