175 watt metal halides

[Chris Lakies]

I'm wondering about what type of light to use on my 55 gallon reef. I currently use 2 175 watt 6500k Coralife MH on electronic Blueline ballests, 3 110 watt Super Actinic VHO's from URI on electronic Icecap. I would like to use 10,000k Ushio bulbs in place of the 6500k. I know however if I do this the PAR will be cut down. Any input would be appreciated. Has there been tests on the 6500k Coralife's or 10,000k Ushio's.

[Reefland]

In my opinion, when your going with 175w, the 10k Ushio's are your best bet, however I do not know how they'll do on the Blueline ballast. It seems the links I have are to 250w or 400w studies so my reply is based on experience, no data. The Ushio's seemed to have an excellent color and my corals seemed to fair well better once I used them. I also used the Coralife 10k before the Ushio.

Just my opinion,
Scott Z.

[ASH]

From IceCap:
Here's a review on PAR output on AB 10K 175-watt bulb with three options in ballasts that may help make up for the otherwise loss of PAR in going to a higher Kelvin.
http://www.icecapinc.com/article2000.htm
Andy

[Reefland]

Thanks for the article Andy! I ran my 175 Ushio on a TAR ballast and liked it but I guess I should have been using Icecap all along. ;)

Scott Z.