I have a color question about lighting

bigreefer

Member
I have the original 15k(not 14k like everyone else) bulbs that came with the odesea 250 metal halide fixture. It also has 4 65w actinics and a bunch of moon lights. I had to replace one ballast. I did so with an icecap electronic ballast. It is great I am going to replace the other ballast as well with the same one. I do think there may be a problem. I think the new better ballast (sold as a 250w but rated at 265w) is over powering the cheap bulb. It sort of has a yellow orangish tint to it. None of the animals seem to dislike it but I get a wierd algae bloom almost like green dust on the glass. Its only on the side with the better ballast. This leads me to my question. I was going to get the other new ballast and put 20k bulbs in it but would that be too blue for my corals? They are stonies- acros, galaxea, monti, some other branching stonies, bta, brains, dersa clams, some other misc. Should I just get better 14k bulbs? This is all in an 80 gal. All advice would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch.
 

mmm33732

Member
the color difference is from the ballast. different ballasts make the bulbs produce different color variations. the film algae bloom is due to either more light being produced by the better ballast or a shift in the spectrum from the ballast change. 20ks are fine for colors to grow, however they will not grow as fast under 20ks as they would under 14k or 10ks. as far as being too blue, thats a personal opinion on how blue you like the tank to look. either bulbs will support coral growth, but like i said, the 20ks would result in slower growth than 14k or 10ks would. 14ks are not necessarily any better then 15ks are. its all on personal preference really.
 
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