Bulb Color Troubles

[mdog3000]

Im having trouble with getting my tank to look blue/white. It currently looks yellow/white. My lights consists of 3X 250watt Metal Halides, 2X 140watt Super Actinic VHO's, and 1X 140 watt White VHO. My tank is a 125. Originally For the Halides I had 10,000k XM bulbs. These are really yellow. I then ordered a single 15,000k XM bulb to see what that looked like. When they are both put together with my VHO's you can't really tell the difference from before. There is a little color difference but not what I was hoping for. What bulbs do you guys with really white, clear tanks use in your metal halides? Thanks

[TwistedTiger]

For SE reeflux 12k for DE phoenix 14k.

[mdog3000]

What does SE and DE stand for?? Sorry.

[theatrus]

SE = single ended, the screw in mogul bulbs.
DE = The smaller double ended bulbs.

[DarG]

SE is the screw in lamps ... single ended.
DE is the double ended contacts, one at each end.

I wouldnt expect much of a difference with just adding one 15K XM along with the two 10K's. You could try 3 reeflux 10000K's and either 2 VHO actinic and 1 VHO White or 3 VHO super actnics.
The 250 watt Reeflux is white with a hint of blue. Not a yellow bulb. 2 or 3 VHO actinics should blue it up nicely. If you want a bluer color, you could go with the 12000K reeflux and then combinations or VHO actinics and whites to get the color you like.
The 12000K doesnt have the Par of the 10000K, so that could be an issue.


As Hahnmeister has mentioned, pure Actinics arent nearly as effective as Blue flourescents at bluing up halide bulbs. But to go with a blue flourescent you would need to go to T5.
But the VHO super actinics should still have an impact in coloring up halides. You just need to pick the halide a little more carefully.
I still have some VHO lamps and have been toying with the idea myself of going with larger halide reflectors in combination with the VHO Super actinic instead of the T5 I am using now.

Here is a link with some pictures of different halides with and without supplemental VHO actinic lighting. It should help.

http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm

[mdog3000]

Thanks for the link DarG