Changing Kelvin rating om MH lights

[ninjamini]

The person I bought my 48" 150 WATT AQUALIGHT PRO had changed the MH bulbs from the original 10k bulbs to 20k. I was thinking of changing them back to the 10k to promote coral growth. Two questions:

1. Would I need to aclimate the tank to the new Kelvin rating?

2. Should I trust the person I bought the fixture from that he never used the bulbs and changed them right away?

Here is my light:

 

[Rogger Castells]

1 yes, 20k to 10k is a big change that will most likely affect some corals more than others, you may want to lower the photoperiod for a few days.

2 hard to answer, but I have the same light in my 40 gal and hate it the 10k coralife bulb that changed it almost rght away to a geissmann 20k, so I guess it is possible that he hated his enough to change them right away

 

[reefnetworth]

dont forget to wear gloves while touching MH bulbs. i went from 10K to 20K in one day. my corals nor myself liked it. i changed to 14K and were all happy now. also have 2X96w 03 actinic, and 2X96w 7100K. good luck and happy reefin',

John. :smokin:

 

[ninjamini]

Your all right. It was because he said it was far too white. He liked the blue look of the 20ks. But now that I have a few sps I thought I should move to the 10k. Mabey I should not.

 

[chrisaggie]

I use 10Ks and love em.

 

[racermike27]

I switched my 14K's for 10K's with T5 actinics and I love them. My corals haven't shown any ill signs yet.

10K's w/ actinics is the absolute best in my opinion.

-Mike-

 

[Ludwigia73]

I had xm 10000k's, and liked the growth, didn't like the color of the light or the corals. I changed to 20000k xms, and now the corals are really brightening up! It's not as blue/purple as some of the other 20000k's out there, it looks more like 14000k to me. But I'm really happy with the xm 20000k's.

 

[jessp]

if you use the 10000k's w/ true actinic pc's won't you get the glow from the pc's and good growth from the 10k?

 

[chrisaggie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8679566#post8679566 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jessp
if you use the 10000k's w/ true actinic pc's won't you get the glow from the pc's and good growth from the 10k?

That's kind of what I do. I run the XM 10k bulbs because I am not willing to sacrifice the growth of my corals, but I run vho actinic so the coral color up a little more and I can see the "cool" colors with the actinics only. I think a 20k bulbs would get better color in general though over 10k + actinic.

 

[Ludwigia73]

P.S. My corals ARE growing... maybe not quite as quick as before, but they're growing, and more importantly to me right now, better coloration.
My green slimer is greener than any coral I've ever seen! My green cap is really green as well.

 

[Rogger Castells]

I have seen Ludwigia's Green slimer and it is one of the nicest looking ones I have seen, incidentally, I will like to get a frag of your green slimer, let me know when you are ready to frag