MH Intensity ?

[NewSchool04]

I have a Oceanic 30 cube plumbed into my 75 gallon. The cube is SPS dominant and I have a 150W pendant with a 14K Phoenix bulb over. 10 hour light period.
I'm noticing that I'm not getting very good coloration to my SPS. Everything is healthy, growing well but just dull colors. My blue tort and blue encrusting montipora are dull, A. cerealis dull and dark, etc. The SPS in my 75 is doing great and very bright running on a 6 bulb Tek light. I'm thinking the 150W just isn't powerful enough.
Would a 250W pendant be too much and how much more heat could I expect by switching from 150W to 250W?

Thanks!

 

[Ti]

How far from the light are they?

 

[NewSchool04]

light is 6" above the water and all acros are about 6" below the water line. Up high in the rocks.

 

[jjjimmy]

How old is the phoenix bulb? IMO they are really only good for up to 6 months.

 

[NewSchool04]

one month old, I got it at this years IMAC.

 

[verde_ad]

I had a 250 over my 30 cube and loved it. It defenetly wasn't too much light. I was running a 20k bulb though. I did run a fan over the top of the tank and had to cut my photoperioid during the summer. I had VHO's as well over the tank, so I just used those most of the day during the summer. I also don't have air conditioning in my house.

 

[NewSchool04]

how much did you cut your photo period verde?
Does a 14K bulb get hotter than a 20K bulb? I would think the same heat, just different color.
Is there much difference between the heat from a 150W to a 250W bulb? That I guess is my main question.

 

[verde_ad]

I think I cut it from 8 hours to 4 hours. I also moved my photoperiod to later at night. If I remember right I had it come on at 8pm and stay on until midnight.

I don't know about the heat difference. I was just meaning more for the corals. It wasn't too much light for that size tank. I am sure someone on here can tell you how much heat difference there is. I think there is an exact number per watt of energy, but I don't know what it is.

 

[marine_freak]

Nutrient levels.... too low or high can cause fading of the corals or brown out.....

 

[ScotchMaster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7422205#post7422205 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjjimmy
How old is the phoenix bulb? IMO they are really only good for up to 6 months.

going to have to disagree with you on this one....Ive had my phoenix 14k longer than 6 months and it is still burning strong

 

[NewSchool04]

Both of my tanks are plumbed together? Wouldn't low/high nutrients affect both tanks.

 

[marine_freak]

Yes you are right it would effect both coral environments, it would help if I read the whole thread..... but the more I read I tend to think it may be a lighting issue also..... I would not expect to see much of a difference in heat if you are considering DE bulbs from 150 to 250... if you switched from 150 de to 250 se you may notice a significant heat increase. By the way how much water volume are we talking here??? Looks maybe 135 gallons max minus about 10-15 gallons. I have 2 400 watters over my 75 gallon with 2 4ft 110 watt actinics... I only see 1-1.5 degree swing with a small fan over my sump.

 

[NewSchool04]

I do it all the time marine_freak! Probably 100 - 110 gallons taking out rock, sand, etc. 75 and 30 cube and 30 gallon sump
Do SE bulbs run hotter than DE?

 

[marine_freak]

Yes they do..... I run se bulbs and they are hotttt!!!!! I have owned double ended bulbs 250's and they did not put out 1/2 the heat.....But I wanted more par and power and I really do not care about my electric bill so I went with 400's and at the time they only had se 400's so that is what I have. If you are concerned about heat go with 250 de setups.

 

[NewSchool04]

The light from the Phoenix bulb is very nice, a very nice blue/white mix. But doesn't seem that bright. I'm wondering if this is the problem. Has anyone else noticed this?

I'm terrible with this camera but just took some shots of both tanks together and seperate. The colors are pretty close to what I'm seeing. The T5's are much brighter.

 

[NewSchool04]

Wow, thats really not what I was looking to hear. I was looking forward to trying the SE bulbs just for the halibut.

 

[marine_freak]

You know if you add a fan to your sump you may get away with se bulbs... also your lighting on your tanks... 75 gallon looks more white closer to 10k.... this part of the spectrum is much easier to see by the naked eye... as you go more towards the blue and violet spectrum the human eye does see as much of the spectrum so in one sense it will appear "dimmer".... but on the other hand, most 10k bulbs have a higher par than 20k bulbs which means they do have more kick...... The combination of these two reasons is giving you the appearance one is brighter than the other. I was looking at your pics, what type of sps are you keeping in the 75 versus the 30 gallon???

 

[NewSchool04]

I'm keeping the same, thats why I'm noticing the difference. I lost my tank (75 gallon) in Jan. because of a power outage and was lucky enought to have frags of most of my SPS. I've been growing them out and then added the 30 cube a little over a month ago.

I added a 6500K bulb to the T5's about a month ago just messing around. Before the light I was seeing was much bluer, now more towards white.