More of a lighting question but DIY as well.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by zum14

There ushio 13K I belive is what the box says. They dont seem as crisp as other bulbs around 14K ive seen so ive been pondering a change. Sorry I forgot to mention the metals free but if I can avoid the work cool.

are you sure its to much light instead of not enough. most MH setups are only 6 to 8" above the water. I know when I had mine going the bulbs were 5" above the water and the LPS/softies had no problem to adjusting to the light.

now with lots of light some of the softies won't expand as much, as well as LPS. for instance my open brain was 12" accross with my PC/175 watt MH set up but with the 250 HQI set up it was only 6" across, so it wasn't having to expand to colect more light.

Steve