no love for 10k MH bulbs

[krullulon]

i have a 250w Ushio 10k MH and 4 75w actinics on my 90g... and i hate what the 10k does to the color! things that flouresce 10 different colors under the actinics all look dull brown when the MH comes on... i don't have much in there now, but i have a few multi-color polyps that are beautiful under actinic and virtually disappear when the MH comes on.

so... is there hope? can i increase the color temp to something more appealing? i hate the thought of only seeing brown in a tank filled with color.

 

[Len]

You can try higher Kelvin bulbs, but IME 10K bulbs provide very nice coloration. Using 10K and actinic VHOs, my corals are at their most colorful. Actinics have this surreal look that is very cool, but you also can't see vivid pinks, yellows, reds, etc. with just actinics either.

 

[krullulon]

hmmm... maybe i'll wait and see how things look when i actually get something in there other than polyps. 8)

i might have been a little influenced by some of the amazing pictures floating around here... i have one real coral -- a pipe organ that the LFS guy first thought was green star polyp. it's doing great in the tank and glows bright neon green under the actinics, but it's pretty brown when the MH comes on:

i don't have a comparison shot yet of it under actinic only but i'll attach one to this thread so i can better demonstrate my aesthestic pain.

 

[shawnz28]

I personally love my 10K hamilton bulbs. I am running 2x250w 10k with 3 110 watt actinics and one aquasun(to be swapped with a 50/50 soon) over my 120gallon. I love the crisp white of the 10K's and prefer them over any other bulbs so far cause it looks the most natural to my eye while allowing the colors to show.

 

[hillbilly]

I used to use 250w DE 10k AB's with VHO actinics and liked them. I ditched the actinics when I installed 20k XM's. They look a little dimmer, but I think it's just the deep blue color. Corals don't seem to mind the change much, they are still growing, and it saves on electric. Saving on electric any way I can is important to me because I have multiple tanks with MH. You get used to the color after awhile, and don't notice it. Kinda looks like sunlight through deep water. 10k's are great though, if you have actinics.

 

[krullulon]

hmm... maybe i'm being a bit unreasonable.

 

[mountainbiker619]

I bet the bulbs have yet to burn in. But you may want to try the 12k Sunburst. The Sunburst looked great with no actinics needed.

 

[DaisyPolyp]

I also prefer the 20,000K XM's

(I'll leave it at that to avoid another scientific debate :wink: )

 

[cdeakle]

20k xm's rock all the way!

 

[krullulon]

too. many. choices!

btw -- not familiar with MH "burn-in" -- i'd say at this point it's been on for a total of under 100 hours... is it possible that it's still not yet radiating @ 10k?