Opinion on MH lighting

[jedi31]

Right now I am running 175 w 14k hamiltons over a 90 gallon tank. LPS mid to bottom and sps on top with some clams on top and low light clams on bottom. I want to upgrade to 250w. I have a E-ballast with a SE setup. I like the blue color so I was thinking about going with either the XM 20k, XM15k or the hamiltons again. Will I get more par from either the XM 20 k and the 15k XM to what I have now? I care more about color than growth. What is the par for the the 175 w hamiltons on a E Ballast. I saw that XM 20k has 270 par. Thanks for your help

Mike

[rockindacheeks]

according to sanjays site 175w hammy has a ppfd of 48 and a 250 XM 20k has a ppfd of 53 and the 250 hammy has a ppfd of 69.

[jedi31]

Does ppfd stand for par? Looks like the 15XM has really low par. So it's down to xm 20k or hammy 14k. Who has used both of these bulbs? Let me know.

Thanks

[Gooli]

from whay i understand from bulb comparison threads and sanjay's page, the Hamilton 14k has greater PAR than both the XM 20K or 15K.

[Ti]

Get the hammy if u want par

[jedi31]

Thanks for the response Ti, did you run both bulbs? Par is important but the color of the coral is what I'm looking for. Right now I have 14k 175 Hammy's and the color is okay but the corals don't glow as much as I like. Maybe the 250w will. This is why I'm interested in the 20K. Who runs these lights?

[jimsta]

if you upgrade to 250 then the XM 20k has the highest par of all three IF..IF...IF you use a magnetic ballast. On a magnetic it is 73 ppfd. i think both the hamilton and the XM 15k are both lower than that on a magnetic.

If you go with an electronic ballast then i am not sure which is better.