250w mh bulbs??

[snakeman2198]

First I want to thank you for your time to give me your honest opinions. Thank you.
I was wondering which 250W MH bulb to go with. I am talking about a dual 250W mogul base fixture w/2 VHO (T-12?) 96W actinics. I prefer the "blue" look, so I was thinking a 20K. Is there much difference than a 14K? I also am not sure which brand.
I saw Ushio and Radium both in the $90 range then there were Coralife, Reeflux and Hamilton in the middle, between $60 - $70 and then CoralVue at $53.
What are your opinions and experiences on these bulbs?

Cheers!:beer:

[James77]

What ballast are you going to be running them on?

[snakeman2198]

I'm not sure, I am getting the fixture from a friend. I will find out tomorrow.
Thanks

[klesher]

Phoenix 14k are in my opinion the best for my taste. I too prefer the blue.

[ibnozn]

There can be huge differences in bulb output depending on the ballast your running them on.
Find out the ballast 1st, then choose a bulb accordingly.

[rsaha]

I just switched to Reeflux 12K 250 SE with Geisseman T5 actinic and I am very happy with the look. White/blue colour - not crazy blue but definitely not yellow either. I am running a M138 ballast for the MH. I have an M80 ballast kicking around so I will probably try Radium next.

[redfishsc]

Totally agreed with the ballast issue.

Get the ballast info first, and go from there.

[James77]

Phoenix 14k are in my opinion the best for my taste. I too prefer the blue.


But they will be pretty white when run on their correct HQI ballast.

[mrbigshot]

http://www.hamiltontechnology.com/category/Specials-7/rec/0

250w radiums for $62, best price i have ever found for them. they also got some $32 10k bulbs on clearence. tempting.

[ZurichOne95]

Im running a ReefOPtix 20K. WAY better than an other ive seen, and its 42 shipped.

[grigsy]

+1 Depends on the ballast you have.

I you really like the blue look, then go with a 20K. I like XM 20K and Radium 20K (especially Radium when you use an M80 HQI ballast)

Hamilton makes a great 14K - a good mix of blue/white color, not too blue, not too white.

Ushio makes a decent 14K also.

I dont like the inconsistent colors from the Reeflux bulbs. Sometimes pink, sometimes white, sometimes yellow.

If you do like a very blue look though, you may want to go with a 20K. That will be very blue especially if you are using additional actinics.

[Aynesa]

+1 on ballast. Makes a huge difference. It's also an issue of taste. What I like, you may hate. That said, I too prefer the blue. I used to go with 14k phoenix, but lately I've tried Aquamaxx 14ks. Marine Depot had them on sale and I figured "why not"? Colorwise they seem about on par with what the Phoenix put out. I tried 20ks, and seriously could not see much of my tank. They were blue, but WAY too dark blue. Similarly I've tried 10k, and couldn't stand it because it was way too white. I find a good balance is to have nice, deep 14ks, with 10k T5s to back it up and let you see your stuff a bit better, but I like it BRIGHT.

I have an Outer Orbit Pro fixture with 2x 250 halides and 4 54w T5s

[DeepSeaHunter]

I use 2x 250w 20k radium bulbs on my tank. they are not too blue to me like other bulbs i have used. i really like the brightness of them. they bring out the colors in everything that's inside my tank.

[colotl]

Im useing pheonix 14K and they seem to give me the right combination. Nice crisp White with a small hint of blue to make my corals pop.
I just recently added 2 ATI Blue Plus T5HO and that helped bring in a little more blue. Just right for my taste.