Are HD Phillips MH bulbs good enough?

[Ken2001]

Does anyone know anything about the light qualities of the Phillips MH bulbs that Home Depot sells? They're single ended mogul style. I've seen them in 400 W and 250 W, and am wondering whether the light quality of these bulbs are good enough for propogation tanks? I've done a few google searches for these bulbs, but haven't found any useful information.

Thanks,

Ken

[stang8s]

the K rating will be way off and they will most likely creat a lot of algae and little growth. there are plenty of 10k halide bulbs on ebay in the $30-$35 range. You would be better off with them

[Scuba_Dave]

I wasnt able to find a bulb even close to 6500k at HD when I looked in MH, but they had NO's
I have a few T-8 fixtures I may use for Mushrooms/low light corals propagation. I just need to buy bulbs

[MattM]

We've played with them. They're somewhere between 2300K and 3500K. They will make your tank look positively orange!

Matt Marulla
Commercial link removed - Anemone

[Ken2001]

Thanks Matt,

I was hoping they were more up around the 4500 range, which is what I use for my plant lights. I'm placing one of the 400w MH over a large livestock trough sump that will (hopefully) have a seagrass bed. I suppose it's time to go back to the garden supply for some new bulbs.

Ken

[matt-davis sq.]

Are HD Phillips MH bulbs good enough?Regrettably, no.

The light they emit should be completely incompatible with the Zooxanthellae algae in your corals. Photosynthesis requires light of a specific wavelength, and these bulbs are very far away from that range. They might be cool for a dawn/dusk effect, but other than that, they will not work for growth at all.

Matt:cool: