New Bulbs are not bright!

[swimmer]

Hi All

I just replace my two old 150w 10K Coralife HQI Double Ended Metal Halide Bulbs with 150w 15K XM HQI Double Ended Metal Halide Bulbs and they are not even half as bright! :rolleyes:

I read online that I need about 100 hours for it to get to its true color. Does this include the brightest as well? Or is it because they are 15k as opposed to the old 10k. I knew I was going to lose some brightest but heck my 65w PCs in my sump look brighter! :mad:

If so, I'm going to get the 150w 10K Ushio HQI AQ Double Ended Metal Halide Bulbs instead.

Any info will greatly be appreciated!!!!!!! :D

Sean

[GSMguy]

No the xm 15 k is very dim, while the coralife 10k is bright yellow.


The ushio 14k is very bright mostly white, very good PAR, the 20k is dimmer but has amazing color.

[reefnetworth]

the higher the (K) kelvin rating, the more blue/purple the color will be.
for instance, 6500K is considered true sunlight at ocean surface, 10K represents the color in ocean water depth of appx. 5-10 feet.
15K = 10-15', 20K = 15-25/30'...

FWIW, Ushio is the only brand of bulbs i buy. :thumbsup:

[swimmer]

thanks for the input!! :D

I will be getting the ushios!!:p

[trwells]

I have only had XM bulbs once. They were the 10k. The bulbs were very very dim and Green in color when I first put them in. It took about a week before they produced a nice bright yellowish-white color. I'm not saying this is the case, but from my limited experience the XM bulbs I had showed a much bigger difference before and after the burn in than other bulbs.

In the end, the Bulbs were too yellow for my taste. But, I will say I have been unable to reproduce the I had with other bulbs.

-Travis

[grigsy]

I would also recommend the Ushio 150 watt 10K bulb. It is a nice white color and a stable spectrum.

[just dave]

I would also look at Aquamaxx 14K bulbs. They are pretty impressive ,especially for the price.