Help me choose a 250w MH bulb

[crox99]

I need to know what is a better MH bulb that I am currently running. I have 2x250w Hamilton 14k running on a Blue Wave 7. I like the blue on the bulbs but I am not getting enough growth on my corals. Any suggestions?

 

[crox99]

Bulbs are SE.

 

[DEEPWATER]

6500K are the best for growth ,then 10K ,blues are just not the best for growth ,

what are you water para and a phosphate level ,what are you dosing and how

 

[fritz]

If you're using icecap ballasts I'd go either
XM 10k
or
EVC 10k

you'll need something to supp. them with. If you wait till the iwasaki is out you may be able to get away with not having any supp.

 

[crox99]

6500K are the best for growth ,then 10K ,blues are just not the best for growth ,

what are you water para and a phosphate level ,what are you dosing and how

The po4 is down to .04. 2 parts ESV and mg daily.

 

[crox99]

If you're using icecap ballasts I'd go either
XM 10k
or
EVC 10k

you'll need something to supp. them with. If you wait till the iwasaki is out you may be able to get away with not having any supp.

 

[fritz]

10k bulbs are yellowish you need to supplement with an actinic bulb in order to get a more normal color and to get your corals to fluoresce.

 

[mshur]

I have EVC-10k on M59 ballast with t-5's supml. and i love it..So far this is the best combo , not to yellow and not to dim blue.
XM's are good for growth ,but its to yellow for my taste

 

[jhale]

If you're using icecap ballasts I'd go either
XM 10k
or
EVC 10k

you'll need something to supp. them with. If you wait till the iwasaki is out you may be able to get away with not having any supp.

I had EVC 10K's with icecaps, I just got XM 10K's I'm running them with no actinics and I like the way they look. all my corals are coloring up with them.

 

[House of Laughter]

Reflux 10k's

House

 

[fritz]

I have EVC-10k on M59 ballast with t-5's supml. and i love it..So far this is the best combo , not to yellow and not to dim blue.
XM's are good for growth ,but its to yellow for my taste

I run the same bulb but on icecap with the ATI aquablue special T5. Same opinion as Mike. It's great and IMO very natural looking.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

I heard the reeflux creates a "false" coloration in corals, where if you put them under a different bulb they don't look nearly as nice (in some cases brown). I have heard this from different sources and it has made me shy away although corals do look really nice under them.

 

[Wes]

I heard the reeflux creates a "false" coloration in corals, where if you put them under a different bulb they don't look nearly as nice (in some cases brown). I have heard this from different sources and it has made me shy away although corals do look really nice under them.

it's not false in the sense that when i buy frags from Stan who uses reeflux, they look the same when i first put them in my tank, but some of them quickly shift to something not as pretty and take a while to adjust to the different lighting.

EDIT: my experience could be related to the fact that they are going from reeflux 10K to T5, so experience may differ. I just know that they look the same under different lighting at first anyway.

 

[Deanos]

I heard the reeflux creates a "false" coloration in corals, where if you put them under a different bulb they don't look nearly as nice (in some cases brown). I have heard this from different sources and it has made me shy away although corals do look really nice under them.

Good point about the possible color shift , but I don't care what my frags look like in someone else's tank. I'm not going to change bulbs to accommodate someone buying a $20 frag. :afro:

p.s. You're right, corals do look really nice under Reeflux. :shhh:

 

[House of Laughter]

Good point about the possible color shift , but I don't care what my frags look like in someone else's tank. I'm not going to change bulbs to accommodate someone buying a $20 frag. :afro:

p.s. You're right, corals do look really nice under Reeflux. :shhh:

All of which has to do with the bulb, it's construction, par, lums etc.

The bulb can't artificially color corals - they color themselves based on how they react to the bulb.

Great SE bulb - for the outcome and cost factor - both a prerequisite for me.

House

 

[Wes]

yeah i never really understood how it can be considered a negative that corals color up nicer/different under Reeflux. "False" color or not, they look awesome.

 

[prattreef]

You can say the same for any bulb. Corals often look different in different systems. And what about 20 K lamps or even actinics? This is a very strange criticism IMO.

 

[Deanos]

This is a very strange criticism IMO.

That's why I made sure to quote it :Up_to_som

 

[fritz]

I heard the reeflux creates a "false" coloration in corals, where if you put them under a different bulb they don't look nearly as nice (in some cases brown). I have heard this from different sources and it has made me shy away although corals do look really nice under them.

I'm not even sure what that means. Unless we all used skylights as our means of lighting our reefs, we're all projecting colored light on our corals.

As to them changing color, well that happens no matter what bulb you use AND is also attributable (perhaps even more so) to the drastic change in chemistry from going from one system to another more than the change in light.

Reeflux are not causing some bizarre mutation of the coral or fooling your eye into thinking that they are not brown. They are a very blue bulb just like a 14k. FWIW some of the best tanks that I've seen use Reeflux bulbs. The par on them is very low though IMO.

 

[crox99]

So what is the best SE bulb that I can use with my ballast?