PAR and growth question about XM 15K bulb

[Saldarya]

Hey all, here is the scenario:

I woke up this morning to find out that the ballast on my tank has gone out. That being said, I had an exta 250W ballast sitting around. THis was an obvious choice time to make the switch. Tank is a Oceanic 30G cube, plenty o' SPS at all levels. Here is my question:

Previous was a 175w Hamilton 10K bulb. Nice over all, had some actinic supplementaion, so color was nice and there has been some nice growth on the SPS.

Now,

The LFS only had 15K bulbs in stock on a Sun..........so,

I now have a 250W 15K XM builb. I really do like the color, but I understand that the Par is low. My question is it low enough to affect growth, or will the fact that I went from 175w>250W help compensate this.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Bobby

[Saldarya]

bump

would love some feedback

[Gundo5000]

I run 2 250's XM15K. IME they seem to be pretty weak on sps growth. My sps do grow but at a slow rate. However, I love the color of the water as well as the way the corals color up. I think going from 175 to 250 will help out a little for growth, but I dont think they will grow as fast as they were. They should show more coloration which may allow you not to focus so much on growth.You can always just try them for a month or so and see what you think. Hope this helps, I'm also curious to see what others experiences have been with XM15k's

[easye123]

sorry to change the subject........... but how did ur MH 250 blow out...? what kind was it