what i used to use and worked great is for halides 10k ushio bulbs but you need a ballast that runs at 3 amps to burn them correctly and use your t5 for atinic (blue light) and thats it. if you run a ushio under 3 amps it bill burn more yellow instead of crisp white and a big lose of par hope this helps.
since u have 4 ts going with them maybe to blue 2 purple ati bulbs
sounds like your 20k you had were crap. I have used hamilton 20k, reeflux 14k, coralvue 20k, hamilton 12k, ushio 10k, and XM 20k.... XM are VERY BLUE, Ushio was more of a natural light with yellows and crisp white. reeflux and coral vue bulbs tend to explode in my experiance.... (sales rep is an A-HOLE too) I was a fan of Hamilton. I have heard great things about phoenix bulbs but I have not tried them yet. Really depends on your budget. The majority of the really good bulbs are more expensive unfortunetly.
For some good research look at the past issues of reefkeeping.com in their tank of the month thread. There are some UBER good tanks in there that you know have insanely good things going on, including lighting.
sounds like your 20k you had were crap. I have used hamilton 20k, reeflux 14k, coralvue 20k, hamilton 12k, ushio 10k, and XM 20k.... XM are VERY BLUE, Ushio was more of a natural light with yellows and crisp white. reeflux and coral vue bulbs tend to explode in my experiance.... (sales rep is an A-HOLE too) I was a fan of Hamilton. I have heard great things about phoenix bulbs but I have not tried them yet. Really depends on your budget. The majority of the really good bulbs are more expensive unfortunetly.
For some good research look at the past issues of reefkeeping.com in their tank of the month thread. There are some UBER good tanks in there that you know have insanely good things going on, including lighting.
What looks good to us is 20k-50k with mad actinics.. what grows corals fastest is 6500k-8000k...... but the corals grown into brownish green butt ugly beasts.
It has been that way since the late 80s.... MANY MANY companies have claimed their lights grow the best and look the best, but it is all BS, I could grow some MAD acros with my good old 175 watt 6500k globe Hamilton hallides with a TAR ballast that would hum like and air compressor, but they did not look like anything you would want these days.
I also have Hamilton 14K 150's, but haven't used them a lot, as they seem a lot dimmer than the 10K? I also have another ati blue plus, ati blue special and I believe (2) aquatic life 10k bulbs that I haven't used since the halides are more white in color, but I could also switch them out?
I'm following this one also as it's very informative and I also appreciate any help. :thumbup:
From what I have been hearing. 10k's will grow coral better, but they will be lighter in color because the light is more intense. With the 14k it will be dimmer because it is more blue than the 10k but that will also bring out the color more, with a bit slower growth.
Anyone can correct me if i'm wrong, but that seems to be the jist of it.
From what I have been hearing. 10k's will grow coral better, but they will be lighter in color because the light is more intense. With the 14k it will be dimmer because it is more blue than the 10k but that will also bring out the color more, with a bit slower growth.
Anyone can correct me if i'm wrong, but that seems to be the jist of it.
110 wide and exactly how would I know which ballast combination is in the aquatic fixture? And I wish I could do 250's now that I'm into stonies, but at the moment the 150's ate going to have to do.
ok i found it but ushio demands 3 amps to burn proper and now that pfo is out of buisness there is like no one that makes a 3 am ballast you kinda of need the old style tar style but this list compares many bulbs and ballast and is pretty good
Jim, I remember the table you're talking about and I was surprised how much of a difference in PAR there was between 10k, 14k, and 20k. You'll certainly get the best growth using 10k (of the 3 listed) but supplementing with blue and purple T5 would make for a nice color as well.
with 150's your stuff might stay alive but will never color all the way up i think i just know from when i ran halides what did what and 250's should be the starting point
with 150's your stuff might stay alive but will never color all the way up i think i just know from when i ran halides what did what and 250's should be the starting point
That is terrible! Even with the t5's added in with the fixture?
So, what I read was true as far as the amount of light and the reflection from that light causing the colors. . I took pictures but I'm bummed. Is there anything that can be done such as adding say some led strips?
McPuff correct as i would run nothing but a 10k halide on one hand and on the other hand i wouldnt run a 10k without suplamenting them as well and these days there is even a bigger choice if i have 4 bulb t5 to go with the halides i would do the folowing
2x true atinic or a super blue atinic bulbs
1x purple
1x ge 6500
to captur3 jsut about everything lol if you want bluer look dump the ge 6500 for another blue bulb
McPuff correct as i would run nothing but a 10k halide on one hand and on the other hand i wouldnt run a 10k without suplamenting them as well and these days there is even a bigger choice if i have 4 bulb t5 to go with the halides i would do the folowing
2x true atinic or a super blue atinic bulbs
1x purple
1x ge 6500
to captur3 jsut about everything lol if you want bluer look dump the ge 6500 for another blue bulb
what is the lxw on your tank excatly this will help
but if money is a big problem as it is for many of us ajm leds were pretty cheap and i ran them for 3 months or so and they did the job
if u want to stay with halides i have seen some cheap fixtures her and there for sale
I'd say to get some 10k bulbs for your 150W halides and put in those blue/purple T5s and see what you get. Your corals look pretty good now so I imagine that would help. If that doesn't appear to be enough then I would advise against adding LED strips. Then you end up with all sorts of lights all over the place and timers everywhere... a huge mess of cords and junk. It would be better to just try to find used 250W halides (should be easy) and try the same course of action (add 10k bulbs and stick with T5s to supplement).
Or you could sell the halides AND T5s and go all LED. You'd need two of the AJM fixtures or equivalent which would run you just over $300, depending on what you get. That will provide more than enough light for your 110 and save you a ton of money on energy bills/bulb replacements... a ton.
I'd say to get some 10k bulbs for your 150W halides and put in those blue/purple T5s and see what you get. Your corals look pretty good now so I imagine that would help. If that doesn't appear to be enough then I would advise against adding LED strips. Then you end up with all sorts of lights all over the place and timers everywhere... a huge mess of cords and junk. It would be better to just try to find used 250W halides (should be easy) and try the same course of action (add 10k bulbs and stick with T5s to supplement).
Or you could sell the halides AND T5s and go all LED. You'd need two of the AJM fixtures or equivalent which would run you just over $300, depending on what you get. That will provide more than enough light for your 110 and save you a ton of money on energy bills/bulb replacements... a ton.
Hmmnnn Ok let me put the 10ks back in. Those are the 14k's I put in this morning(in the pictures). I probably will have to do something else then, as I had and have been running the 10k bulbs with the 460/420's as supplemental.
yeah I agree with McPuff put the 10k back in if that's all you have.
on my 120 temp tank here is what did a great job
currant nova extreme which there was one on another board for $200 shipped got good color and growth
ajm reef leds also did a nice job coarals colored up good
or 250w halides
your corals look OK I have seen worse sure hope this helps
yeah I agree with McPuff put the 10k back in if that's all you have.
on my 120 temp tank here is what did a great job
currant nova extreme which there was one on another board for $200 shipped got good color and growth
ajm reef leds also did a nice job coarals colored up good
or 250w halides
your corals look OK I have seen worse sure hope this helps
Yes it really does. Lol, the hard part is pitching this to the wife. I don't know if it's going to fly right now (and hey, no jokes... I like a happy home. .).
I looked up the AJM lights and they're pretty inexpensive(wish I would have known that before forking over the Grand for this thing six months ago)! So I may just run the halides, leave the Blues in, grab a purple and save up for the leds.
And yes, this helps tremendously. I've been trying and trying to figure it out. I got my phosphates down, so I was thinking it would be over a couple of days, but it doesn't seem like they are changing any longer, so I began to worry.
And thanks, heating they don't look horrible, horrible makes me feel a little better.
Yes, that is what someone else(tbd) told me as far as time frame, so it's just the waiting game now.
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