Which bulb?

[eyebedam]

Its time to replace my 150hqi bulb on my sunpod light fixture thats over my nano. Right now it has a hamilton 14k in it. Hellolights has the ushio hqis for 55.00 with free shipping. Im debating on either the ushio 14k or the 20k. How does there look compare to the hamiltons if anyone knows & which bulb would you suggest and why.
Thanks
Jason

[Avalanche Wolf]

I have Hamilton 250s 10k MHSE in my hood and I have noticed with them is the color is more like a 6,500 bulb. my middle light is a half the wattage and a 20k but really looks like a 14k.

Back in Cali a friend had the same hood and same wattage setup but had ushio's 14k and you could tell a night and day differance. It was more like a 14k bulb color. seems like there is a lot of variance between the manufacts when it comes to bulbs.


Best bet is find someone with that manu/wattage/color and check it out.

[Nashvegas]

I am getting the Phoenix 14k HQI delivered tomorrow...it is one of the bluer 14K's out there...lwhich I want...i read reviews all over on the 150 watts and decided this was the best Par value and color as well...more of and ICE blue white...i'll let you know how it looks tomorrow....i tried already and returned the aqualine 10000k because it was just to dang white..

[gflat65]

Tagging along here (won a 150W pendatn at the swap, so I need to fill it with a bulb;)). I run DE's, but they are 250W. I like the Phoenix 14K in DE's and like the Ushio 14K's in SE's (175W), so I would think anything along those lines should be fine. I know that DE's and SE's of the same manufacturer can be markedly different in color rendition (AB 10K's, for example-SE's are more of a 13K and DE's more of an 8K to my eyes). Of course that can be different depending on ballast and manufacturer...

[eyebedam]

I think im gonna order the phoenix 14ks from hellolights. I was also checking out the megachrome bulbs but there a little pricy.

[Nashvegas]

I really like my phonix bulb...but make sure you are into the sorta blue look...makes your corals sparkle

[eyebedam]

I do like the more blue look myself. Esp since on the sunpod they dont have any actinics.

[gflat65]

Post some pics once it gets burned in a little:). I like the Phoenix 14K 250, but haven't seen the 150HQI version in person. I run VHO's with my 250 14K's, so I may be in for a little more blue (may need to go 20K)... It'll be an acan tank, so I'm not in great need of excessive par;).

[ct_vol]

I run phoenix 14k's on my 150w sunpod and like the way they look... I will say that from experience on my 250w phoenix, it makes a rather significant difference between what ballasts they are run on... When I had the 14k's in my Aqua Medic OceanLights, they burned almost white, but when I switched them to my Current Outer Orbit Pro, they burned more of a blue color... I attribute the difference to the magnetic ballast on the OceanLights overdriving the bulb...

Gary~ This might make a difference in which ballast you decide to go with when choosing one for that pendant you won at the swap... :)