light hight??

My policy is the closer to the water the better with the deciding factor being how often I feel like cleaning the saltwater splatter that accumulates on the bulbs over time. The closer they are to the water, the more light the aquarium gets, but the faster they get dirty. It depends alot on your setup too. If you have a lot of turbulence on the top you tend to kick up more spash and you have to clean your bulbs more often. At 8 inches mine stay clean.

Heat is another consideration. If you run a closed canopy and heat is of concern, you might want to put them higher to help with that.

I used to run two 175's about 3 inches off the water over a 55 gallon closed canopy. The bulbs needed to be cleaned frequently at that height because they tended to catch more splatter. A paper towel with a little vinegar works good for that. Heat was not an issue since I ran a small fan when the lights were on and the tank was in the cool basement.
 
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Thankyou, I'm really having trouble with the Hamilton 10k's, this is my 5th bulb in about 7 mo. so I'm switching to 14k to see if they last.
I had 175s without any problems though after the change to 250w the color and brightness isnt as good, maybe because they now sit higher?
the 175s sat closer like "4 above the waterline
what can I expect with the 14k's? I thought 10k grew corals better
thanks
 
Could be the ballast. Some lamps run better with certain ballast. You can get more PAR and different color depending on the lamp, ballast combination.

I used the 250w Hamilton 14ks with IceCap ballast on my 75. Liked the color. Blue but not too blue.

As for growth, yes it does play a part but it will affect the coloration of the coral more.
 
thanks, it is a Hamilton ballast new. they claim no problems have been seen yet with the 250w ballasts (china made?)
tried to explain lights try to fire but can't bulbs still might be good last lot of 3 one was bad, this lot 1 lights up another tries 3rd no fire, even switched em around before calling
anyone have any issues with Hamilton cann't find any threads on main page simmilar to this problem
 
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