Which MH 250w is brighter - reeflux or BLV

[pandagold]

Which SE MH is has a blue'er tint . reefLux 12k. or BLV14k

Comments from those with experience with both bulbs

[hotsoup]

User of the mentioned 2 bulbs b4, reflex gives u more

Bluish looks while BLV tends to be more yellowish

[pandagold]

Great , Thanks . Looks like I'll be buying reeflux .

[pandagold]

now that I've changed from my 6 tubes T5 to 2x 250w MH, after 2 weeks , most ( 60% ) of my corals are starting to turn brown (SPS) ??

my star poylp initially closed and it's now starting to open ( not fully but at least 40%)

Is this normal , and will the colour return ?

My light is hung 1.5 feet above water level .

[cedricang]

now that I've changed from my 6 tubes T5 to 2x 250w MH, after 2 weeks , most ( 60% ) of my corals are starting to turn brown (SPS) ??

my star poylp initially closed and it's now starting to open ( not fully but at least 40%)

Is this normal , and will the colour return ?

My light is hung 1.5 feet above water level .

Hi Frank,

It's actually normal for SPS to exhibit a browning effect when they experience a drastic change in lighting condition. It's a self-protecting behavior trigger by the SPS (the host) to regulate and increase the amount of zooxanthellae so as to ensure survival. In the case of sudden excessive of light intensity, there will be bleaching. But if the increase (or decrease) of light intensity is not overwhelming, then the browning effect could take place and most probably happens to your case.

As long as the SPS are still healthy with PE, then there should be no cause for worries, but you probably need to give them time to adjust to your new lighting and colour up again, well that needs some time and you got to be patient for this to happen.

As for the bulbs, I agree with Hotsoup that Reeflux has got a more intense blue spectrum over BLV. However if you prefer even more bluish effect, go for Radium blub.

Hope it's helpful to you.

Cheers

[thomas_lim]

Ya.. likely Dr Ang had mentioned. You may want to reduce the lighting timing as 2 X 250W is a lot more intense than the T5 u replace.

Another way is to move the MH higher for now and slowly lowering down.

just my 2 cts

[pandagold]

Hi Cedric , thanks for your input . Some SPS did well/better in this MH against T5, while some just turned brown. But those that had turned brown still had buds growing out of them .

All my perimeters are either zero or within specification, but with the exception of KH, which is hovering around 6.5-7.5 . Any brand out there to safely bring up KH ( I'm using Seacham ) and I don't think, in my opinion is good ??

Reeflux is blue enough for me . BLV's bulb seems a bit more yellowish.

I've tried BLV 20k, used for less than 2 days, huh, is too blue and not enough white spectum . My wife kept on complaining all my corals are blue, even by yellows / blue / purple all looked too blue and artifical .

Hi Frank,

It's actually normal for SPS to exhibit a browning effect when they experience a drastic change in lighting condition. It's a self-protecting behavior trigger by the SPS (the host) to regulate and increase the amount of zooxanthellae so as to ensure survival. In the case of sudden excessive of light intensity, there will be bleaching. But if the increase (or decrease) of light intensity is not overwhelming, then the browning effect could take place and most probably happens to your case.

As long as the SPS are still healthy with PE, then there should be no cause for worries, but you probably need to give them time to adjust to your new lighting and colour up again, well that needs some time and you got to be patient for this to happen.

As for the bulbs, I agree with Hotsoup that Reeflux has got a more intense blue spectrum over BLV. However if you prefer even more bluish effect, go for Radium blub.

Hope it's helpful to you.

Cheers

[pandagold]

Currently my light is just high enough, estimate at 1-1.5 ft above water level.

I've tried placing them higher, and it would shine onto my dinning table . As my kids uses that as their study table, it's not productive for them (eyes)

Currently my light is on from 12pm to 7pm . As I work from home, I would like to see more lighting hours than a dark tank .

I'll have to be patience, since some of my corals are showing signs of "accepting" this brighter light ( Star polp opening , purple mush opening to it's original size ) SPS would take a longer time, and hopefully it starts to colour up again.

Will include some pics when my light turns on later

Ya.. likely Dr Ang had mentioned. You may want to reduce the lighting timing as 2 X 250W is a lot more intense than the T5 u replace.

Another way is to move the MH higher for now and slowly lowering down.

just my 2 cts

[cedricang]

Hi Cedric , thanks for your input . Some SPS did well/better in this MH against T5, while some just turned brown. But those that had turned brown still had buds growing out of them .

All my perimeters are either zero or within specification, but with the exception of KH, which is hovering around 6.5-7.5 . Any brand out there to safely bring up KH ( I'm using Seacham ) and I don't think, in my opinion is good ??

Reeflux is blue enough for me . BLV's bulb seems a bit more yellowish.

I've tried BLV 20k, used for less than 2 days, huh, is too blue and not enough white spectum . My wife kept on complaining all my corals are blue, even by yellows / blue / purple all looked too blue and artifical .

No problem Frank, just share my experience on this area that's all.

As for Kh, IMO, it's better to bring up the Kh to around 8-9 dkh if possible, this will allows more buffering zone when your kh either goes up or down for some unexpected reasons. But raise your kh in progressive and slow manner. There are so many brands out there to raise kh, it's essentially sodium bicarbonate. I do not wish to indicate any specific brands over here, but guess the more establish brands should warrant your peace of mind.

Different SPS has different tolerance on kh, lightings, iodine, magnesium and so on. So it's no surprise to see different SPS responses differently from light changes.

I agree with Thomas, light changes should be introduce with precautions, the methods are suggested by him which are good practices.

There again, how many of the reefers are so meticulous and can faithfully follow the advice, not many i think.