PDA

View Full Version : 10K or 14K bulbs


FishinAround
10/02/2006, 01:40 PM
Need help deciding what is the best replacement bulb for a 120g reef tank. Right now it only has a few soft corrals (Mushrooms, Zoos, Polyps, Ricordea) and an BTA. I want to eventually get some LPS corals. It's a 120g and current light is 2x150 HQI MH and (2) 2x65 PC's for a total of 560 watts. The PC's have 50/50 (10K/actinic) and the MH's are currently 14K (these were the bulbs when purchased). The previous owner only had MH so I would assume that's why he went with the 14K bulbs. But since I have the PC's with the actinic complementing the MH's, should I go with 10K bulbs or stick with with the 14K? What will the appearance change be with 10K versus the current 14K? Thanks.

davocean
10/02/2006, 01:44 PM
The 14K are bluer.
I personally like 10K MH with the actinic PC combo.

sir_dudeguy
10/02/2006, 01:50 PM
I like having actinics too, because that gives you the option of having just actinics on by themselves. Where if you just get a 14-20k bulb...sure, you're getting all that same color, but you cant get just that by itself..

RudeBoy
10/02/2006, 01:52 PM
You can still run the actinics with with a 14k HQI bulb. I'm running 2x150w HQI Astrolux 14ks with a 2x32w kit for blues over a 65g. The 14k's start up very blue and change into a beautiful bright white. Either bulb, 10k or 14k, should be fine for what you're doing.

sir_dudeguy
10/02/2006, 02:06 PM
yes you can still have actinics w/the 14 and higher K bulbs, but it might be "too blue" for some peoples tast...i personally love the actinic look, but many people dont really care for it and think it should just be white (and some people who arent even in the hobby ask me why my light is so white lol..like they expect a yellow color that a normal house light puts out :) )

tkeracer619
10/02/2006, 02:14 PM
I have 10k reefluxes now and will be going to the 12k next round.