12k sunburst

[R1]

It is time to replace my 250watt 10k mh. I am thinking about going to a 12k sunburst. I also have two 36" 50/50VHO's and two 36" Actinic "03" VHO's over a 70gal.

Have any of you had ever used the 12k Sunburst. If so what do you think.

My wife has an 18gal tall tank it now has two PC from AH supply on it. I don't like them at all. One of the bulbs have went out. I'm going to replace them with a 175watt mh. 12k ? what do you think.
thanks r1

[golfish]

I have one and don't like it. A little too blue and not much light

[Firefish]

I have 3 of them on my 155, I like them...I dont supplement them with any other light...

[Rin]

I have two on my 75 gal reef. Very white light. I suppliment them with 4 super actinic VHOs (for a total of 940 watts). I've seen stupendus bryopsis growth since I put them in. Unfortunately, it didn't really seem to do much for my corals.

I'm going to get the electronic ballasts retuned to take Iwasaki bulbs.

[Papa Doug]

Have a look at some pics on my page. I used a 400w 12 Sunburst. Like Mark said, they are a blue coloured bulb. It does look nice IMO, but no where enough for my corals either, even with lots of normal output supplemental lighting.

No comparison to the 65K Iwasaki.

[R1]

Thank for the info. Maybe I should use a 10k on both. I have seen the 10k 175 watt Corallife and it has a blue tent to it.
thanks again r1

[organicreefer]

i have a 400 watt sunburst on my tank and i like the way it looks (i like blue)but unfortunately its very dim.i started with a 5500k lamp(very bright)but it was ugly so after a couple months i bought the sunburst, now 2 months later im thinking iwasaki or 10k.im setting up a new tank that will have 2 175 watt halides on the ends and my 400 watt in the middle it will be supplemented by 4 4' actnic03vhos(icecap 660 110watt bulbs)do you guys think i could get away with the 5500k's?ive already got the 400 and im buying 175's pretty soon.55's are only like 50 (so i would only spend 100)bucks whereas changing to all iwasakis would cost like200 and 10ks would be like 250

[organicreefer]

well i just checked marine depot iwasaki doesnt have a 175wlamp .so im down to 10k ...a wopping 270 dollars or just buy 2 5500 ks for less than a hundred id hate to screw up again but do you guys think my actincs will make these lamps look ok?

[Ninong]

organicreefer ~

I may be lost here, but what are you comparing???

Are you comparing 175w 5500K MH lamps vs. 175w 10,000K MH lamps?

If you are, you may be interested in checking out Dr. Sanjay Joshi's most recent testing of the 175w Venture 5500K lamp vs. the 175w Ushio/BLV 10,000K lamp: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/...omparison.html

The total PPFD (PAR) of the 10,000K lamp was more than triple the total PPFD of the 5500K lamp on the exact same magnetic ballast. The 5500K measured 20.10 PPFD vs. 63.41 PPFD for the 10,000K. The Ushio/BLV 175w 10,000K lamps are available online for $79 or less at several places. In fact, one source even dropped the price to $65 over the Memorial Day weekend for three days.

Ninong

[organicreefer]

well i was actually comparing "looks "trying to save a few bucks the new tank will have 4 110 w vho actinics and was thinking i could get away with 55k lamps (since i already have a 400w 55k)but youre info as usual is way above par so im going to reconsider shsesh its a lot of money though

[R1]

Thanks for the info.

I ordered lights Sunday night from Championlighting. I decided to go with the 175watt 10k Blueline on the 18gal. On the 70gal I went with the 250watt 6500k Iwasaki and 4 four 36" 95watt actinic 03. Maybe my corals will be happy.

[R1]

I have all my lights working and I like them all. The 18gal tooks 100 times better. The 70gal looks alot better to. Both tanks look more natural. I knew the 18 would be a lot brighter. Man is it bright. I should have bought the MH the first time. I'm not to wild about PC. The color is not natural IMO. thanks for the help