MH Lighting question

[bigpapa]

I came accross some Sylvania MH Metalarc 150W bulbs. Here is 2 links to them-- http://www.bulbtronics.com/lamps-bul...s-u-bt-28.html and http://ecom.mysylvania.com/miniapps/...IBs/HID022.pdf
The bulb I have is the M150/ss/u/bt28 which is a 150w at 4000k. My question is: Are these any good for our uses on here? I have not tried any yet as I dont have a 150w base or setup but at 4000k I wanted to know if they would be of any use. I dont know alot about mh numbers as I have just started using them so any input would be great!!
Thanks!

 

[natclanwy]

A 4000k bulb would look horrible it would make your tank look very yellow. You want to find a bulb that is between 10k and 20k.

 

[chris17]

I have not used MH yet but am planning on 2 250w 10k SE and 1 400w 20k SE. The lower the K rateing the more yellow it is and the faster your corals will grow. Alot of people don't use anything under 6500k because of how yellow it is. The higher the K rateing the more colorful your corals will be and the more blue the light. That is why I am going to use the 2 10k bulbs on the ends and the 20k in the middle. This way I will have good color and good growth. HTH

 

[bigpapa]

I wonder how the yellow 4000k mh would look with a strong purplish actinic.? If the lower the K helps the corals grow faster maybe this might be worth at least trying. Heck I got 6 bulbs for free

 

[natclanwy]

You would have to have a very strong actinic output to even notice a difference much less correct the color. There is more to it than the color output of a bulb, there are specific wavelengths that corals respond better to. Some bulbs although are the correct color they are using different combinations of wavelengths to achieve the same color rating. Phoenix and Radium bulbs seem to be the top of the line, and I have heard good things about the growth rate under Iwasaki 6500k bulbs but the tanks look very plain the corals don't fluoresce at all and they lose most of their color. The only setups I have seen using these bulbs are very high output light setups that are using the 6500k in combination with 14k bulbs. I also have seen them on frag grow out tanks and then they will transfer them to another tank with 10k or 14k bulbs to color the corals back up again. 4k bulbs are going to have very little usable light to sustain corals.

 

[bigpapa]

Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2791024
You would have to have a very strong actinic output to even notice a difference much less correct the color. There is more to it than the color output of a bulb, there are specific wavelengths that corals respond better to. Some bulbs although are the correct color they are using different combinations of wavelengths to achieve the same color rating. Phoenix and Radium bulbs seem to be the top of the line, and I have heard good things about the growth rate under Phoenix 6500k bulbs but the tanks look very plain the corals don't fluoresce at all and they lose most of their color. The only setups I have seen using these bulbs are very high output light setups that are using the 6500k in combination with 14k bulbs. I also have seen them on frag grow out tanks and then they will transfer them to another tank with 10k or 14k bulbs to color the corals back up again. 4k bulbs are going to have very little usable light to sustain corals.
Great stuff Natclanwy, thank you for the info as that is exactly what I was hoping to get-not the result I hoped for but at least I know what I have b4 hand. Thanks