250 or 400?

[Neurotech]

I am running a reeflux 250 watt se bulb over my 54gallon sps corner. Should I upgrade to 400 or is that overkill?

 

[Fragmented 99]

400 may be overkill

 

[teen]

id stick with 250w. maybe rethink the bulb, reeflux have terrible PAR.

im running a 250w DE 14k phoenix bulb and was gunna switch to the reeflux 12k. i did some reading and found that the phoenix puts out 40% more PAR than the 12k reeflux.

not sure if this goes for SE bulbs as well though, so it may not apply to your situation.

 

[Neurotech]

I read that too, but anecdotal reports consistently praise the growth rate on corals under reeflux, especially the 10k. It is sooo white, though and I want to see my corals pop. Someone on a different forum said that if I go to 12k from the 10k that I would need to up the wattage. Is this so? Or is that just about subjective brightness?

 

[puckbs]

don't quote me but i think its subjective....also, i think you may get more out of the DE than the mogul base, and save electricity over the 400

 

[teen]

if they're seeing amazing growth with a bulb thats putting out low PAR, i wonder what their growth would be like with a bulb putting out more PAR.

 

[teen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11090830#post11090830 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Neurotech
Someone on a different forum said that if I go to 12k from the 10k that I would need to up the wattage. Is this so? Or is that just about subjective brightness?

it really depends. if you went from say a 10k reeflux to a 12k reeflux, you wouldnt need to up your wattage.

but something like a 10k XM bulb compared to a 12k reeflux, you may have to up the wattage on the 12k reeflux to match what the 10k XM is putting out.

hope that made sense.

 

[qy7400]

Lots of good info is in this article from JBNY

 

[Justjoe]

More importantly is the reflector and how efficient it is. 250w should be enough.

 

[Neurotech]

Thanks everyone for the input. I will be considering other bulbs. I just (of course) want that perfect amount of blue to make the corals pop. I had heard that the reeflux 12k was bluer than most 12ks. I don't want a dim tank that looks like it is in very deep water. I will likely upgrade the reflector to a lumenarc or lumenarc mini. Any 250 watt bulb ideas? Pics of tanks with those bulbs and no supplementation would be great. Thanks again.

 

[shyland83]

read joes article that QV posted, pics of different bulbs without and without actinics, as well as par reading for just about every bulb.

 

[pecan2phat]

The 12k Reeflux will exactly look as you described. You will not like the 12k @ 250w unless you have a shallow tank.

 

[Neurotech]

You mean it will look like deep ocean or blue and bright?

 

[shyland83]

i think he means like a deep ocean

 

[Neurotech]

anybody try the hamilton 14k?

 

[pecan2phat]

Hamilton 14k was slightly better but not enough to be happy. They are dim unless you move up to a 400w ballast IMO.

 

[Neurotech]

any recommendations for a bulb that looks blue and is bright on a 250 watt coralvue electronic ballast? Or do you think 400 watt reeflux might be acceptable if I start over?

 

[teen]

i honestly wouldnt go with a 400w. if for any reason you do decide to change, i would go from SE to DE. IMO, theres more of a selection on bulbs for DE these days. the 14k phoenix bulb is the perfect bulb for you IMO. its a nice crisp blue(but nowhere near as blue as a 20k) and has awesome PAR, but it only comes in DE i believe.