metal halide bulbs

[amstar15]

what is the benefit/difference of 5500k, 10k, and 14k. I thought I had ordered 10k 175 bulbs and I got 5500 k instead. i just noticed (i bought them in december) so now Im stuck. my corals are doing great though. what are the benefits of 10k? also when (and i am) go up to 10k or higher do I need to move my corals lower for awhile or maybe turn back the time the lights are on for awhile? i have a 75 gallon tank.

 

[Salt Freak]

I think its the color temp I think the ones that are under 14K have a yelloish tent to them while ones above this have the more white light. I wuoldn't do anything on changing bulbs if your corals are doing great unless its time to change the months which shouldn't be for another couple months probaly in june or july.

 

[ostrow]

If you are happy with the color of the tank and the corals are colorful and growing, don't change.

5500 will look yellowish. 10K will look clear. Higher moves to blueish.

Generally, the higher the K the better the color, the slower the growth. Generally.

More important is a good bulb brand with high PAR levels.

But now I get into land I know little to nothing about (32 out of 100 on my Electricity and Magnetism final exam way back when, when I was a Physics major, over 20 years ago!!)

Dr. Sanjay Joshi has written a lot on bulbs. See his presentation at last year's IMAC ... www.theimac.org.

Oh, and COME TO IMAC!!!

 

[amstar15]

so what is a good bulb brand??

 

[Navarre]

Do you have a single ended or doulbe ended halide bulb?

 

[amstar15]

my halides are set up as one socket at each end of my tank. so 1 halide for every two feet in length for the tank. the socket looks just like a regular light socket. the bulb is just huge but almost the same shape as a regular light bulb.

 

[Navarre]

Ok, this helps to see what types of bulb can be recomended. I use the single ended bulbs too and find the BLV type bulbs to be very good.