Metal Halide survey

[Casey]

Ok what kelvin rating looks the best 5k 65k 10k 20k
I want anyones opinion I can get,what color do you think makes
your tank look the best??

[Junkzoo]

2-400w 10K Hamiltons w/4-55W actinic Pc's in my 75,,,,, i love it!

[Rick O]

Can we cheat? I like 6500K MH with actinic supplementation. Not because of how it makes the tank look but because of how the corals look after growing under it for a while. Lots of color.

[Hommeworks]

There are so many trade offs and personal choice issues on this topic. I'm running 2 400w 20k MH with 4 28w actinics. Not near enough blue spectrum. My MH have nice brite white band width. People also tell me too strong a dose of MH can 'tan' your soft corals. Just make sure you match up your Kelvin rating with enough actinics. There is a sweet spot somewhere thats dependant on your taste, and lots of other variables. Like how well your corals thrive.

[TimBeR]

I Personlay have not had much experience with MH's my 75 reef tank is the first time I have used anything other then PC's and I went with the 175 watt 12k sunburst because of some side by side pic comparisons I have seen on the net and I like a blue-ish look over the more yellow look of the lower K bulbs.

I just added my first two SPS corals to the tank this past weekend and the color of them under these lights is just stunning in my opinion.
I will try to post pics soon

Clay

[Sue Truett]

I have had 250w 65k iwasaki's with 2 96w pc 03 actinics and loved the look. No yellow as these are the daylight bulbs. I upgraded to 400w 65k iwasaki's and these were even whiter but my sps corals lost all color. So I recently have gone back to the 250w iwasaki's and love them. I have seen the 400w 20k radiums over the lps, soft corals tanks at my LFS but they would not have enough PAR for my sps and he just installed 400w 10k ushios that I am going to see tomorrow. It is a never ending search for the "perfect" lighting combination.

My 180 has 3 250w 65k iwasaki's along with 2 160w uri vho actinics. I actually like the look of my 120 with the pc actinics over the vho, but like the look of vho actinics better than pc's.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[asmith]

I agree with Rick. We have 3 X 250 6500K Iwasaki's with actinic supplementation. Our corals are growing well, and we are able to adjust the color of the lighting by adding or subtracting actinics. If you were only going to go with MH lights, then I would probably go with the 10.000K bulbs.

Andrew

[R1Bill]

Casey,

I'd go for 6500K Iwasaki's with actinic supplementation or just 10K by themselves. The 6500K Iwasaki's are the most efficient and are the cheapest but that is offset by the need for actinic supplementation. If you have 2 x 250W Iwasakis you need at least 200W actinic also. For 2 x 400W Iwasakis, you need at least 400W of actinic.

Bill

[thebigblue]

i didnt want to have alot of different kinds of bulbs and ballasts to mess with...i have a canopy with limited room...

i went with 3-250w 10K USHIOs...a really nice bright crisp white look...everything seems to do well under it (of course all i have are softies now)....

my advice would be go to some LFS or local reefer buddies houses and look for yourself at different combos of light...its hard to get a good idea of what different bulbs look like from computer pics IMHO...

HTH

brad

[vulkum]

i started with 65k iwasaki's in the 250w with 2 50/50 and 2 actinic vho. ended up with 4 actinic to bring out enough blue for me. then i ran into a heat problem with out the chiller so went with pc bulbs and 2x12k sunbursts. they were a bit to blue for me and wasn't impressed with the light output compared to the iwasaki's.
my new tank is lit with AB 10k HQI(they say its a 13k bulb)
i love the look very crisp white with a tinge of blue. a friend talked with Anday Howard from icecap about the new icecap bulb and he told them it was real similiar to the AB and bluer than the ushio.
heres a link to some pics of differant kelvin bulbs in differant wattages over the same tank.
aaron
http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/l...escent%20Bulbs

[galleon]

close call between Ushio DE 10,000K's and Iwasaki 400 watt 6500Ks

[CaptSammy]

I just posted some pics of my tank with dual 250w 20k Radium Metal Halides ONLY. No actinics, and great floresence IMHO.
Take a look

Pictures are actually a bit bluer than life, taking a picture without a flash, the slower the shutterspeed the bluer the pic. The Purple Tang picture is right on the button though.
Sam

[AquaticCo]

I have seen many differnt lights and systems. I personaly like the hamilton 14K's they hit the blue spectrum extremly well so you do not need the additional actinics. Over the past several months I have been seeing a rash of problems with the 12K sunbursts. Not all of them but random problems.

Doug

[Rick O]

CaptSammy. (another Georgia boy.)

[mikeMersot]

I just switched from a 250 ushio 10k to a 250 iwasaki 6500 with 220 W actinic VHO, I just set it up today, but I like the look a lot better than with just the 10k