Do my bulbs stink?

[ozorowsky]

I have two 36" lights. Each has a 206w 15k metal halide, and four blue actinics.

Here is a picture of my tank. Corals and fish are nice and healthy but corals are only colorful under lunar led lighting.

I run the halides for four hours a day and the actinics for six. The tank is two months old. Any advice?

 

[ccCapt]

There is no such thing as a 206w metal halide bulb. Metal halide bulbs come in 70w, 150w, 175w, 250w, 400w and 1000w.

 

[ozorowsky]

There is no such thing as a 206w metal halide bulb. Metal halide bulbs come in 70w, 150w, 175w, 250w, 400w and 1000w.

You are correct. This is the light I bought: Odyssea Metal Halide System

It says the Metal Halide is 250w.

Any thoughts on the bulbs I am running?

 

[ccCapt]

Odyssea is the brand fixture. What brand are the bulbs? Some brands (or most no-name bulbs) suck, some are OK and some are very good.

Sanjays site has a comparison of many 250w bulbs. You can look for yourself.
Manhattan Reefs - Sanjay's Lighting Guide

 

[ozorowsky]

Odyssea is the brand fixture. What brand are the bulbs? Some brands (or most no-name bulbs) suck, some are OK and some are very good.

Sanjays site has a comparison of many 250w bulbs. You can look for yourself.
Manhattan Reefs - Sanjay's Lighting Guide

I'm pretty sure the bulbs are odyssea brand. They came with the light, and I'm sure they're not awesome bulbs so I expected them not to be great.

Is there a cheap light measuring device I can get or are they expensive?

Will a 20k metal halide bulb help bring out the coral colors?

Any guides or write ups to help me understand?

Thank you very much

 

[ozorowsky]

Does anyone have any guidance here on how I can increase my coral colors? The fish corals are coming through fine but when the corals are under the actinics with halides on they look brown/white; with the actinics only on they have some color but not a lot.

 

[ilostnemo]

go with a higher kelvin rating on your halides.

 

[ozorowsky]

go with a higher kelvin rating on your halides.

Mine are 15k, do you think the 20k odyssea bulbs would be ok?

 

[ilostnemo]

those look really. white to be 15k. 20k will deff add more blue to the tank to get the color.

 

[MrPeon99]

I had a 15k bulb that was very white. I don't remember what brand is was though. I personally use 14k phoenix bulbs. They are a very nice blue

 

[ozorowsky]

I had a 15k bulb that was very white. I don't remember what brand is was though. I personally use 14k phoenix bulbs. They are a very nice blue

Those phoenix bulbs are fifty bucks a piece aren't they?

 

[MrPeon99]

Yeah, around that. I think I paid 46.99 ea for 150w, and I don't remember what I paid for the 250w, but I don't recall it being much more.

 

[ozorowsky]

What hours do you guys run your lights? My tank hits temperatures of 82 degrees (per the window stick on temperature thing) during the day.

Should I be running the halides at night when its cooler so as to not heat the tank up so much? I live in Florida.

Also I run my halides about 4 hours a day and the actinics 8 hours. I have read that some people run halides for 10 hours a day???

THank you in advance.

 

[ozorowsky]

As another thought: Would it be better to run the halides at night? Say:

4pm actinics come on
6pm-10pm halides run
12am actinics kick off?

Any thoughts? Would daylight mess with the fish?

 

[MrPeon99]

I run my halides from 10am to 8pm, and the antics from 9am to 9pm. My temp goes from 78.0 to 78.6 on a warm day. Usually it goes from 78.0 to 78.2 I have fans that run when the halides are on to keep them cool. With out them my tank would heat up to 82

 

[ozorowsky]

I run my halides from 10am to 8pm, and the antics from 9am to 9pm. My temp goes from 78.0 to 78.6 on a warm day. Usually it goes from 78.0 to 78.2 I have fans that run when the halides are on to keep them cool. With out them my tank would heat up to 82

What do you use for temperature? Is my glass temp sensor good enough? And my tank is a six foot 125 gallon. I'm running two 36" lights that have four actinic bulbs and one 250 watt metal halide bulb each.

Ihave been getting green algae all over my glass at four hours a day and youre saying I should be running the halides 10 hours a day??

As far as fans, do you have fans that blow across the surface of the water?

 

[MrPeon99]

I have a 5 foot 150 gallon. I use the submersible glass thermometers, and I have a digital one as well. I cut 4 holes in my wooden canopy with two fans blowing in and two blowing out to blow water across the surface, those run 24/7. I have a clip on fan that blows air over my sump, and then I have two fans on top of the canopy that blow air directly over my halides. Those only run when the halides are on though

 

[ozorowsky]

ok, I looked at my tank and turned off my A.D.D yesterday and under the actinics the corals are beautiful.

When the halides come on all the colors seem washed out. Thinking I'm going to shell out for the Phoenix 14k bulbs, but want to make sure thats the best value for the money before I spend $100

Thank you

 

[carey]

Cheapest I;ve found so far

14000K Metal Halide Bulb - Phoenix, Double-Ended

 

[ozorowsky]

Cheapest I;ve found so far

14000K Metal Halide Bulb - Phoenix, Double-Ended

I'm reading that metal halide bulbs take 100 hrs of warm up to actually work properly; think this would improve the odyssea bulbs or no?

I'm also reading that people run the halids for 8 hours and actinics for 12???

I'm doing my halides for 4 hours and actinics for 8; should I up that? Seems like when I run my lights longer I'm getting a lot of green and brown algae growth.