Good growth halide bulb?

[CheckitOut]

I have 2 250w ballast and a 175w ballast right now. I'm running 2 10k xm bulbs on the 250s and I'm looking for a 175w bulb that will add some actinic look to the tank but not be goofy looking because of the white being put out by the 250s. Any suggestions. I was thinking of addind a hamilton 14k.

[kdblove_99]

i would look into the Iwasaki 15k Its a Par monster

[BangkokMatt]

kdblove - The Iwasaki is a yellow(ish) bulb.
However, you are not going to get a great deal of growth with any bulb which is considered blue/purple. I would look into hamilton 14k, radium (not sure if they do a 175w), xm 20k or reeflux 12k

[kdblove_99]

Radium is only 250 and 400 for SE

[eddnyster]

Totally agree with MATT,
Ushio tend to be more on the blue side...even on the lower K ratings and give you pretty good growth.

[Todd March]

XM 20K, Reeflux 12K, AB 20K, AC 14K--all for the actinic effect... I am NO fan of the Hammy 14K, yucchh....

However any of these is going to look goofy in the middle of two 10K's. I never cared for trying to combine metal halides on different parts of the tank--I agree, it just looks goofy...

To minumalize the "goof", you might try the new Ushio 14K's, or the Geisemann 14.5K (same bulb as the Ushio, but more expensive). They appear bright white, with true natural colors, and with a hint of blue (I love the color), and not nearly as yellow as 10K's. They have excellent PAR, and would look much less goofy with say a Reeflux 12K in the middle...!

[Noobie99]

I'd go with the Hammy's. I've been using them for a little over a year now and my corals are very happy campers as am I because I love the color of my tank!