LPS Bulb Recommendation

[Willow69]

i currently have an 90 gallon LPS only system. it mostly consists of different varieties of chalice, acans, favia, hammer, blatsos and zoos... i have been using XM 10k 175's, while the color is nice and crisp it appears to be a bit to much light intensity for some of the coral. i would like to try something around 14k but am drawing a blank on some choices. some of the bulbs i have looked at are the XM 15k (almost to much blue), hamilton 14k (nice blue but crappy par), iwasaki 14k (was told super bright and not very blue).

i would like to hear what some other hardcore LPS growers are using for their bulbs or what some ideal choices might be. im pretty much wide open on where to go.

thanks

 

[jjmcat]

I use a 5500k plus hallide on my tank and the corals love it.They are between the middle and the bottom of my 58 gallon.Im also running 4 vhos as well.

 

[Willow69]

im looking at bulbs above the 10k color spectrum. but thanks

 

[aural]

i just got the 15K XM and i definitely dont think its too much blue. i think that it is a great bulb. I have 10K on my 75 and 20K on my 20L - so this one is kind of the best of both worlds

 

[jjmcat]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6858839#post6858839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Willow69
im looking at bulbs above the 10k color spectrum. but thanks

Thats cool.What are you looking for as far as color.

 

[lvreefer]

If you are looking for a good SE 14K bulb at 175w you won't find one. You either need to upgrade your mh ballast or add some actinic lighting. However you should be fine with what you have. What is the distance from your bulb to the substrate? Are you acclimating your corals to the light? What is your lighting schedule? Are you running and other lighting on the tank?

BTW: This is in no way a knock against aural or XM but they should have never put that 15k on the market. It LOOKS GREAT but has very low PAR and at 175w it is probably worst. I fell into the trap of buying a DE 250w 15k and while it looked awesome the corals over time started to loose color and growth was noticably slower. I replaced it with a 14k Pheonix and I've never looked back.