MH Lights Question??????????????

[Gregsf66]

They are Auqalight Advanced Series HQ1 Metal Halide Fixture, sleek black anodized aluminum. Fixture hang on tank bracket. Built in cooling fan remote. 150 watt 14000K double ended HQ1 lamps

I bought those lamps a day a go from a guy up north. I went to put them on the tank and The lights work fine, but my tank did not have the color that I thought it would. I was using pc 130 w, 50/50 antic lights, Do i have to have some vho blue antics to get the same color as the pc 130 watts, or Do I have to buy different bulbs for the MH system, to get that Reef Look.

When I pluged them in my tank looked dull and yellow, no color at all.

Please help, Im very new to mh systems, What is the best bulb? Are their different color bulbs w/ mh systems, or is The watts the and the K differnt.?

Please help

Thx

Greg

[txstateunivreefer]

the bulbs might be old over time all bulbs shift yellow yea atinic support will color everything up for you

[apedroza]

What kind of bulbs are they??? Sometimes different brands say one thing and look totally different. Also you may want to add some actinics to help offset the yellow tint.

[JimD]

"150 watt 14000K double ended HQ1 lamps"

[apedroza]

Sorry meant to say what brand. I used to have a coralvue 20k that looked like a 10k bulb.

[erikharrison]

Buy some XM bulbs. www.hellolights.com should have them. No yellow. The K is for Kelvin. Kelvin ratings tell you how much blue is in your light. The higher the kelvin, the bluer the bulb. 20k is uber blue, while 6500k is yellow, more like natural sunlight.

[brewercm]

If it's actually a 14K bulb you should be getting quite a bit of blue already with some white to it. I use 14K Hamilton double ended bulbs and love the color I get.
But like apedroza said, it really depends on the maker of the bulb and the ballast that is driving that particular bulb that make up what the final look is for each one. Hard to explain without just being able to see it in person but my Hamilton 14Ks will most likely look at least a little different with every ballast combo I run them against whether they are magnetic or electronic.

Is it this one? if so I'm not sure if Coralife makes their own bulbs or not or if this is an electronic or magnetic ballast since they don't say much.

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=445

[dwdenny]

I hear the XM 15,000k bulbs are a nice blue but the PAR stinks from the numbers I have seen. But if you are not interested in fast growth then those might work out great for you. There is also the Phoenix 14000k bulb that I hear is a great bulb for both color and growth. If you don't want to supplement actinics then I would look at the XM or Phoenix bulbs or quite possibly a 20000K bulb.

[Ram_Puppy]

I am in love w/ phoenix 14K's... Josh runs them and they are just gorgeous on his tank.