Help with bulb selection

[boostin240]

I have an Odesya (sp) MH fixture.
I looked aqt the bulb yesterday and from t he writing on it, it is a 175W 20K bulb. It does not screw in, but has two sides that slide in place. Is that what is called an HQI type bulb?
Also, I see alot of people use something like 10K or 14K bulbs, is my 20K bulb not a good choice? I have an anemome and about to start gathering some corals. Should i switch to a different temp bulb and if sow hich one? I also should ad my fixture has on each end two blue bulbs that are 18W.
I have looked and i cannot find a 175W 14K double ended bulb, do they not make these are they just hard to find?

 

[scsinet]

Man it's weird how people with a low post count seem to have trouble getting their threads answered..
Welcome to the board!
Yes, the type that snaps in is called an HQI. Your blue bulbs are Actinic. Actinic lamps are basically for human eyes. They make the corals fluoresce but they have very little actual value to the corals, so don't figure on them as part of your lighting scheme; they are a niceity.
Your color temperature (20K in this case) is fine, but if you would prefer your tank to be whiter in color, you can go to 14K. You can go all the way to 10K, but you risk it looking yellow. I prefer 14K.
The wattage is an "oddball" wattage for HQI halide lamps. You may have real trouble finding a 14K in 175w, if they even exist. HQI wattages are generally 70, 150, 250, and 400. You might try contacting Jebo/Oddysea and seeing if their ballasts support 150w bulbs. SOMETIMES 150 or 175w fixtures use ballasts that will run both. You need to find this out for sure though, because if you put a 150 in there and it's not designed for it, you will wreck your ballast or your bulbs or both. Given that Oddysea is more-or-less a knock-off brand, I doubt it has that feature.
Maybe you'll just need to stick with 20K.

 

[rrcjr1972]

I agree the 14k has a nice color. Not too yellow/white and not too blue. Just google search for the 14k hqi, should be able to find them. Try phoenix