Best halide color?

[soekopup]

This is along the same line as my earlier question, but i am curious to anyones opinion as to which bulb is best. I currently have ushio's and am very pleased with the color and growth of everything in my tank. I do not have any suplimantal actinics and I do not think that I will put them in any time soon. My question is woyuld a 12 or 14K bulb look as if I suplimented with actinics, If so how much more blue is that. I have found several other branmd names in doing some reserch any opioions or suggestion would be appreciated.

good or bad.

12k "ALS"
10k coralife
14K "eurobulb"
Aqulinwe bulbs?

Thanks Rick

[Chuck S]

Rick this is a very complicated question and even more so complex because of human perception.

The best bulb for corals is the Iwasaki 6500 Kelvin bulb. I do not think one intelligent person can argue that fact. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif It has the most even distribution of color unlike other bulbs. However this bulb would need supplimental actinics. I highly recommend them anyway since they provide a nice dusk/dawn phototime instead of bathing your corals very sudden in a stream of light. The PPFD of this light is also far superior to any other.

I ran Ushio 10K lights for a few years. I absolutely loved the color. I also currently am running a Radium 20K on a blueline ballast. Nice color indeed. However on both bulbs I can tell you I get no where near the intensity of an Iwasaki and my growth doubles under the 6500K's.

Instead of Human Perception I tend to let my corals decide which lighting is best and if I need to throw actinics on their to make me not wanna puke so be it. Now just an interesting fact as well. I ran VHO actinics with the Ushio's as well.

[Adrian]

I agree with Chuck, if you move up in kelvin temp, you will most likely move down in intensity. IME no single bulb can give you the same affect as halides + actinics. Like Chuck I prefer the iwasakis plus actinics, I have used the ushios, and the radiums, in the case of the ushios I liked them because they were a tad whiter and looked good with or without actinics, but they lacked intensity and are expensive, the radiums are almost too blue with actinics, and seem less intense than the ushio and the saki, and are also expensive. In your case I would stick to the ushios, they are bright, and have a good color, you may get a bluer look with a higher kelvin bulb, but I dont think its worth the drop in intensity. I would add actinics and run sakis before I paid the extra for high K bulbs, in the long run it would be about the same cost and with actinics and sakis youll not only get a nice color, youll also get awesome intensity. HTH

[SERVO]

The WORST experiment I ever did with my lighting was to buy two 12 K bulbs. The color was HORRIBLE /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puke.gif. Three weeks later I had replaced the bulbs. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ugh.gif The info from Adrian and Chuck is really the only way to go. You will be happy if you add actinics. The enjoyment that you get from the florescent quality adds a completely new dimension. Not to mention that the colors in the am and pm is really serene. Plus, it will probably lower your electric bill /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif Maybe you can get Santa to get you a ballast!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Chuck S]

Agree 12K ALS = /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puke.gif

[kevinpo]

One thing to note the same bulb will appear quite different when driven by different ballasts. So it really is a bulb ballast combination. I've been running Ushio 400W 10,000K bulbs driven by both the PFO HQI and PFO regular ballast. Even with actinics they are too yellow/green for me (more blue when driven by the HQI ballast). I added a 20,000K 400W Radium right next to the 10,000K (reflectors are touching) and it was slightly blue for 8 days now the color is near perfect as I have ever seen. I plan to install the same setup on the other end of the tank. IMO you really need to see lights in person before you spend the big bucks on something you might not like. Dave Grigor was kind enough to send me a used Radium to test before I went ahead and bought a bulb.

Regards,
Kevin

[Chuck S]

I actually run a 20K on a blueline in my 120. I switched back from 65K on the other side to the 10K. After running that a while I went back to 65K. I love the 20k color and still run it on the one side. Now intensity wise I would never be able to run my tank with just 20K though. The corals are just too big and take up too much room. There require lots of light. The most noticeable thing is the intensity difference.

In leiu of all the factors the best bulb is hands down the inwasaki but with plenty of actinic supplimentation /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif