What light bulb brand do you recommend?

bobothewizard

bobothewizard

Member
What brand of light buld do you recommend for metal halide?
Since im about to re-start my 120g im going to need to replace the 250w bulbs i have and grab some new ones. Also what kelvin rating do you recommend.
 
groupergenius

groupergenius

Active Member
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/2690779
What type of ballast do you have?Magnetic M58,M80....Electronic?
Also, what kind of bulb? Double end or single end? Do you have actinic supplement? What types of corals? SPS or soft? There are tons of bulbs out there. Just depends on what your goals, budget, and prefrences are.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
Phoenix 14,000 K is really nice and I also like 20,000 K XM and 20,000 K Radium. I prefer a "blue" look though. The nice part about the lamps above is they can be fired with no actinics and the corals still look great.
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bonebrake
http:///forum/post/2691061
Phoenix 14,000 K is really nice and I also like 20,000 K XM and 20,000 K Radium. I prefer a "blue" look though. The nice part about the lamps above is they can be fired with no actinics and the corals still look great.
Thats exactly what i have in my tank 2-20k XMs and 1 20k Radium.I love it ,colors popping everywhere.
 
bobothewizard

bobothewizard

Member
I have 2x 250w mogul bases with 2 36w NO actinics. Im not worried about the actinics brand just the MH brand. I need a good all around bulb for all kinds of corals since i will not be keeping just one kind.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
xm 10k is supposed to have alot of PAR, but is a bit too yellow for my taste. i like the look of the 12k reeflux.
 
bobothewizard

bobothewizard

Member
Ok, cool ill take a look at those. Just got done building the sump, now i gotta wait for the silicon to cure lol....
Thanks for the reply. By the way, where the hell is paoli lol...
 
bobothewizard

bobothewizard

Member
ahh nevermind your out by philly. I was down by your place earlier this afternoon, i stopped at that pet place down by lancaster to grab some goodies.
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bobothewizard
http:///forum/post/2692116
Ok, cool ill take a look at those. Just got done building the sump, now i gotta wait for the silicon to cure lol....
Thanks for the reply. By the way, where the hell is paoli lol...
Just make sure the bulb you choose is compatible with your ballast.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/2692215
FYI XM 20k has a higher par value than the XM 10k believe it or not.

Not even close, the XM 10k has the highest par of any SE bulb tested on an electronic ballast and only trails the Iwasaki 6500k overdriven on an HQI magnetic ballast. The XM 20k has more PAR than the XM 15K which is a notoriously poor performer (for a 15k bulb from a company with such a good 10k and 20k bulb) but it has less than half the PAR of a XM 10k bulb.
on E ballast
XM 10k had a PPFD of 115
XM 20k had a PPFD of 53
XM 15k had a PPFD of 47
on HQI
XM 10k had a PPFD of 182
XM 20k had a PPFD of 79
XM 15k had a PPFD of 80
For the record the XM 20k is a pretty good performer among 20k bulbs, it just goes to show how much PAR in general is sacraficed for looks when using 20k bulbs. Even the all popular Radium on the recommended HQI ballast only performs marginally better than the XM 20k (85 vs 80).
http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.c...rmancedata.php
I like the AB bulbs myself. No yellow but only the slightest tad of blue (nothing like a hamilton 14k, reflux 12k or pheonix 14k). It looks simular to the Reflux 10k but with better performance numbers.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
my hamilton 14k's are white. they were bluish until they broke in. i'm not pleased with them.
 
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