Who is using XM Bulbs?

[whaase]

I've been running the XM250 20k bulbs, but I notice my acro's never seemed to thrive/grow all that much. But my coraline growth is outragious! Anyone using these? I've been avoiding having to go with a 10-14k and supplement with actinic. Thought? Opinions?

Maybe a Radium?

[Dyspnea]

20k bulbs you'll see far better colors over any other lesser rated bulb (10,14,15k etc) But the downside is the loss of growth rates. With 6500k bulb you'll see awesome growth but yellowish colors.

Try a 10k or 15k and offset the color change with actinics

[Dyspnea]

oh I was using 250SE 10k XM, I really liked the color, I have 2x40 NO bulbs for my actinics, And i rather enjoyed the color.

[Chaotic Cricket]

Originally Posted by whaase

I've been running the XM250 20k bulbs, but I notice my acro's never seemed to thrive/grow all that much. But my coraline growth is outragious! Anyone using these? I've been avoiding having to go with a 10-14k and supplement with actinic. Thought? Opinions?

Maybe a Radium?

I would look at xm's 15k bulb. Not as blue as 20 but still quite nice. Unfortunately growth rates and aesthetics do not go hand in hand. best growth rates I've seen were 6500 k bulbs. if you supplement with the proper placement of actinic it looks quite nice. But you need good quality vho or t-5's. I have 6500k bulbs with t-5 actinic in my grow out tanks (when i used them that is) i used just the t-5 actinic s to get my live rocks covered in Coraline before moving to the display. But corals seem to respond best to 6500-10k. Anything else is purely for our viewing pleasure. It all depends on if you want to look at your tank for your pleasure or have your tank purely for the pleasure of the corals

[guido]

Same here I have Xm's 15k bulbs in my PFO pendants, they come with two actinic bulbs in each pendant as well. Looks great, good colors, the corals seem to be doing well. Maybe not growing as quickly though.

Andrew

[BMW Rider]

I just took out the pair of XM 15K bulbs after 9 months and replaced them with Geisman 13Ks. The XMs were very nice for colour, but the par value was terrible. I also switched one of the VHOs to a super actinic to bring the blue back up. Much happier with the lighting now, hopefully my corals will be too.

[WWWD]

XM15's are horrific! You will actually get better par out of the XM20's!! The XM10'k are rock solid but do need some actinic suplimentation.

[Chin_Lee]

i believe its the high par values of 6500K bulbs that contributes to the high growth rates. But the XM SE10K 250W on HQI ballasts come pretty close to the same PPFD (PAR) values as the Iwasakis without all that yellow - the Iwasaki's PPFD at 189 compared to the XM's at 182.

If you want to find the best PAR for the type of ballasts that you have, use the "Search Performance Data" function on Sanjay's website http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/index.htm Very handy feature for those who already have their ballast and even more handy feature for those who are looking to buy a ballast.

Originally Posted by Dyspnea

20k bulbs you'll see far better colors over any other lesser rated bulb (10,14,15k etc) But the downside is the loss of growth rates. With 6500k bulb you'll see awesome growth but yellowish colors.

Try a 10k or 15k and offset the color change with actinics

[Chaotic Cricket]

Originally Posted by WWWD

XM15's are horrific! You will actually get better par out of the XM20's!! The XM10'k are rock solid but do need some actinic suplimentation.

What kind of ballast did you fire them with?

[Chin_Lee]

According to Sanjay's site,
15 K bulbs:
- on 400W XM 15K SE on PFO HQI ballasts gives a PAR of 114.
- on the 250W XM 15K SE on PFO HQI ballast gives a PAR of 80.

Compared to 20K bulbs:
- on the 400W XM 20K SE, you will get the best PAR of 128 with a probe start Magnatek M59 ballast.
- on the 250W XM 20K SE, you get the best PAR of 79 with a PFO HQI ballast.

Mind you - many of these PAR values are about half of what the 10K bulbs will give with similar ballasts