20k from 14k?

Currently using 2x150watt 14k bulbs over my 55, don't have any sps, but 1 lps frogspawn plus varius softies, the 14k are very bright yellowy light and i was thinking about going more blue with maybe a 20k bulb.

Now with the 14k bulbs my green mushrooms at the bottom of the tank, are actually turning purple, i think to too much light , would by replaceing the bulbs with 20k be better for them and how would a clam do under the 20k?

Thanks

 

Well you would be changing the colour spectrum not the intensity of the light. With 20K you would typically expect the corals to look more colourful and intense, but expect growth rates to slow down. IMO 20K is too blue.

 

It all depends on the bulb. what kind of bulbs are you running now??? I really like the look of the phoenix 14k

 

Its hard for any of us to tell you whats best for you and your system, however, If your noticing "bleaching" on your corals, changing to 20K is an alternative. If your corals are just morphing into different colors, I personaly wont worry about it. When I changed my stock ballasts for the IceCaps, the BlueLife SPS 14K bulbs where bleaching some of my corals, so I had to get some 20K and within a month they all came back to normal. Which is why am selling the Bluelife SPS DE HQI 250w 14K bulbs(4). Hope you guys dont mind the plug.;D



Luna

 

Like Danie072 said,different bulb brands have different looks to them.An ushio bulb with a color temp of 14000 looks more yellow than a 14000 pheonix bulb and so on. The higher the color temp the more blue it looks but the brands matter also so you may just need to swap brands to get the color you want.l

 

Cheers all, there arcadia?

 

I had a Blueline 10000K+ that looked like a 15kXM 175watt SEhalide Real blue(was too blue).. I switched it to a XM20K and Notice more white and Par but still had a slight Nice Blue hugh too it.(NO yellow )

Before the Blueline and XM i had hamiton 14K which had some yellow and my Mushrooms did not open as much and were more purple under the Hamilton.

The Blueline was nice but to dark , then i grabbed XM20K really makes the tank Brighter with a deep water look .
all 150 of my metalic Green Mushrooms doubled in size and became Very Green on the tips with the body being somewhat purple.Mushrooms like Deeper water spectrum hands down.

This is in a 18" deep tank.

If anything id sugest XM20k's which burn whiter(more Par) with slight Blue flouresing.

The 150watt DE and 175watt SE by XM burn almost the same color wise..I debated this a while back when thinking two 150's vs a single 175watt. Once i saw first hand two 150DE XM20ks vs a XM175watt 20k they burned exactly the same color wise except the two 150;s had slightly more par due to wattage..

Down the road i will be going two 150's or even a single 250 XM20k..

Single 20K XM175 with four 460 ATI 39watt T5's



Shot of my metalic green Mushrooms.


XM20K




Sorry the picture taking skills are kinda not so uber;D

With the Blueline 10000K+






I m sold on XM for 175watt and under Bulbs for 20k spectrum.. For the higher 250watt SE/DE's i would go with a good radium 20k.

 

the Blueline 10000K+ bulbs look great!

I like them alot. nice tank!

 

Nice tank hightide, love all those mushrooms, look like gsp shrooms lol, and thanks for the info will give the 20k another go, these are the ones i bought off ebay????

20k 150W Metal Halide Bulb Lamp Marine/Reef Aquarium on eBay (end time 08-Aug-09 18:18:04 BST)

 

If the 14000K bulbs look yellow, they may be near the end of their life. My 14000K Hamilton has a blue to it, which I think looks nice. It's a bit strong for my anemone though, but is good for my clam. You generally will get less PAR value on a 20000K bulb, so play it by ear, you may have to rearrange your corals and move them higher if they look like they are struggling to get enough light.