mh's as atinics

[chad508]

i am currently using 3 250 watt mh's on my 180. they are all 10k xm bulbs. i was going to add 2 6ft vho atinics to help color up the tank and corals. would i be just as successful if i use 2 175 watt mh's with 20k xm bulbs? i know they may not be as blue as atinics but they should be close enough. and the power usage of the mh's and vho's should be about the same. if anyone has any thoughts, input are experiance with this set up please chime in. pics would also be great

 

[REEFKEEPA]

I am going to guess that you have a chiller on your system.
Are you just changing the lamps or are you adding fixtures?

 

[xtrstangx]

The 175w 20K XM aren't that blue. They remind me more of a 15K than a 20K.

I think you'd be better off with an actinic bulb (VHO or T5). They make your colors pop because of the light in the wavelength of 420 and 460 nm... which most MH bulbs don't have.

JMO.

 

[wetWolger]

why not just change out all the bulbs to 14k's?

 

[chad508]

i just got rid of my 14k's for the 10k xm's. i was tired of not getting the growth i felt the tank should have. i have no problem with the 10k's. the color is fine with me, i just want to get a little more color in my corals. i may just opt for vho's after all.

 

[chad508]

forgot to add that i have no problems with temp. in the dead of summer with all lights on my heater still comes on to keep the tank at 80*.