Need to order bulb have possibly stupid questions

[Lasthousewife]

Hello, I am sort of new at this reef business. I have two nanos, one a thirty gallon and the other a ten gallon. Ten gallon up for three years, thirty gallon a year March 19th. Lighting for the thirty consists of one pendant metal halide, it is the aquamedic ocean light, HQI double ended 150 watt. This fixture came with the aqualine 10,000 k but I want to try the ushio 10,000 k or maybe the phoenix 14,000 k. Will these bulbs work in my fixture? How blue is the 14,000? I am not a fan of the really blue 20,000 ks but I like the look of 50/50 PC's that are sort of purple looking. (This is just a matter of taste, not to offend those who do like the 20ks) I also heard somewhere that coral growth is better under 10,000 k. Is that just hearsay? Thanks, in advance for any advice. Teresa

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi Teresa,

First of all, you are not a newbie. Knowing what you can do with your livestock, I think you are pretty good at the reef business.

I switched my 20K XM bulbs to Phoenix 14K bulbs and I like it a lot. It's not as blue as 20K XM, but it brings out the yellow and green fluorescence better than 20K. It is a lot brighter than 20K XM bulb. Phoenix DE bulbs come in 150W and 250W and they are very reasonably priced, too, as compared to other bulbs. I highly recommend it!

Tomoko