Hi All, I've noticed MH bulbs come with various K ratings. I realize the K rating (Kelvin) specifies temperature but what exactly is the effect?
MH Numbers
- Thread starter m007
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the color. the >10000K is yellow, 10000K is white, <10000K is blue
however, the numbers and colors above do have a few different factors such as your ballast/bulb combo as well as how old the buld is
and also, the lower the K, the higher the PAR (assuming, of course, that they are the same brand bulb, same age, and on the same ballast and reflector)
but the more blue it is, the more color you will have
however, the numbers and colors above do have a few different factors such as your ballast/bulb combo as well as how old the buld is
and also, the lower the K, the higher the PAR (assuming, of course, that they are the same brand bulb, same age, and on the same ballast and reflector)
but the more blue it is, the more color you will have
Sorry, but I have since found that it is the direct oposite. I was running a 125W/14000K Coralife MH bulb but found it created too much yellow in the tank which affected the colours of the coral. Did some research at the Coralife website and installed a 125W/20,000K bulb. Voila! Now I have a more blueish effect and it looks way more like what I have seen in the sea. The 14000K bulb was about a month old as is the fixture and ballast.
woops!! those were suposed to be reversed. lol
>10000K is blue
<10000K is yellow
lol
give me a break, it was late when i typed it
:coffee: (ps: i dont really like coffee... but i thought that face was appropriate for my mental state at the time. haha)
however, to my knowledge, coralife doesnt make a 125 watt bulb... nor any other aquarium bulb i have seen. did you mean 175 watt?
and i have heard from a lot of people that the coralifes are quite yellow, although i dont know if i would expect it from a 14000K.
anyways, good luck
>10000K is blue
<10000K is yellow
lol
give me a break, it was late when i typed it
:coffee: (ps: i dont really like coffee... but i thought that face was appropriate for my mental state at the time. haha)however, to my knowledge, coralife doesnt make a 125 watt bulb... nor any other aquarium bulb i have seen. did you mean 175 watt?
and i have heard from a lot of people that the coralifes are quite yellow, although i dont know if i would expect it from a 14000K.
anyways, good luck
Sorry, 150W/20,000K. The 14K bulb looks whitish/blue when you look at the fixture but the result under water looks yellowish. The 20K bulb not only looks whitish/blue the colour is retained underwater. Coralife states that the 20K bulb is the closest thing to real sea conditions which begs the question why they shipped my light with a 14K bulb. Weird:huh:
some people like the 14000Ks more. and you will get more PAR with them.
they are also less expensive
they are also less expensive
Photosynthetic Availible Radiation
basicly the only thing that matters in a reef. this is the reason why a 150 watt HQI MH will blow the pants off of 192 watts of PC. because of the highr PAR.
basicly the only thing that matters in a reef. this is the reason why a 150 watt HQI MH will blow the pants off of 192 watts of PC. because of the highr PAR.
Which is exactly what I have. (150W/HQI MH) Sounds like the 14K is the better option for good coral health? I find it washes out the colours. The 20K brings out the greens and blues more, but if it is going to effect the corals in a negative way then i'll go back to the 14K. Thoughts?
what corals are you keeping and what are the dimentions of the tank? anything will live fine under that lighting with the 20000K, however, if you have higher lighting corals.inverts such as clams, anems, or sps further than jsut a few inches below the surface, a more PAR may be favorable. that is one of the reasons why i switched to a 250 watt halide. my small colelction of sps was rapidly growing and i was even noticing a difference of growth and color in just a few inches of depth.
chances are, a 20000K halide is still goign to do well. you will get great coloring and still get decent growth.
you will get better growth with a 14000K, but not quite the coloring. however, you will still get great coloring if you use a much better bulb and/or if you have actinic supplimation.
chances are, a 20000K halide is still goign to do well. you will get great coloring and still get decent growth.
you will get better growth with a 14000K, but not quite the coloring. however, you will still get great coloring if you use a much better bulb and/or if you have actinic supplimation.