T5HO overpowering MH Lights

[chandigz]

20000k bulbs don't look as bright because of the large amount of blue they produce. Your eye sees blue as less intense/bright then yellow or red. Your white t5 will appear to over power them as they produce more yellow and red light. I find14k produces an nice iceblue white light (I prefer these you get a nice colour and brightness)and 10k-is like daylight-white with a hint of yellow they will look the brightest(I find these a little to yellow for my liking). If you have a lot of t5 then i'd go with 10k halide (will give you better shimmer/brightness)and use some of your t5 (blue 460nm, actinic 420nm, purple/pink) to get the colour you want and the other t5 (10k, 12k, 14k) for added brightness). Hope this helps.

[MarkoD]

i changed bulbs to 10000k and they look like crap. already coming out.

[Lampshade]

I love the look of my 14K's, but i notice a night and day difference in coral growth when i have the 10K's in there. I don't like the color as much, even in a lot of the corals, but they grow VERY fast under the 10K's. I've using the Xm 10K's that put out a lot or PAR, so upgrading to 3 Ebay 14K's to see if i get better growth than the 2x10K's, hopefully that'll works? haha, well, that's what i've noticed anyway. Check out sanjay's lighting chart if you want to find a good bulb, might help.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting