lighting

Not sure it you've noticed yet but, you get what you pay for in this hobby. IMO I would for for Hamilton's or Phoenix.

 

+1 on the Phoenix bulbs!

 

The last time I bought an E-Bay bulb it exploded after about three days of use. The life in your tank depends on good light. This is just not the place to cut corners. Shaun

 

Don't skimp on lighting as it powers your corals ;-0) Yep, $50 isn't bad... ;=0)

 

I like 20k. Gives better color but slower growth. If I remember right phoenix 14k compares to most peoples 20k.

 

I agree that 10K by themselves look too yellow and I don't care for it but we have 3x250W 10K + 4x80W T-5 actinic and together they look nice.  We tried 14K with the actinic and it was too blue for our preference so switched to 10K.  I don't pretend to be an expert but I think the closer you get to 6500K the better growth so I think the 10K with the actinic provide a good mix of growth and have a nice color.  If we didn't have the actinic supplements I would go with 14K or maybe even 20K.
I know in a lot of cases you get what you pay for but we have been using these bulbs (yes, off of e-bay!) for over a year and have had phenomonal growth rate on corals. 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/250W-250-WA...5addfd100c
All of the corals below have been grown out under these bulbs

 

Wow! What a beautiful tank!

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks for the compliment on the tank!
Like was mentioned above, sometimes you get what you pay for.  I had read a review of the bulbs on that e-bay site on RC (or somewhere) which is why I tried them....but have had no regrets and at about 1/3 the price I thought it was worth it to try them...but then again, I often buy store brands at the grocery store too

 

+1
I've run a number of different brands and I'm as happy with the Phoenix 14Ks as any of them that I have tried. That's what I'm currently using now.
Here's a link to SOS Lighting that has them for $46.99.  http://www.soslightbulbs.com/phoenix-150w-14K-aquarium-lamp.aspx  I found them to be much cheaper than any other source.  Now, you do have to pay shipping, so if you can get free shipping at DFS (which I believe you can), that may turn out to be the better deal.  When I bought bulbs, I was buying the 250W bulbs and DFS is about $10 more per bulb, vs. the $3 difference on the 150W bulbs.  Now if you found someone else in your area that needed bulbs too, SOS has free shipping at the $150 mark.  I know there's only a few $$ difference, but just throwing that out there.
--AJ

 

BTW, moving this to the General forum vs. the BST forum.

--AJ

 

I use 10k on my frag tank...but SE. You can always put them for sale on the B/S/T forum and see if anyone wants them.

--AJ

 

If i am correct ? the type of ballast makes a difference as well.