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

[guido]

Same here I have Xm's 15k bulbs in my PFO pendants, they come with two actinic bulbs in each pendant as well. Looks great, good colors, the corals seem to be doing well. Maybe not growing as quickly though.

Andrew

[BMW Rider]

I just took out the pair of XM 15K bulbs after 9 months and replaced them with Geisman 13Ks. The XMs were very nice for colour, but the par value was terrible. I also switched one of the VHOs to a super actinic to bring the blue back up. Much happier with the lighting now, hopefully my corals will be too.

[WWWD]

XM15's are horrific! You will actually get better par out of the XM20's!! The XM10'k are rock solid but do need some actinic suplimentation.

[Chaotic Cricket]

Originally Posted by WWWD

XM15's are horrific! You will actually get better par out of the XM20's!! The XM10'k are rock solid but do need some actinic suplimentation.

What kind of ballast did you fire them with?

[Chin_Lee]

According to Sanjay's site,
15 K bulbs:
- on 400W XM 15K SE on PFO HQI ballasts gives a PAR of 114.
- on the 250W XM 15K SE on PFO HQI ballast gives a PAR of 80.

Compared to 20K bulbs:
- on the 400W XM 20K SE, you will get the best PAR of 128 with a probe start Magnatek M59 ballast.
- on the 250W XM 20K SE, you get the best PAR of 79 with a PFO HQI ballast.

Mind you - many of these PAR values are about half of what the 10K bulbs will give with similar ballasts

[whaase]

Man, I was really hoping not to have to add more lights for actinic.. I'll really have to think this one over...

Thanks!

[WWWD]

Originally Posted by Chaotic Cricket

What kind of ballast did you fire them with?

We ran 175's and 250's on magnetic 59 ballasts. Inside of 4 months most of the LPS were so starved for light they were starting to heavily recede. Switched back to 10ks and all was good.

[BMW Rider]

Originally Posted by Chaotic Cricket

What kind of ballast did you fire them with?

I'm using Icecap ballasts.