Sanjay overburn

[nyvp]

I posted this in the SPS forum as well , but figure some of you dont go there. After way to many hrs on sanjays site I think i have come close to deciding on my new bulb upgrade. my tank is a 120x36x30 with Lum III's. I had 250 14k Hamilton w/icecaps e ballast in them and decided to upgrade to 400w. The ballast I'm going to use prob is the new sunlight supply Galaxy e ballast cheapest place I found it by 25%
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/galaxy-400w-120v240v-electronic-ballast-p-1985.html
( BTW if anyone know what wattage usage they are at please tell me)
now the big one is I love the tank color of my Hamiltons but as we know they are very low par. I came down to:
Ushio 14k great par but its really closer to a 10k and needs actinics
Aquaconnect 14k great bulb/color but they cost to much for each
so unless someone has something closer to the white/blue of the hamiltons I think I'm going to go with the Helios 20k. Are they really that blue? From what Ive heard they are great bulbs but kind of dark compared to the 14k's. So if anyone has had or seen a hamilton 14k and the helio 20ks please chime in on your views if this is going to be the winner for me.

 

[gabe3d]

I ran 250 SE 14k Hamilton with icecap in L3s on my tank (72x24x30) and they were my bulbs of choice because of color for a few years and testing a few bulbs. I pondered the thought of upgrading to 400 watts last month as well but decided to keep my 250 and added some T5 supplements and change out the 14ks. I ended up with ATI Blue Plus T5s and Reeflux 10k, i like the colors a lot better than the Hamilton 14ks. I'm sure the intensity is not nearly as high as 400s but alot brighter than the 14ks and a lot less energy than 3 x 400s. To me the Hamiltons gives a nice blue ambiance but the new combo I am using gives a lot more contrast and color. I have some pics comparing the combos if you are interested.

 

[nyvp]

The problem is my tank is 10ft long, 3ft wide and a 3 side peninsula tank. I figure I would need 4 - 48" vho's on the outside and 4- 24" vho's between my Lum III's or else I would see light steaks from the long view panel. That was the whole reason not go with a single white blue bulb or else I would just overdrive a 250w xm10k for 185 par instead of 120-140's par for the 400w 14k-20k . The differnce is 2100w for the 250w with vho's to 1800 for the 400w .