Only one mh bulb; not much supplementation - What kelvin bulb to get?

S

Soji John

[Hi All,

I have one metal halide 250 watt on my 55 gallon hex. I have a Power Compact (110W) but it is offset from center and I will be getting actinic bulbs for those.

My question is, forgetting about the PC since I don't think they have enough penetration for my tank, what color bulb should I get?

My goal is to get as good coloration as possible for my SPS. I am using a 10K bulb now and getting good growth but the coloration is mostly browns and greens on corals that I know can be brighter (blues).

1) Would going to 14Ks help or should I got to 20K's

2) Is there a brand you can recommend over others (I have pulse start and have heard good things about XM bulbs).

Thanks in advance for your help.]
 
[Thanks Matt.

I have a SE fixture.

I have heard that XM is coming out with a 15K 250W bulb in May.

What do you all think?]
 
[I would go with a 10k XM. You will get the best growth and coloration of your sps with the most par level. Go with actinics to make it bluer. The color spectrum of the 10k XM runs between 9921k and 13017k which also makes a difference in the par level. But for around $50.00-$60.00 it looks to me like a great overall bulb. I have always had the best coloration of my sps using Ushios 10ks which run around $90, but the next bulbs I buy will be the XMs.]
 
[You might also want to check the nutrient levels in your tank (nitrate, phosphate, dissolved organics etc...). The lower they are, the healthier/more colorful your SPS are prone to be.

As for the light, I'm getting great coloration and growth under 250w, 14000K CoralVue bulbs.]



Edited By GraviT on 1114451725
 
[thanks Kevin,

My phosphates were .05 to 0.1 so I've just started using a phosban. The nitrates are not measureable by my testkit. The dissolved organics I haven't tested for.
I think I'm going to go for a month with the 10K and then if coloration doesn't improve I'm going to try the 14K or the new 15K XM bulb.

Thanks,]
 
@Soji John wrote:
[I think I'm going to go for a month with the 10K and then if coloration doesn't improve I'm going to try the 14K or the new 15K XM bulb.] said:
[There is one thing to know about sps, it take them no time at all in the new lighting or the wrong lighting to turn brown and loose their color. It can take six months to a year in some cases under the right lights to get good color back. If you only leave them under one lamp for a month, you will never have time to see how much they would color up.]
Click to expand...
 
[I can also say they will not color up under those higher K lamp. If they are turning brown and green either your nutrients are high (most likely) or your not giving them enough light. The higher K bulbs will mean even less light due to the reduced PAR.]
 
[Rick, Keith,

Thanks for this info.

What happened was I switched tanks and switched from powercompacts to metal halides with a little bit of power compacts. After getting it all set up, for one week, my metal halides didn't come on (the timer was on but the switch was off :uhoh: and it was suppossed to come on when I was at work so I never noticed until the weekend) . This is the time where I lost most of the color. It's been two weeks now and I think I'm getting some color back but couldn't tell. I though that my light may not be correct.

I didn't realize it could lose color quickly and then take a much longer time time to color back up. This means I should give it much longer time to see the effect.

I'll do that. No changes for now.

Thanks again.]
 
[I agree w/the above posters. I can also tell you from my own experience that I started w/ XM10K's and after a month I found that I wanted a deeper blue look. Sooo I went ahead and ordered hamilton 14k's ( I run 2x175 ). The blue was very nice but in the last 9 months I have noticed a marked decrease in growth. My tank is mainly LPS that dont need intense light but i still noticed it all the same.I still have growth, just not as much as before. My orange mont cap w/purple rim went Brown w/ a whitish rim , Pink Birdsnests went brown, Orange mont dig went....you got it... brown! They are all growing...just BROWN! :) Ive seen no effect on my lps . Anyways I get my XM10K bulbs in the next few days - got them on sale at reefscience for $53 a pop. Lesson learned .]
 
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