Metal Halide 250 watt
- Thread starter CoolWaters
- Start date
The kelvin rating is just the color rating and doesn't really matter all the much. 10k is more of a white some may be a little yellow. I have XM and they are nice and white. 14k should have a more blue to it so some people use these instead of having additional actinic supplementation. I use vho for my actincs.
i might get 14k
i remembered hearing about some guy that put 20k in this tanks and 2 weeks later all his coral died...
i also read this info char about the kelvin rating. it says that 20k can penetrate over 2 meters or something like that.
while a weaker kelvin lvl can only go so far.
14k is plenty for 20 inch right?
i love my 20k fluorescent but dont really know if that hurts my coral line...i know for sure the spiral bulbs do...
i remembered hearing about some guy that put 20k in this tanks and 2 weeks later all his coral died...
i also read this info char about the kelvin rating. it says that 20k can penetrate over 2 meters or something like that.
while a weaker kelvin lvl can only go so far.
14k is plenty for 20 inch right?
i love my 20k fluorescent but dont really know if that hurts my coral line...i know for sure the spiral bulbs do...
im pretty sure kelvin does matter. coral needs 10k-14k. plants need 5k-7k. it depends on the actual specie, but yea, i think kelvin does matter. 20k wouldn't be doing any help. i had a 14k PC over my planted freshie tank, and it turns out it was too intense and lots of my plants died. so i got a 6700k bulb and things started looking better. i'm not a pro on this, but i'm almost positive that that's right.
lol 14k over plants *crazysmil
well better then wat i did...23 watts (75 output) of spiral compact fluorescent 4 inches away from my coral line...they turned brown/yellow...
im still deciding between a 10k or a 14k (i dont know if i want go through the trouble installing actincs.) so i might go with 14k
well better then wat i did...23 watts (75 output) of spiral compact fluorescent 4 inches away from my coral line...they turned brown/yellow...
im still deciding between a 10k or a 14k (i dont know if i want go through the trouble installing actincs.) so i might go with 14k
I wouldn't buy anything except online.....I actually think the lfs' around here order from the same online supplier and then jack up the price and sell it in their stores.....I am not kidding most things here sell for 2x the amount it costs online.
Kelvin is the colour of the light not necessarily the intesity which is the ability of the light to penetrate water. These are not necessarily correlated....
Kelvin is the colour of the light not necessarily the intesity which is the ability of the light to penetrate water. These are not necessarily correlated....
10K is on the whiteish yellow side progressing to 14k which is whiter and finally the 20k which is blueish white.
a 250w metal halide light on a 46g would allow you to have most anything...as the 46 is a high profile tank....it depends on the depth more than anything as the intensity of the light must penetrate the water. With that light you should even be able to have a tridacna clam.....go for it. There is no point in getting a light then having to upgrade the light later on.
Remember though that halide bulbs are on the pricey side and need to be changed about once a year.....
a 250w metal halide light on a 46g would allow you to have most anything...as the 46 is a high profile tank....it depends on the depth more than anything as the intensity of the light must penetrate the water. With that light you should even be able to have a tridacna clam.....go for it. There is no point in getting a light then having to upgrade the light later on.
Remember though that halide bulbs are on the pricey side and need to be changed about once a year.....
The colour matters a bit. Lower K = more red/yellow, higher K = more blue. Higher K = theoretically better penetration in deep water, but in reality lower output because they use different, less effective metal halides to generate light. Lower K = more real light, but looks a bit yellow for some tastes.
Corals use light in the range from about 4K and up, plants round about 4K. So plant lights look more red as they don't need the blue. But corals don't need just blue, they need a full spectrum - that's the problem with 20K's - they look pretty as heck, but you can argue they aren't generating all the required spectrum, especially inthe low end, plus they are duller anyway, they jsut are.
The reason the corals browned out under the spiral bulb si that , no matter what watts per gallon, no intensity to generate par.
Theoretically the blue light penetrates better, but who has a 10 metre deep tank?
Corals use light in the range from about 4K and up, plants round about 4K. So plant lights look more red as they don't need the blue. But corals don't need just blue, they need a full spectrum - that's the problem with 20K's - they look pretty as heck, but you can argue they aren't generating all the required spectrum, especially inthe low end, plus they are duller anyway, they jsut are.
The reason the corals browned out under the spiral bulb si that , no matter what watts per gallon, no intensity to generate par.
Theoretically the blue light penetrates better, but who has a 10 metre deep tank?