XM 10K & 15K Metal Halide Bulbs

mjsandbe · 12-22-2005, 10:45 AM

I am in the market to replace my 400 watt Hamilton 14K. I am pretty happy with the look of the tank but I am not thrilled. I will be adding a couple of T5 atinics so I was considering a 10K bulb and I have heard good things about XM bulbs.

I an strongly considering a 400W XM 15K or 400W XM 10K.

Who has direct experience with XM 10K & 15K bulbs? Pictures? Opinions? Suggestions?

yardboy · 12-22-2005, 11:59 AM

I've used an xm 15000K 175W bulb on a 20 cube and it wasn't intense enough. I've got it on a 10 gallon now and it's acceptable. The color is more white than blue though.

Twitterbait · 12-22-2005, 12:26 PM

I have used the 15k XM 400w with no issues. I have heard about problems with quality though. you may want to look at radiums or ushio instead.

mg · 12-22-2005, 01:54 PM

XM 15k par values are lower than their 20k bulbs. I am not sure if this is true for all wattages but it is for the 250W bulbs.

tdwyatt · 12-22-2005, 02:09 PM

I am using the 10kK 250 watt mogul bulbs over stony coral tanks and like the color and PAR at 4" above the water with a spyder reflector (x3 over a 180 and 18" over the prop tank x 2) I like these bulbs and color overall, but I have had to raise the height at times due to an occasional light bleaching in stonies at 83F and Phosban reactor, might start either chilling the tank to 80 degrees F even or drop the amount of Phosban I am using in the reactor.

tdwyatt · 12-22-2005, 02:11 PM

Addendum: Doug at ReefTankLighting may have convinced me to try a new double ended setup over the new comparison tanks to see if I like the results, more later.

wharyat · 12-23-2005, 05:18 PM

My vote; I am using an XM 10K and like it.