Would like the 411 on the K's
- Thread starter Cibo
- Start date
there's not really a 'better' or 'worse' ..it's really up to you. FWIW, the K rating on bulbs is just a general, non-scientific way of describing how much blue the bulb will have.
For example, a 20,000K XM bulb will be a deeper blue than, say, an XM 10,000K bulb. Usually (but not always) the lower K bulbs will be higher PAR (in layman terms, stronger) than the higher Kelvin, but they'll be more of a white/yellow color.
Here's the kicker: it's tough to compare bulbs of different companies with their ratings.. Mostly because it's a pretty arbitrary rating that companies give on their own. A Ushio 14,000K is whiter in appearance than a Reeflux 12,000K, for example.
Further, ballasts will make the same bulb appear different... Usually (not always) an electronic ballast won't power the bulb as high as a Magnetic will, so the color will appear more on the blue side than the white side if you use an electronic ballast.
There are also higher K bulbs that produce more PAR than lower K bulbs.
Confused yet?
For example, a 20,000K XM bulb will be a deeper blue than, say, an XM 10,000K bulb. Usually (but not always) the lower K bulbs will be higher PAR (in layman terms, stronger) than the higher Kelvin, but they'll be more of a white/yellow color.
Here's the kicker: it's tough to compare bulbs of different companies with their ratings.. Mostly because it's a pretty arbitrary rating that companies give on their own. A Ushio 14,000K is whiter in appearance than a Reeflux 12,000K, for example.
Further, ballasts will make the same bulb appear different... Usually (not always) an electronic ballast won't power the bulb as high as a Magnetic will, so the color will appear more on the blue side than the white side if you use an electronic ballast.
There are also higher K bulbs that produce more PAR than lower K bulbs.
Confused yet?
Last edited:
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
If you want to check the K rating and PAR values for specific MH lamps and ballast combos go to Sanjay's Lighting Forum hosted exclusively right here on the MR homepage. And yes, XM 15K's are among the worst lamps he has tested PAR wise.
- Location
- michigan
well on one side with frags i use the ushio 10k proven for growth at least for me and the 15k or 20k to radiums for the mother colonies to keep there color up for fragging ..just my preference .
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