150 watt DE MH bulbs?

[RacingTiger03]

I've been out of this for 4 years, and my bulbs are coming up on replacement time for my MH unit. Since I'm about mid-ways through cycle, I suppose it's time to delve back into this.

as I recall pheonix 14K was the way to go at one time, here are the specifics.

My fixture is a dual HQI 150 watt setup, with no actinic or LED support. The tank is a 29G long (so 16-18" depth IIRC). I will be attempting SPS and LPS primarily with this tank, and a few fish. (so far I'm down to 2 damsels and a goby, we'll see where it goes from there but this will likely be the livestock at length). I CAN supplement actinic and a dawn/dusk affect if need be, but at this time do not plan to. Should I lean towards a 20K at this point? Brand of bulbs and place to buy?

Should I trade for an LED setup instead? I also have a 36" Nova 4 bulb T5 that I could swap to as well (what I originally ran on this tank actually).

 

[skinz78]

Personally, I'd go with the T5 setup and go with ATI bulbs... MH is becoming fairly obsolete, but if I had to go with MH I'd go with the Pheonix 14k's. I've done the LED's and after switching back to T5 you couldn't give me another LED setup.

 

[Quinn123]

You can order from liveaquaria and is only 39 dollars each with free shipping. Phoenix 14k

 

[RacingTiger03]

$38 on amazon for the pheonix free 2 day shipping and 3% back there for me (prime and amazon card) Are there any vendors that are close? I would rather support a person than an entity though.... There are also some knock-off's for around $15-20 (china).. I'm betting color temp on those is a gamble.

I've read a lot of mixed reviews on LED. I'm betting most of the "meh" is centered around the "cheap" units. You can't cheap out on LED and expect the full spectrum that can be picked up from MH, or T5.

Personally.. I like the shimmer of LED/MH.. color of T5 (and cost 200w vs 300w, longer life bulbs, etc.). Then again, on color I have 10K factory bulbs in my halide right now, and the purple shift when they first kick on is rather appealing . Supplemented with a very blue T5 last night and was quickly disappointed by the fact that the MH all but washed out the T5HO. Could see a hint of the blue in the shadows, that was about it. Nothing on the sand bed ..

Just for S&G though. Fiji purple and 3 ATI High blue+ For the Nova if I got T5?

Is MH not still superior for the stony types though because of penetration and more natural output?

 

[RacingTiger03]

bump, any other input on MH bulbs? Looks like this is a dying form of lighting, lol.

 

[ThaBeast]

+ 1 on Phoenix. I have thought about trying ushio bulbs in the past but never did, currently t5

 

[ritter6788]

The Phoenix was my favorite 150w mh bulb.

 

[RacingTiger03]

Has anyone tried the odyssea bulbs? I found those for about $15/bulb.

Also I checked the bulbs in my fixture, they are currently corallife 20K, and I'm STILL supplementing a strong actinic T5HO to get the color I want. Are there any other 20K's that may get the proper color? It could be the spectrum has just shifted that far I suppose though... They look like 10K bulbs to me, and for the most part always have as far as i recall.