Hey guys I have the Outer Orbit Pro 250 with 2-250watt HQI MH and 4-54watt actinic T-5's ... what bulbs should I use for good color on SPS? ... it came with 10,000K MH bulbs. Thanks in advance.
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Best bulb for color.
- Thread starter MikeNapoli
- Start date
I'm currently using the 14.5 K MEGACHROME coral 250 Watt - DE bulbs, being as I just switched to them I can't really tell you about the growth although I've heard really great things and I like the color. I've used the Ushio's 14k also and their color is a very crisp white compared to the blue Phoenix 14ks and I found better growth with the Ushio's 14k s over the Phoenix bulbs. The greatest growth I have witnessed was with the Ushio 10k bulbs but they were too yellow for my taste. All bulbs mentioned were used with my aquaspacelight dual 250hqi and can be found at Premium Aquatics hope the info helps.
Yeah that's what I heard that 10K are good for growth but corals will most likely lose thier color. I would much rather have Color than growth.
Thanks, I guess I'll be ordering bulbs soon.
Thanks, I guess I'll be ordering bulbs soon.
10k is for SPS person and it really depends on your taste and want you want to keep. I used Ushio 14k crisp white and I get a good growth on sps but Acans and zoas are a bit upset. I tried 14k Phoenix - med growth and colors will pop out on your corals. I recently bought my 12k reeflux and so far I like it as I am converting my tank to LPS, zoa dominated tank.
For us, there wasn't a blue enough actinic bulb on the planet that made the XM10K bulbs blue enough for our tastes. But color is SUCH a personal preference thing. I've seen lots of people happy with the color of XM10K bulbs. We tried it. Unfortuantely we're not one of those people!
Phyl you would probably really hate what I've been working on in my prop system. 400+ watts of 6.5K based PC light over a 125 with no actinic. I've got a large sunset colony, Croatia clams and bunch of frags thriving and growing like I've never seen before.
I'm finding the more time I spend on that system the more I like this color. My 10K & 20K Halides now seem "dark" in comparison and somehow don't seem "natural" looking if that makes sense.
I don't know if it's me or not but it seems from my experimenting that 6.5K (daylight) seems to get the fastest growth from corals. The higher K you go the slower the growth becomes. Not all but many corals take on different (sometime vibrant) colors under higher K lighting but I'm not sure if this is really "healthy" for the corals. The "vibrant" colors brought out by some of these higher K lights could be from "stress" in the corals. I hypothesize that the corals zoanthia changes to fight off the light spectrum it doesn't want. When it "fights the light" growth is slowed/stopped as it needs this energy to survive.
Carlo
I'm finding the more time I spend on that system the more I like this color. My 10K & 20K Halides now seem "dark" in comparison and somehow don't seem "natural" looking if that makes sense.
I don't know if it's me or not but it seems from my experimenting that 6.5K (daylight) seems to get the fastest growth from corals. The higher K you go the slower the growth becomes. Not all but many corals take on different (sometime vibrant) colors under higher K lighting but I'm not sure if this is really "healthy" for the corals. The "vibrant" colors brought out by some of these higher K lights could be from "stress" in the corals. I hypothesize that the corals zoanthia changes to fight off the light spectrum it doesn't want. When it "fights the light" growth is slowed/stopped as it needs this energy to survive.
Carlo
Subliminal
NJRC Member
I use 6500 and actinic on mine and am pretty happy with the color, too.
NapoliNewJersey said:
Merv ran 6500s for a while on his prop system as well. For a prop system those are great bulbs. For a system I have to stare at? I'm going with 14ks! I don't know of too many hobbiests who'd want their tank to be that color on purpose.
What the OP asked for was the best bulbs for color, not necessarily growth. As a matter of fact in a later posting, the OP said "I would much rather have Color than growth."
Given that requirement... I'd have to stand behind my recommendation on 14Ks. A nice amount of blue without being too overboard (20k would be optimal for color sacrificing most growth, similar to the way 6500 sacrifices most color in favor of optimal growth).
I totally agree with what you just said Phyl and did notice he was looking for "color". I just mentioned the 6.5K bulbs because you said you didn't like the color and I had just done it. 
Back to the point:
I think 14K are an all around good balance and they do bring out the colors in many corals very well. It's pretty hard to go wrong with this Kelvin.
Carlo
Back to the point:
I think 14K are an all around good balance and they do bring out the colors in many corals very well. It's pretty hard to go wrong with this Kelvin.
Carlo
blange3 said:
What do you mean by adjusting? Each bulb glows at very specific spectrum depending on the type of the gass mixture that is inside the bulb and the type of the phosphor coating on the glass - different bulbs will have different colors.
Thanks all for the input. I'm still learning so much.
The light fixture comes with 2-10K 250 watt MH's, 2-420 54 watt actinic T5's and 2-460 nm 54 watt actinic T-5's
What I was planning on doing was just taking the 10K MH's out and replacing them with 14K MH's.
Now I think a brand of MHbulb would help.
- Mike.
The light fixture comes with 2-10K 250 watt MH's, 2-420 54 watt actinic T5's and 2-460 nm 54 watt actinic T-5's
What I was planning on doing was just taking the 10K MH's out and replacing them with 14K MH's.
Now I think a brand of MHbulb would help.
- Mike.
That works ... reflux it is ... like I said as far as any word from an NJRC member especially Bill, Phyl, Mike, John, Steve... I'm sure you guys know who you are, I trust you all. And thanks for the input again.
I'll start another post about helping me set up the 120 when the time comes. I could use a few hands.
I'll start another post about helping me set up the 120 when the time comes. I could use a few hands.
