metal halide bulb choices

[kentrob11]

I'm also running Reeflux 12K and love them. I started with the 10K but they had a pink hue to them that I just couldn't get used to. One thing to consider is that water quality can make a difference in the appearance of the light. Running Ozone or a decent amount of carbon will clear the water column and give you a true rendition on the bulbs actual appearance. I've seen regular 10K bulbs actually look whiter after running a bunch of carbon for a week!

 

[DrBDC]

10,000K "shouldn't" have ANY yellow look unless they are in a bad bulb/ballast relationship or the water is yellowed and what kentrob said will correct the later. 5500 give or take a little is what you see outside (IIRC it's 5200K). If you are on a magnetic ballast it will drive the bulbs at a higher wattage than the rated and it could shift the spectrum but that would be dependant upon which bulb it was and how it reacts to being overdriven I guess but with electronic you should get the rated color output. Some bulbs are just plain mislabeled too.

 

[Mrs. Slide_Ice]

Thanks for the website links, I checked them out and I like the CV 10K's the best but they don't have quite the par level as the Sun10K's, so I'm not sure what I'll do. I like how the blue and pink in the corals really pop with the CV 10Ks.

Does anybody know what kind of ballast is in the Hamilton setup? (without me having Todd take the whole thing apart) I do know we have the electronic ballast from Hamilton and not the magnetic, but we don't know anything beyond that.

We run carbon 24/7 and UV 24/7 and when we get a controller some day we'll hook up the ozone. I think our water clarity is pretty good We hold a white piece of paper up at one end and look through the other end, 5 ft down, and the paper looks very white. I think I'm just really picky about not having any yellow undertones.

Thanks
Jenny

 

[Shooter7]

Definitely no yellow with the 12k's.

 

[Letmegrow]

I think it's a M80's.

 

[DrBDC]

The coralview 12,000K bulbs were tested on that second link:

http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm

Funny thing is they did the worst on thier own ballast!

 

[DrBDC]

Never mind, when you click on the bulb it shows a graph and it dropped way down with the coralview ballast, but after looking again they didn't test it on that ballast so the graph drops to 0.

 

[Shooter7]

Well....they're obviously not the best, not horrible either. The color is perfect for me, not sure how I'd achieve it using any other kinds of light.

 

[Lost His Marbles Name]

Well if you put the right bulb with a not so good ballast you get poopy light. If you put a bad bulb with good ballast you might get poopy light. If you put good bulb and good ballast you get good light. There are pulse start, probe start. HQI, and electronic ballast on the market. Choose wisely my young grasshopper.