MH kelvin new and old bulbs?

[fishtk75]

Need to replace my 250 watt MH 10k's that are 14k.
Looked at Cnidarian Reef tests.
I know it up to the person if they want more blue or white k lamp as a 20k more blue.
But is there a test or you all know a range that gives a balance for good growth.
Need to know from all members experiance is there a chart of 10k white is better for this and 15k is better for that and 20k is for that.
When you put in a new lamp that is more PAR what do you do with all the more light so you do not burn anything?

[Geoff]

Welcome to TRT!!!



Sanjay has a site that lists all of the bulbs and their PAR ratings.

there is such a huge overlap with bulbs, it is really difficult to put anykind of rule of thumb on them. in most cases the lower the K the higher the PAR. the most noteable exception to this rule is the XM 20K it has more PAR than some 10K bulbs.

depending on the amount of light you have PAR may not matter at all. you could be giving the corals plenty of PAR even with 20K bulbs.

it really boils down to what kind of look are you looking for.

G~

[fishtk75]

Originally Posted by Geoff

Welcome to TRT!!!



Sanjay has a site that lists all of the bulbs and their PAR ratings.

there is such a huge overlap with bulbs, it is really difficult to put anykind of rule of thumb on them. in most cases the lower the K the higher the PAR. the most noteable exception to this rule is the XM 20K it has more PAR than some 10K bulbs.

depending on the amount of light you have PAR may not matter at all. you could be giving the corals plenty of PAR even with 20K bulbs.

it really boils down to what kind of look are you looking for.

G~

Geoff,
thank you for your help.

So you know I saw this site that tested lamps but which ballast you use gives you differant PARs that what confuses me also.

[fishtk75]

Originally Posted by Geoff

Welcome to TRT!!!



Sanjay has a site that lists all of the bulbs and their PAR ratings.

there is such a huge overlap with bulbs, it is really difficult to put anykind of rule of thumb on them. in most cases the lower the K the higher the PAR. the most noteable exception to this rule is the XM 20K it has more PAR than some 10K bulbs.

depending on the amount of light you have PAR may not matter at all. you could be giving the corals plenty of PAR even with 20K bulbs.

it really boils down to what kind of look are you looking for.

G~

Thank you
I saw this site after I posted this and I did not know that ballasts give you differant PAR with the same lamp.
http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm

[Geoff]

i have been trying to find that site for a long time. i was afraid it was taken down for some reason. i could not find a bookmark for it anywhere and all of my searches did not find it.

yea, the whole lighting thing is very confusing. there is really no way to get an accurant representation of what you are going to get. the age of the ballast also seems to affect the colour of the bulb.

G~

[fishtk75]

Originally Posted by Geoff

i have been trying to find that site for a long time. i was afraid it was taken down for some reason. i could not find a bookmark for it anywhere and all of my searches did not find it.

yea, the whole lighting thing is very confusing. there is really no way to get an accurant representation of what you are going to get. the age of the ballast also seems to affect the colour of the bulb.

G~

Geoff,
Is Sanjay anymore the site shows old dates and e-mail a question to him and came back has not there no more.