Metal Halide Bulb Brand Recomendations

[smit1260]

I am getting back in the hobby after being gone for a few sad years. I will be having an open top tank (40 G breeder). I would like to use a metal halide pendent with no actinics. No I have not gone crazy, I think. I have seen tanks with high quality MH bulbs that look great with no actinics in the past.

What is the current recomended brand for this usage?

 

[Anonymous]

I have a open top 46 G Bowfront with 2 250 W MH HQI Pendants. I have 20K XM bulbs in them now and think it ais a bit to blue so I am going to try the 14K XM bulbs next. I think I have an updated (semi recent) pic in my tank specifications post in the other forum. I like the pendants and the light isn't Bad, it is just to blue for me. I am seeing growth with them on my SPS.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

The Phoenix 14K's are compareable to the XM 14K bulbs. Both have a nice crisp white/blue balance. I"ve been running the Phoenix over my 30 cube for about a year now. Great bulb.

 

[Mihai]

I'm running 14K Hamiltons w/o actinics and I'm very happy with them. On the other hand... I didn't see the Phoenix - I heard they are nice too.

M.

 

[liquid]

You might be interested in these articles from Advanced Aquarist:

Metal Halide Bulbs

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

XM 250W 10Ks All the way. Crisp white color pumping light. I love em.

Used Ushio 10K (yellow to me)
Used CoralLife 10K (Really 14K - 16K)
Used Hamilton 14K (Pretty nice but not driving into my 30in tank how I like)

I am replacing with XMs next cycle or whenever someone hands me $150 for nothing

 

[LA-Lawman]

XM 250W 10Ks All the way. Crisp white color pumping light. I love em.

Used Ushio 10K (yellow to me)
Used CoralLife 10K (Really 14K - 16K)
Used Hamilton 14K (Pretty nice but not driving into my 30in tank how I like)

I am replacing with XMs next cycle or whenever someone hands me $150 for nothing

what are you driving your bulbs with .... an electronic or mag ballast

 

[Anonymous]

I run 10K Xm's with 2x40 watt actinics. It looks great IMO. The glitter lines are more pronounced. The 20K's are too blue and did not have good growth IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

The Phoenix 14K's are compareable to the XM 14K bulbs. Both have a nice crisp white/blue balance. I"ve been running the Phoenix over my 30 cube for about a year now. Great bulb.

I second the 14K Phoenix bulb. I like the color allot.
_________________
BMW 6 Series

 

[stilmas]

I hate it when it seems like it didn't post and it does multiple times...

 

[stilmas]

<DITTO> Read Below

 

[stilmas]

I'd like to ask the Hamilton 14k user a question. I currently am running 250w Hamilton 14k DE bulbs and have some inconsistencies. One of them has some blue in it while the other is really white with an almost tint of aqua green if you look at the sand. The bluer one has trouble firing sometimes and won't come on at all unless I shut it off and wait a little while and turn it back on. I spoke to the person I got the bulbs from and he says that the whiter one may be defective. I seem to think it's a 10k that made it's way into a 14k package. The whiter one fires up reliably, and the bluer one doesn't. I would think that the bluer one is defective if anything. My question is, how blue are the Hamilton 14k's? I've heard that they get pretty white. I'm just wondering if I have a mix of 20k and 14k or 14k and 10k or one really is defective. I do love the look and intensity of MH over my previous VHO setup, but VHO gave me no problems...

 

[Mihai]

Maybe I got lucky, but my four bulbs seemed to work fine. One of my PFO starters died recently, but the bulbs are OK.

I recently changed my bulbs (in the beginning of December). I noticed that the new bulbs are a bit bluer than the previous, but I assume it's expected with all MH bulbs to shift their spectrum toward lower temperatures, right? Otherwise, when I look at it it seems quite white to me. However, over my fuge I run 10,000K and actinics. If I turn off the actinics over the fuge, I'm shocked of how "yellow" the 10,000K PC looks. I like the 14K hamiltons much better. But again, I didn't see the Phoenix: I think I'll give them a try next time when I change my bulb.

M.

 

[stilmas]

I've heard alot of good things about phoenix also. Might be worth a try. As for my Hamilton issue, I spoke to Hamilton and they told me that the bulbs do vary in blueness and are very unstable in the beginning until they burn for 100hrs. Atleast for DE's anyway. So I'll see in a couple of weeks how they look. I kinda like the bright ass white that the one bulb is giving off other than the more blue looking one. I'm not using any actinics either. We'll see what happens though.