What MH bulb to get?

[ahvrivera]

I just landed a dual 250w Ballast reflectors etc. I wanted to get a feel on what The majority are using for bulbs. Brand and Kelvins. I am not planning on running actinics right away. But plan on getting a 4 36"bulb t-5 retro in the near future. Its a 125gal.

And if you could point me in the right direction on where to get them from:wink: it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the Help.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I'm a fan of the 20k Reeflux and 20k Radiums. You can find them at many of our sponsors.

 

[JR's Reef]

I like Radiums also. Is it a E ballast, mag ballast or HQI? Just depends on what type of ballast depends on what kind of bulbs you can use

 

[ahvrivera]

Its an E ballast, it says galaxy on the mnf plate number.

Blackhawk fan I also havent forgoten that i said i was gonna put some pics up for the shipping method but unfortunately i havent shipped anything lately.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

Don't sweat it Austyn.

The Radiums look awesome on the 250w Galaxy ballast. You won't even need actinics.

 

[ahvrivera]

K,,thats what ive heard. my concern is that it will look to blue at all times. havent seen a tank in person with them on to ease my thought on the 20K lol

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

If you don't like a blue looking tank, then my next suggestion would be the 20k Reeflux. It's a crisp white with a hint of blue.

 

[JR's Reef]

I say Radiums then. I like the blue look tho.

 

[ahvrivera]

So the reeflux will make it look more blue? maybe ill take a trip to ocean gallery 2 in plainfield. Been meaning to go and now i have an excuse to get a bit more than just bulbs hahaha.

 

[ahvrivera]

yeah my luck ill get the radiums then ic a tank with reflux and ill like it better hahah just my luck.

Thanks i appreciate the input.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

No, the 20k Reeflux is much less blue then a radium.
Coming Soon - Reeflux 20K - Reef Central Online Community

 

[ahvrivera]

Now thats not bad looking at all. Thats exactly what im looking for. Then again the pic porbably dont do it justice but was definately nice.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I'm running the 400w version on my cube, but it's dimmed down to make it a bit more blue. Honestly you can't go wrong with the Radium or 20K Reeflux depending on how you want the tank to look.

 

[xrayrider]

I love my Radium "Blues", which are considered to be 20K. XM are the only thing even close in my oponion. The Reeflux look too washed out for me. I have 3 x 250 over a 135 reef tank, with 3 x VHO superactenics. I wasted a lot of lighting on different bulbs before I found the Radiums to be exactly what I was looking for.
The best thing to do is look at a lot of local tanks, and when you find one with lighting you like, see what they are using. It is a lot cheaper than the trial and error method I used.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I agree on the 12k Reeflux making things look washed out, but not the 20k's.

 

[ahvrivera]

So leaning heavily towards the radiums 20k. Just saw a tank with them and i likes so far. Now i gotta find one with reeflux and see if it Gets my optical nerves to twitch lol.

Any other brand suggestions? What about phoenix?

 

[ahvrivera]

So what are your opinions on a PFO dual 250w ballast?

 

[lReef lKeeper]

i am loving the fairly new 20k reeflux bulbs !! great color with and without actinics and suppose to have par rating than the 12k bulbs !!

 

[lReef lKeeper]

here are a couple of pics with the reeflux 20k bulbs

without actinics

with actinics

the pics dont really do them justice, they are really sweet bulbs though. i am not a huge "blue" fan, but i love these bulbs and their color. HTH

 

[ahvrivera]

Those are nice. Where did you get yours from? It almost looks like you have actinics on on both pics lol. Thanks for sharing.