MH bulbs - does brand make a difference?

[jacksonpt]

I've got one 250w MH over my 44g reef. It's an Iwasaki and was on sale when I got it (that's why I bought it instead of a Coralife). Since then I've noticed that Iwasakis are almost always cheaper (significantly so) than the equivalent Coralife. Are the Coralifes any better or is my Iwasaki fine?

 

[bang guy]

IMO your Iwasaki is MUCH better than the Coralife.

 

[fishfood]

Yes Brand does make a difference. I've also heard that the sakis are better than coralife. I had a hamilton on my 55 and replaced it with a zion. Both were 10k. I liked the hamilton better than the zion. The hamilton was a crisper white than the zion, but the zion has given my sps a different color(more blues/purples). The sps tank i'm setting up is going to have a AB 250 10k bulb which i have but haven't seen the color yet. It is supposted to run whiter than most bulbs from what i hear. The lfs guys were talking about the blueline bulb and how they like the blue color it produces. I am not a MH pro here but this is some stuff i gathered in the past few weeks while looking for what bulb I wanted over my sps tank.
HTH

 

[richard rendos]

Yes, it does make a difference. From my experience, I prefer the Aqualine Buschke and Ushio 10K 250 watt bulbs. They have an almost pure white appearance. I have also used Coralife...too blue with a short life span, Sunburst 12K...way too blue and short life span, Iwasaki 6500K...too yellow, but good growth rates and bulb life span.

 

[fishfood]

Richard,
Will two 20 wt NO super actinics be drowned out by a 250 AB or will it give just enough blue to help illuminate the sps corals i plan to keep. Basically the super actinics are for the morning/night hours.

 

[tableforglasses]

Anyone had any good success with Vion 10000K halides? I am in the market for a 400 watt bulb and I found that one for pretty cheap. I also found a 20000K radium for pretty cheap anyone know anything about that? And any reason to get 10k over 20k or visaversa?
Thanks Sean

 

[fishfood]

Oopps .. TableforGlasses i meant to say vion instead of zion. lol ... v, z, x they are all the same haha.
I wouldn't recommend it. I got it also because it was cheap and wanted to see if it was worth it. It is too yellow/green for me but i'll stick with it until its time for a new one then i'll try something different.
I also heard that the radium 20000 are really blue and that you probably wouldn't need any actinic with them.
Here is a picture of a tank running 3 400wt 20000 k radiums. (I did not take this picture but wish i could say i did)

 

[chainsaw5vent]

fishfood. if my tank looked as good as yours, i wouldn't worry about the ability to take pix.
i had a link (no longer exists/ i just checked ) that showed that there is a clear difference among the brands, wattage, and tempurature of m/h lights. if possible, go to a place that has several brands available and ask if they could let you demo them in store.
you can compensate for color by using flourescents or p/c's.

 

[fishfood]

I wish that was my tank. Its not it is just a pic of a tank running the radiums.

 

[darkrose]

Originally posted by Fishfood
Richard,
Will two 20 wt NO super actinics be drowned out by a 250 AB or will it give just enough blue to help illuminate the sps corals i plan to keep. Basically the super actinics are for the morning/night hours.
I have 2x 175w Vions on my 55g tank. I like 'em, but they took about a month to get to the color they are now (mostly white, a little yellow, 2x 40w 03's cuts the yellow pretty well).
These are the first bulbs I've had, so I can't compare them to any particular bulb.. They aren't as yellow as 6500k's and not as white as some of the more premium bulbs.
As far as corals, I have a small acro frag sitting about 1/2 way up the water column and it's doing great (I got it about the same time I got the lights together). It's about 1/2 way up the water column or so.
I can take pics of my tank if you'd like so you can see the color. You'll have to excuse the hair algae, I'm currently dealing with a phospate problem...
~DR

 

[richard rendos]

I can't really respond about the NO bulbs because all my actinics are VHO, but I would think they would be good, just not as intense as the VHO's.

 

[fishfood]

What about blueline bulbs? people in town have been talking about them. anyone with experience?
DR - I have a 430 icecap with the vion. it has 2 super actinics and a 50/50 i think. the blue from them and the yellow from the vion seems to give the tank a green color. I hope they change color.
Richard/DR - I wouldn't expect the no's to be as bright as my vho's but i put the money into the mh and figured i'd skimp on the actinic for the time being.

 

[darkrose]

Originally posted by Fishfood
DR - I have a 430 icecap with the vion. it has 2 super actinics and a 50/50 i think. the blue from them and the yellow from the vion seems to give the tank a green color. I hope they change color.
Richard/DR - I wouldn't expect the no's to be as bright as my vho's but i put the money into the mh and figured i'd skimp on the actinic for the time being.
I'm using some cheap tar & coil ballast I got from a supplier out in Texas. I think the brand is sol mar..or something with "sol" in it.
When I first got the bulbs they were VERY yellow, but as I ran the lights, they got noticibly whiter. Even moreso in the past week or so. As I said, I've only had the bulbs for about a month or so..maybe a little longer..
I think I did have a little bit of a green period as well, but it wasn't really green..mostly because until I can get some fans in the canopy, I can't run the Halides all the time. I'm running 'em about 9 hours a day, and 1x40w 5500k and 1x40w actenic 03 for about 4-5 until I get the fans installed.
I checked when I got home and I do get a pretty nice white if I just run the 1 40w actinic with the halides....I don't see any green at all.
~DR