brownish looking SPS

[Gilbert]

i've had my tank up an running for about a year an a half now, but recently started converting to sps. i've had sps in my tank now for about 3-4 months, but the color of the corals always seem to turn or look brownish in my tank. alot of my frags are from members here on MAAST and the frags looked great in their tank. i just dont know what im doing wrong. my cal is about 550 but other then that all my levels are fine. i do water changes every other week. i have a K'2, a K'3 and a modified maxijet1200 in my 55gallon. as for lighting i have 2x175watt MH's and 2x actinic vhos. the MH's are ebay blubs and i think they are 14k.
here are pics of the tank, the first is without the vhos. any advise would be great
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/DSC01011.jpg (http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk89/Gilbert1606/DSC01011.jpg)

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/k...6/DSC01001.jpg (http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk89/Gilbert1606/DSC01001.jpg)

http://www.maast.org/forums/smooth/misc/progress.gif

[BioCube14]

this you poseted this in the wrong section...I dont think the ebay bulbs are helping your corals at all. also check your perameters salinity stuff like that also keep in mind of any swings you may have doing water changes or even temps in your house if you dont use a chiller

[lhoy]

Based only on the information you provided, I agree with BioCube14. I would bet a ton it is the ebay bulbs. You didn't mention getting say a Phoenix 14k bulbs off Ebay which would be different. I am suspecting you attempted to "save" money with cheaper bulbs, but if you have already invested a ton of money in hardware and coral, why skimp on one of the most important things. Buy some Phoenix 14K bulbs and watch what happens to your corals!

Lee

[Bill S]

Yup, I'd agree. Get some good bulbs. Phoenix or Helios. Really, anything but the cheap bulbs.

[Gilbert]

thanks guys!
where can i get those blubs???
what kelvin should i get???

[zcatzmeow]

I suffered from the monotone brown coral syndrome too. A lighting upgrade to 150w 14k phoenix bulb (really blue) and getting my feet wet with the beginnings of Zeo products have dramatically changed my colors. They are back to colors I saw when they were first purchased.

I got my phoenix 14k at Aquatek in Austin. :)

[CoryDude]

Aquarium Designs had a whole range of bulbs. Almost any name brand will do better then what you already have. Reeflux, phoenix, bluelife, etc.

Color temp is more a matter of your taste. IMO, With those VHO's, I'd stick w/12K-14K bulbs.