Hamilton Halide bulbs

2

20nascar

I was California on business last week. While there I went to the Hamilton Lighting home office and picked up new DE bulbs for my tank. I had been running the 250w bulbs that I received with the fixtures and had not even had the 400w going because I didn't have a bulb...anyway my question is this...

I got 10K bulbs which are supposed to be an "ICE WHITE". I have actinic supplimentation so I thought that would give me the fluorescent coloring I enjoy. I chose the 10k color under the thought process ("thought" being used loosely) that this is a new tank (4-5 months) and the 10k would promote faster growth. I don't know what the other bulbs were but the new ones seem very yellow compared to what was in there.

Do the bulbs have a "break in" period where they will become more of the "ICE WHITE" that I was expecting or are they the correct color now and I just don't like them... :lol:

Any idea whether or not Hamilton would work with me on exchanging them fo 14k?
 
Never had dual ended bulbs and sometimes they vary a lot from their mogul cousin even with the same manufacturer. With that disclaimer, I had Hamilton mogul ended bulbs once upon a time. I bought a Hamilton fixture and got Hamilton bulbs with it. The yellowest bulbs I had ever seen anywhere. Hated the look and took them off before the bulbs had run their normal course.

Unfortunately the K value listed by many manufacturers is merely a marketing term and bears little resemblance to actual color temperature of the bulb.

You might want to try Coralvue's reeflux bulbs, lots of PAR ( growth ) but the blue spike in the bulb makes it appear more bluish white to the eye.
 
Hi,
There is a burn in period...pretty much 100hrs then you'll see their "true colors". Not that it'll be to your liking, but true non the less. :lol: :wink:

Cheers,
 
If your used to looking at a 20K a 10K will probably look awful. I had 20K XM's and switched to 10K XM's, and I have hated them since day 1 even with actinics. I thought at first that mine would change when they were broke in...they havent changed much and I still hate them BUT the corals seem to like them so they stay. I'm just going to add 4 60" actinic t5's in addition to my current 2 72" actinic VHO's to blue them up. :roll:
 
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