Need Help W/ Lighting

[sabien]

I need to replace all the bulbs on my tank. I have 3 250W mh's and 4 96W Sunpaq's.

I am undecided on which route I want to go. My first thought is getting 3 XM 10k's for the MH's and 4 dual actinic Sunpaqs. I was thinking the 10k's will provide maximum growth while the actinics will counterbalance the yellow and bring out the color. I don't have much experience here so perhaps some of you know if this would work.

My other option was to go 1 XM 10k in the middle and 2 HM 14k's on the side and still getting the 4 sunpaq dual actinics. My thought here was that if the mh's were too overbearing for the sunpaqs I could soften them a little by adding the 14k's.

I have gone to http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm and checked out the PAR's. I've been impressed with the XM 10k rating. Another site I checked out is http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm It's interesting how one site rates HM's 14k PAR at 352 and the other at 218. Not really sure what to believe. I appreciate any feedback you may have.

 

[sabien]

Anyone?

 

[pvtschultz]

There is also a sticky in the lights and eqpt forum that has a lot of different light setups on the same tank so you can compare the color of the various lamps. I too was in the same boat as you because I wanted the perfect color the first time due to the cost of the lamps. I ended up with XM 15K lamps before all the PAR data came out. I assumed and I was wrong but do enjoy the color of them, just not the PAR levels. Post picks when you decide.

Just use the color comparison at http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm to base your decision. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some like a real blue color, some like the white color, while others like it somewhere in between. The XM 10K lamp is one of the best growing lamps out there especially on MAGNETIC ballasts. They don't perform well on e-ballasts.