Advise: Best 250w SE +14k Bulb

[jawwad2004]

I really like the xm10k bulbs, but I want to go blue. I wanted to try the 15k xm but the par is really low. Anyone use any +14k bulbs SE 250watt bulbs which they would recommend?

 

[jackson6745]

reeflux 10k which actually has 14k color, or reeflux 12k which looks like a 20k.

 

[pecan2phat]

:lol: I have to supplement white vho bulbs with the Reeflux 12k. They are blue, dim & not worth your money.

 

[jackson6745]

:lol: I have to supplement white vho bulbs with the Reeflux 12k. They are blue, dim & not worth your money.

Yep, they are pretty dim 400w 10k isn't though

 

[jackson6745]

Jawaad, I would add 1 more actinic before you change bulbs. 10k with a lot of actinics suplementation looks awesome. A blue bulb will not give you the same range of colors.

 

[jhale]

jawwad what type of reflectors do you have?

I was contemplating changing to 2 xm10k's in mini luminarcs on icecap e ballasts, supplemented by 4 48" uri actinics on icecap 430's

that would leave me with an extra 250 ballast so I thought I might throw a 20K in the middle just to play with.

 

[pnoyreefer]

I say Phx 14K on a HQI ballast is really nice !...

 

[ireefny]

Hamiltons 14K with icecaps 250w e-ballast, gives me just what I wanted in color & growth. inside lumenarcs

 

[jawwad2004]

jawwad what type of reflectors do you have?

I was contemplating changing to 2 xm10k's in mini luminarcs on icecap e ballasts, supplemented by 4 48" uri actinics on icecap 430's

that would leave me with an extra 250 ballast so I thought I might throw a 20K in the middle just to play with.

J,
Im using regular spider reflectors.

My setup currently consists (in addition to the MH) of 2 110 watt URI Superactinic VHO's which do give it a really nice white color. Without the VHO's its a tad yellow, but IMO better then the EVC 10ks which I had prior.

I was considering re-doing my whole MH lighting setup to DE Phoenix bulbs, but I dont think the extra $500 bucks for pendants, bulbs and other misc. stuff is really necessary since I have seen beautiful tanks using SE bulbs.

How many bulbs do the IceCap VHO ballasts allow you to use. I am using an ARO ballast and its max wattage is at 220w, which is what I am currently using.

 

[jhale]

the icecaps vary depending on the bulb length/watts

but the 430 will run up to 4 vho or t5, and the 660 will run up to 6.

I have 2 430's so that's what i'm going to use.

I would consider sticking with what you have and upgrading to luminarcs for better coverage. That's my plan. Like Rich said it will allow you to fine tune the color. And fwiw Kedd told me he's taking out his T-5's and going back to vho's, he runs de10ks.
the one person who was happy with just 14Kde bulbs was Jim, he had 3 phoenix 14k's over his 180, and no actinics. It always looked good to me.
I have 3 evc25010kse bulbs now and they are a bit too yellow for me, even with the actinics.

 

[cali_reef]

WHat kind of ballast are you running the XM10K bulbs with?

 

[crox99]

I have 14k Hamiltons on a Blue Wave VII ballast and they looks good. I supplement them with two 110 VHO URI super actinics.

 

[jawwad2004]

WHat kind of ballast are you running the XM10K bulbs with?

I am running them on EVC Electronic ballasts.

 

[cali_reef]

I am running them on EVC Electronic ballasts.

That is the cause of some of the problem you have, those things sucks...

 

[jawwad2004]

That is the cause of some of the problem you have, those things sucks...

Then what would you suggest?

I have seen these ballasts with a variety of bulbs and seen beautiful coloration. This is the first time Im hearing something overtly negative about these ballasts.

 

[jhale]

I've had an evc ballast for a while with no problems also.
I have 2 icecaps as well, they all look the same to me color wise.

 

[jackson6745]

Jawwad, best lighting system you'll get consists of Luminarc minis and IC ballasts (MH + T5 or VHO). Some of the best tanks that I have seen have this (JBNY for example). A lot of bulbs look great on the IC ballast. I just swiched back from DE to SE and I'm loving it. More light spread and I don't have to worry about cracking bulbs.

 

[cali_reef]

Here are some plots from Sanjay's Website

 

[cali_reef]

4 more:

 

[cali_reef]

You can see the EVC bulb with all three ballast(EVC, Icecap, and PFO HQI) do okay in PAR(PPFD number, higher the better) and suck in color (CCT - close to 12K give you the slight blue look everyone is after, higher number makes it more blue and lower number makes it yellow).

The coralvue's color is good but dim with all the ballast, very dim in some cases . IMO XM have the best performance and color balance, you just need a few VHO actinic to make your corals' color to "pop" a bit more. You can get away with less actinic if you use an Icecap ballst driving XM 10K but you lose PAR in exchange.

Back to your original question on which 14,000K bulb and ballast combo is the best; there are NONE that I would think is the best in terms of PAR and true color temperature. Take a look for your self.