MH bulb opinions/experiences/preferences?

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Currently I am running a 48" Coralife Aqualight Pro w/2-150MH over a 75g "garden" tank. The primary inhabitants are a Clam, Anenome, and a gaining collection of SPS. Because I have supplemental Actinics,(2-96W PC). I do not see a need to go up in Kelvin because from my research 10K seem to have the best result. However I would be open to another Kelvin rating if one can suggest, to up the blue and get rid of some of the yellow currently.

Since this will be my first bulb replacement, should I stick with the stock bulb 10k, (Coralife, which have heard is a good all around bulb), or has anyone had better results with any of the others listed here taken from the Marine Depot offerings for example?

Please note, I am gaining more intrest in SPS and plan on focusing on them more. So I would like that to be the major consideration.


Marine Depot listings:

10,000K Ushio HQI
Double-Ended Metal Halide Bulb

10,000K Aqualine HQI
Double-Ended Metal Halide Bulb

10,000K IceCap HQI
Double-Ended Metal Halide Bulb

10,000K XM HQI
Double-Ended Metal Halide Bulb

Not hung up on Marine Depot and would like to get them local, but these seem to be the most common brands/types I have heard of.
Recent pics for reference:

Thanks, Doug

 

[thereefgeek]

I get most stuff from MD just because it's on my porch within 2 days (So. Cal.).

I've been running Ushio 10K 250 & 175watt for years and prefer the color rendering and results I get from them. I really like Tim's (tfp) bulbs and they're 20K but I'm not sure of the brand. They're not as blue as other 20K's I've seen, but I'd be willing to try them at my next bulb change.

 

[Justin74]

And remember also SE and DE have different color renderings even w/ same wattage. DE is still fairly a new crowd with not as many users and as big of a voice in opinions like SE users which are in the many. At least from what Ive seen from alot of threads trying to gain opinions of such things..Just an observation

-Justin

 

[dots]

Will 20k's be overkill with the PC's I have already? I would like to go to a more "white" light. Since most havn't used the DE's, in SE's which brand do you guys find to prefer? I have heard the Ushios quite a bit. Thoughts? I think the bulbs on the MH's make or break your enviroment. Its kinda like throwing Diesel in you car instead of premium if you get the wrong ones, so I want to do my homework.

I have seen a lot of bulb tests and reports with ballasts and what not, but they never seem to have clear cut results based on a baseline, and use that throughout the entire test. They seem to always throw different variables into the mix to through things off.

 

[Justin74]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7035360#post7035360 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sacramentodots
I have seen a lot of bulb tests and reports with ballasts and what not, but they never seem to have clear cut results based on a baseline, and use that throughout the entire test. They seem to always throw different variables into the mix to through things off.

Not to mention one of the major test that most of us have all read is old and outdated,quite a few updates on hardware since then to further add variables

-Justin