SPS growth and color with Phoenix 14k

[fishfanatic06]

I have a 2x150 watt hqi fixture that currently has hamilton 14k bulbs. The growth is decent, colors are okay. I am thinking about trying out the phoenix 14k hqi bulb. How is the growth and color with phoenix 14k? Pictures would be nice too.
Thanks!

[TwistedTiger]

Pictures are pretty useless, 10 pics of the same tank with 10 different cameras will give you 10 different looks. You're better off finding someone in your area using them and go check out their tank. Different ballast and reflector combinations also change the appearance.

[fishfanatic06]

yeah ive got an hqi ballast

[Emster]

I got a 250watt phoenix with a HQI ballast on my frag tank and I think the color and growth is great. It's a nice blue tint but not too blue IMO. You don't even need any actinic lighting.

[takayan]

I have 2 250W 14K Pheonix on the roght side. Left side is 10K AB and 130W arctic.

[reef / aholic]

Forget the coral nice pair of Holacanthus Arcuatus!!!

[rkcca]

I got better growth under Hamilton 250 W 10K bulbs with Aquametic balasts. However, the color is much better with the Phoenix bulbs. I like the amount of blue. My display does not use actinic.

In my frag tank I have one Phoenix 14 K on a Hamilton balast and the growth is good. The color is much whiter.

Balasts make a huge difference.

[mkbtank]

I agree. Those fish are awesome!

[mkbtank]

Also - I am running 3 150W 14K pheonix bulbs + VHO's and am getting excellent color and growth. Definitely worth trying imo

[Gem Tang Rider]

Use the magnetic HQI ballasts for the best PAR & color.

[murphreef]

i run 3- 250W versions on my 180 on HQI ballast and love the way they look and grow.... the only color i dont have too much luck with it deep blues but everything else is great i dont know if that has to do anything with the lighting or some other factor

[slojmn]

I love the Phonix 250w DE 14k bulbs I have been running for 2 1/2 years over my SPS tank. Interestingly though I went with a SE 12K reeflux bulb over my new LPS/SPS tank and a SPS coral I could never get to color up at all under the phoenix is a different coral under the Reeflux. It was mostly a brown prostrata no matter where I put it. It grew great but... I moved it to the other tank about 6 weeks ago, it is now blue tipped with green branches and the polyps are getting greener. It positively glows now. What a huge change for that one coral. I am moving a few corals between tanks to see what responds to what. I get a lot of really pretty colors out of my Phoenix bulbs and will continue to use them but a few corals respond better to the Reeflux lighting.

[invincible569]

Originally posted by takayan

I have 2 250W 14K Pheonix on the roght side. Left side is 10K AB and 130W arctic.

Nice Angels!! Where did you end up getting those from? I havent seen any around in months.

[em805]

The right side of my tank is under 14k Phoenix using PFO HQI ballast, the left side is using 20k Helios SE bulb on an Icecap electronic ballast:



I fragged my blue mili a while back and the one growing on the Phoenix side is an electric blue while the one growing under the helios is a dark, almost dirty purple. Also, the polyp extension for the one under the pheonix is noticeably better. As soon as I use up my Helios bulb I'm making the switch to all Pheonix bulbs on PFO HQI's.

[icu2]

Phishy has some of those angels.

[takayan]

reef / aholic, mkbtank and invincible569.
Thank you for commenting my angels!
I bought them from a shop in Hawaii. They are so awesome for Reef tank, but I need to maintain the temp under 75F.