Choices...Choices...Choices

[nanoreefer22]

So it's come time to light up the new tank. I have the ballasts already, that are going to be wired up today (Thanks FRY). I was wondering since the ballast are magnetic would bulb combo would you use? These were my two choices;

2 x 250 10K XMs with actinic (mother might kill me with the electric bill)
or
2 x 250 20K XMs without actinic.(She's still gonna kill me)

Which one would you guys go with? Or would you reccomend something different?

-Kris

 

[jhale]

10K plus actinic.
I've never heard of anyone being happy with just 20K's

get a stationary bike you can modify to power your lights.
you can bike a couple of hours a day and help offset the electric bill. while you peddle you can watch your tank

 

[rickytsui]

nice one jhale
kris i will go with 2 10k xm with actinic u will get a better grown rate and also it will look in the wild and stuff 20k is just too much blue and the grown rate is not that good

 

[nanoreefer22]

How bout the 15k XM's?

 

[rickytsui]

nope on rc they said that 15k xm have very lil par less then the 20k

 

[nanoreefer22]

Oh Damn....10K with actinic it is then. Thanks guys.

 

[rickytsui]

man i want one more mh on my lighting system but then i'm getting a new tank soon i hope is a 120 rr still looking though but then i getting 2 400watt mh coming my way sometime next week . but i think for the 65g tank 2 250watt nice i wish i have one more on my hood

 

[nanoreefer22]

You only got 1 250 on it?

 

[jackson6745]

I say 2x 250w 14k Hamiltons with or without actinic (preferably with) The 10k need heavy actinic supplementation to bring out the colors, and in a 65gal your space is limited.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Thats what i was thinking. The tank is going to be very white. I like the blue look. Space really is limited with the reflectors and all. The one actinic VHO i have probably wouldnt make much of a difference next to the 250s.

Rich, Hows the PAR on the hamiltons?

I saw the 20k that Kasei had on the tank and it wasn't close to being as blue as i thought it would be, but I want to get good growth too.

 

[jackson6745]

Kris, IMO, the 10k XM's are too bright for the 65gal. The 250w 10k's that I tried (SE XM, DE AB + Ushio) washed out the colors on my SPS in that tank. Take a look at JBNY's thread on RC for the par levels of the bulbs. You can get great growth under any bulb, water quality is key.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Yeah I dont want to wash out the colors. Can't wait for my skimmer.

I guess I'll shoot for the hamiltons or something in the 14K range.

I might end up killing off my softies if I go with the 10K's. :-X

 

[nanoreefer22]

What if I did one XM 10K and one Hamilton 14K? The colors might mix well since the tank isnt that long. What'd you think?

 

[jackson6745]

Kris what skimmer did you get?

 

[nanoreefer22]

Rich I'm getting it from Dan. I should be getting it sometime this week. Not sure on the specifics. I'll talk to him later to get some specs on it.

 

[House of Laughter]

Kris,

If you have only 2, the blend will happen, but the coloration will be distinguisably different on both sides of the tank.

I have a 14k hamilton, and it is going in the center of my new tank. I have it as a stand alone in the bowfront while I wait to break it down, BUT, my corals started losing thier colors and even bleaching.

So, my experience with the 14k Hamiltons is that they are not as intense as the XM 10k's.

I personally LOVE my XM 10k's (one of which I bought from Jackson) and I will use AB 10k (which colors like 13k) for the center of my tank once the hamilton is 6 months old.

Hope that helps

Jim

 

[nanoreefer22]

I was looking at Cnidarian Reef and saw that the Hamilton bulbs are low on almost all the ballast. I like the 10k XM's but as Rich said they would be way to bright for my tank and wash out the colors on the SPS. I got the ballast wired up on a good note, tomorrow I'll head to lowes and pick up a bulb just to test them and make sure they work and then I'll go ahead and order bulbs. I need to make a choice on those still though.

It would look odd having the middle of the tank nicely blended then have the ends being two completely different colors. I'm still not sure what to do. I would try the 15k Xm's but they have less PAR than the 20k's like Ricky said.

What would you light the tank with?

 

[rickytsui]

kris come by tomorrow i have 10k xm ober my tank u can come by and take a look at it i hope that will help

 

[nanoreefer22]

Ricky, cant make it. I gotta go hand in papers at baruch tmrw, then I'm going job hunting. If anything I'll let you know. Whats ya #??

 

[jackson6745]

Kris, don't get hung up on Par. I used to think that more Par was better but IME it's not always the case. If you really want a nice bulb the Aquaconnect is perfect but also VERY pricey.