250 hqi mh

723 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by forddna, Jan 20, 2011

Azimuth01

Discussion Starter · Jan 20, 2011

I have an odyssea 760 light fixture for my 110 tall tank on the way here. I don't have high expectations for this fixture, and I fully plan on a large amount of retrofitting...beginning with new icecap ballasts.

MY problem is that no one sells quality double ended metal halide bulbs that are in the best range for plants (67000K). Has anyone seen bulbs along the lines of ushio or xm that are 250W @ 67000k with a 90 or better cri?

all I found have been the 150 W bulbs, but I have a very deep tank, and I would need the 250W for the light to reach my glossostigma on the bottom.

any help would be appreciated.

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redfishsc

· #2 · Jan 20, 2011

If you dig around on Sanjay Joshi's site (manhattanreefs.com/lighting) and look at the various 10,000K bulbs on the market, several of them actually show up on his equipment as 6500K (give or take),.

The EVC 10,000K was one that definitely is a lower K bulb than it says. A VERY good bulb and an very efficient PAR producer that I highly recommend, but the ones Sanjay tested weren't 10K bulbs by any shot.

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forddna

· #3 · Jan 20, 2011

manhattanreefs.com/lighting - takes me to the home page and I cannot find a lighting forum on there. Halp! Would love to see if he has info on 70w hqi bulbs.

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OverStocked

· #4 · Jan 20, 2011

Kelvin rating has little to do with what plants need. It really only relates to what we see, and I would get whatever looks best to you. Somewhere in the 8-10,000k range is what I prefer the most.

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Azimuth01

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 20, 2011

I would like to get 10K bulbs for the MH rather then the 6700k, but I'm worried about the plants not getting the right kind of light. There are 4 other CF bulbs in this fixture and I wanted to run them at about 14K.

The 14k would look good, and I know the 6700k do not look the best, but I wanted to have the MH on during the day when I'm at work anyway, so I don't have to look at them. I guess I'm trying to get the best of both worlds, but it looks like I'm going to have to sacrifice something.

I'll take a look at Sanjay's site this evening. I might find what I'm looking for there.

Thank you.

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OverStocked

· #6 · Jan 20, 2011

LIke I said, Kelvin rating is about what the human eye sees. I use 10000k bulbs on my tanks with great success. 14k is awfully high in the blue spectrum for freshwater, they aren't going to appear very bright, either. I'd run a combination of 10,000k, maybe one 6700.

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forddna

· #7 · Jan 20, 2011

My 10k bulbs washed out my red colored plants.

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