Need your visual experiences...

[dreaminmel]

I am hoping that with all of the reefers we have here that some people can point me in the right direction...?

I run two 400w M59 magnetic ballasts over my 125g (tall version) tank. I also run two 60" VHOs for supplementation.

Below are the best performers for my ballasts per Sanjay's site:

BULB / PPFD (all info in thread refers to SE bulbs)

EVC 10k / 204
Hamilton 10k / 184
XM 10k / 172 ****I do not like the yellow tint to this bulb at all
Krystal Star 11k / 172
Giesmann Marine / 153
Sylvania Aqua Arc 10k / 146
BLV Nepturion 14k / 142
Giesmann Coral / 133
XM 20k / 128 ****I love the color of this with white & actinic VHOs
Ushio 10k / 123

(I have also tried the XM 15k / 104 which was WAY to dim for my liking.)

There were other results but I do not want to drop below a 120ppfd rating...

Thoughts on what of the above options I may like based on my love of the XM 20k? I would love to find the "perfect" bulb that would give me the XM 10k growth without the yellow...

 

[dreaminmel]

After some searching to see what bulbs are even accessible I have narrowed down my interest to the following three options:

Hamilton 10k
Giesemann (Megachrome) Marine
Giesemann (Megachrome) Coral

One of the sites suggested a M135 ballast with the Megachrome bulbs... as Sanjay's tests didn't specify anything other than a 400w magnetic ballast would my M59s still be ok for these?

 

[Nanook]

[moved]

 

[dreaminmel]

Since this was moved here from the SPS forum I would like to note for any reading this that my main concern is for my sps to thrive. I would like to retain great growth with less yellow coloring from the lighting...

 

[dreaminmel]

Some peeps in my local forum have given me some feedback so I figured I'd bump this up to see if any of you feel like chiming in as well.