250w Phoenix on 20g high?

[clown-x]

Hey everyone, question for you guys.

I'm running a coralife hang-on fixture 150w on my 20g high nano tank. Keeping clam, birdsnest, mostly LPS. May want to add more SPS, prob stick with LPS mostly.

I don't partiucarly like the 14k lamp with no other accent lighting. I was thinking about upgrading to a 250w phoenix 14k to get more blue.

Is this a good idea or is 250w way to much on a 20g high?

Thanks for any help. I have been reading post after post and am starting to get dizzy.

 

[BreadmanMike]

Why not go with the 150w 14k Phoenix? I'm running them on my 120 LPS tank, and they would be more then enough for a 20H.

 

[michaeldaly]

You say you dont like the 14K and then you say you want to get the 250w 14K, please explain?

 

[clown-x]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9034456#post9034456 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Aquaticman74
Why not go with the 150w 14k Phoenix? I'm running them on my 120 LPS tank, and they would be more then enough for a 20H.

Thanks for your reply. I would be happy to do that, but I was concerned about losing a lot of PAR or w/e the wording would be going from a 14k 150w to a 20k 150w since my corals are doing well right now. That's why I was thinking about going to a 250w so i could run either the 14k phoenix or a 20k.

I wasn't sure if the 150w phoenix would be bright enough in the 150w version if my corals were use to a brighter 14k coralife 150w. Maybe I'm just an idiot?

I thought that maybe by going to a 250w 20k i could acheive the bluer look and still maintain a higher PAR like I had with the 150w 14k. And if that was too blue, I could switch to the 14k phoenix in the 250w version to get more intense PAR but achieve a better color.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks.

 

[clown-x]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9034489#post9034489 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by michaeldaly
You say you dont like the 14K and then you say you want to get the 250w 14K, please explain?

Thanks for your reply, and sorry for the confusion. Late night not speaking properly. What I meant was I do not like (overly) the 14k bulb that I have running right now, not all 14k's in general.

Right now I have a Coralife 14k bulb. I do like it, it's a nice cool white color, but I don't love it. I however thought I would like to try a more blue look on this tank to see how it would look. The fixture I have right now (hang-on) does not allow additional bulbs, nor do I have room to add any due to space.

I have heard that the phoenix 14k was pretty blue. I would like to goto a 20k but I fear that my corals would suffer. Thus the reasoning to going to a higher 250w and either trying a 20k there or the phoenix14k.

Hopefully that made more sense. Thanks for your help.

 

[BreadmanMike]

The Phoenix are almost as blue as a 20k and have enough bang to keep whatever you want. I'm keeping Montipora Digitata, RBTA's, along with my LPS in my 120. I would just stick with the 150w fixture and get a Phoenix bulb.

 

[clown-x]

Thanks Aquaticman, I edited my post just now as you were typing hoping I made a little more sense.

Thanks for the valuable info. It would surely be a lot easier for me to keep what I currently have.

 

[BreadmanMike]

This is my old tank with 2 radiums and 2 phoenix 14k's on HQI ballasts. Can you tell the differance?

 

[clown-x]

Difference between? Your lighting and mine? Yes, big difference. That was very helpful, thank you.

BTW, your tank is amazing. I LOVE the clean look and the rocks. Very nice!

 

[BreadmanMike]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9034663#post9034663 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clown-x
Difference between? Your lighting and mine? Yes, big difference. That was very helpful, thank you.

BTW, your tank is amazing. I LOVE the clean look and the rocks. Very nice!

Sorry, need more coffee...

I meant between the 20k Radiums on the left and the phoenix 14k's on the right.

Thanks for the compliments on the tank. It was still new when I took that picture.

 

[clown-x]

lol.. it's okay, trust me I understand.

Yea, the left side looks more purple and the right side more blue now that I pay a closer attention to it.

Was there a reason you went with the phoenix over the radiums?

 

[BreadmanMike]

I actually went with Radiums on that tank and then switching to 400w 20k XM's. Both the Radium and the Phoenix bulbs looked washed out after a few months running on the HQI ballast. When I took that tank down and moved into my 180, I went with 400w Radiums on HQI's and have now switched to Gieseman 14.5k's on electronic ballasts lol. I've seen a lot of different lights the last 2 years.

When I got my 120(used) it came with a AB fixture with 150w HQI's. The guy had just bought the Phoenix bulbs in the fixture, so I left them in. I really like the way they look, they seem nicer then the 250w version.

 

[clown-x]

lol.. nice. Thanks again man for all of the info and help. I really appreciate it.

BTW, here is my old 72 bow tank running 14k 250w hamiltons: