To all you 250 MH users

[Blugobi]

Just looking to get some opinons on what is the best 250 watt MH SE for my system.

120 gallon with full canopy, 440 Watt VHO (3 Actinic/1 Daylight)
Sps dominated

I was thinking either the XM 15K or Iwasaki 14K (I think this is a new bulb for them)I need two bulbs

Geo

 

[BSamuelson]

This is interesting timing. I just ordered my tank and was trying to decide was to light it with.

The one comment I have read is if you use different ballast with the same bulb you can get quite different color.

I think I settled on the CoralVue 250w dual electronic ballast and 12k Reeflux bulbs. It is used in the TOM and I like the look, plus I may get away with-out VHO.

 

[drbronx]

The Reeflux 12k is definitely a nice bulb. It is fairly blue, in fact I ran one side by side with a radium 20 k and it was difficult to tell the difference. I ran them without actinic supplementation. Greens and purples and to a lesser extent blues absolutely pop but the pinks and reds tend to appear abit washes out. My main complaint that there was an observeable spectral shift within 6 months time. same thing with hamilton 14k's. I am presently running Reeflux 10k's and couldn't be happier. Ice white with a hint of blue and pink. You get a brighter and more natural look with truer color renditions in the corals. I still have no actinic supplementation but still haven;t lost fkourescence or bright greens etc. There is no such thing as a perfect bulb. there are always trade offs. Its a matter of personal taste and what your aiming to achieve. Personjally, I've enjoyed experimenting with all manner of halides and observe the various effects. If you want a bluer look, I think the radium 20k is the way to go. Also keep in mind, good reflectors are probably as important as the bulb!

 

[RyanM]

In 250w I have tried several and my favorite bulb bar non is the XM 250w 10k. I am running reeflux 10k's now and kinda sorry I didnt stick to my XM's I will go back to them on the next bulb change. The reeflux 10k is a bluer bulb but offers ALOT less par than the xm does. If there is such a thing as light with out color of any kind it would be the XM 10k. It isnt blue it isnt yellow. Just super BRITE.