Purple/blue color using only metal halide ?

[Lobophyton]

Hi, is it possible to get purple/blue color light using only halide ? is it true that halide can't make coral fluorescent ? thx


I've been looking for "marine color bulb", only brand i can get my hand on, some folks here posted a photo with hamilton bulb on the left ( i think) and marine color 14k on the right (picture below), if the marine color looks like that, that's what i'm looking for.

I tried t5 fluval acnitic bulb alone, i hated the look. kelvin color is so wrong, some 14k looks white and other bluish


Photo by @Cabinetman

 

[VintageReefer]

The 20k radium and 20K XM both had a more bluer look, and would make corals pop.

The picture above does not appear to be solely lit by halide

What we did, and what people still do, is supplement halide with T5 or VHO, and then with LEd strips. I will say this, I switched from a halide / t5 setup to LED because I wanted more pop and more control over my lighting

 

[GlassMunky]

20k halide will be as blue as you can get but it’s still not able to really fluoresce the corals the same way t5 or LEDs do… thats why most of the halide systems would also use t5 or LED as supplemental a because those really do the job of the fluorescence while the halides did the heavy lifting of growth

 

[Lobophyton]

The 20k radium and 20K XM both had a more bluer look, and would make corals pop.

The picture above does not appear to be solely lit by halide

What we did, and what people still do, is supplement halide with T5 or VHO, and then with LEd strips. I will say this, I switched from a halide / t5 setup to LED because I wanted more pop and more control over my lighting

Too bad, looks awesome, is halide blue same as led blue ?

20k halide will be as blue as you can get but it’s still not able to really fluoresce the corals the same way t5 or LEDs do… thats why most of the halide systems would also use t5 or LED as supplemental a because those really do the job of the fluorescence while the halides did the heavy lifting of growth

Hard to find footage with halide alone, i hate yellow/brown coral, maybe i could try 20k halide + t5 6500k ?

 

[VintageReefer]

Too bad, looks awesome, is halide blue same as led blue ?

Not at all. I’m sorry

 

[VintageReefer]

Too bad, looks awesome, is halide blue same as led blue ?


Hard to find footage with halide alone, i hate yellow/brown coral, maybe i could try 20k halide + t5 6500k ?

No…that’s not what to do.

You would get 20k halide + actinic t5 or something such as ati blue +
Or for a little more purple / pink use ati coral +

The spectrums are not really comparable between halide and led.

Why not just go led :) here’s some of the range and even in the whitest picture my whites are only 25%. It’s completely tunable to the spectrum you prefer

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I use 14k bulbs on my MH, and the colour is pretty white, but not so white that the corals appear brown, they still fluorescent, they just don't pop if that makes sense.
The picture used in the OP can't be 14k bulbs.

I've never used 20k so I have no idea what the colour is like. I can't remember having seen a 20k de bulb, I've only seen single ended 20k bulbs.

I use 2 Orphek OR3 bars for that fluorescent pop. But the bars only turn on at 5 pm and stay on for the evening, I don't need them to be on during the day.

 

[Reefering1]

Hi, is it possible to get purple/blue color light using only halide ? is it true that halide can't make coral fluorescent ? thx


I've been looking for "marine color bulb", only brand i can get my hand on, some folks here posted a photo with hamilton bulb on the left ( i think) and marine color 14k on the right (picture below), if the marine color looks like that, that's what i'm looking for.

I tried t5 fluval acnitic bulb alone, i hated the look. kelvin color is so wrong, some 14k looks white and other bluish


Photo by @Cabinetman

To be clear, you are asking about the light being blue, or coral being blue or purple(I'll add pink, yellow, green, red)? Halide will not look like the super blue windex tanks you see. They will however make the tank much more colorful as you can see everything, not just darkness with pops of color(like avatar). 14k looks very white to today's standards, but the room still has a blue glow, and there still is fluoresce(along with all the other colors), its not as highlighted by being surrounded in darkness. I doubt you will like anything 6500 Kelvin. Supplementing with led is common practice to increase "pop"

 

[Lobophyton]

No…that’s not what to do.

You would get 20k halide + actinic t5 or something such as ati blue +
Or for a little more purple / pink use ati coral +

The spectrums are not really comparable between halide and led.

Why not just go led :) here’s some of the range and even in the whitest picture my whites are only 25%. It’s completely tunable to the spectrum you prefer

I visited a place where there was 2 metal halide fixture on a tank, i'm used to 6500k and i think it was 10k, and now thinking about that i think they was a blue led bar, it was the most beautiful lighting i ever seen. I seen lots of led tanks, nothing beat the tank lighting i saw, for me atleast

I use 14k bulbs on my MH, and the colour is pretty white, but not so white that the corals appear brown, they still fluorescent, they just don't pop if that makes sense.

As long as i see a bit of it, i'm okay, i dont want crazy pop color, for me,10k light alone is too yellow for me

The picture used in the OP can't be 14k bulbs.

Yes, i just saw a pair of led above on another picture

I've never used 20k so I have no idea what the colour is like. I can't remember having seen a 20k de bulb, I've only seen single ended 20k bulbs.

The only blue bulb i had was with t5, fluval acnitic, alone it looked so bad, i'm better try 14k halide with some blue led then

I use 2 Orphek OR3 bars for that fluorescent pop. But the bars only turn on at 5 pm and stay on for the evening, I don't need them to be on during the day.

Yeah, i'm gonna fix acnitic leds on the MH fixture lol

 

[PeterErc]

Metal Halide with LED supplement. I run LED when halides are off, same as other posters above

10k mH, LED bars

 

[Lobophyton]

Metal Halide with LED supplement. I run LED when halides are off, same as other posters above

10k mH, LED bars

Looks great ! like it

 

[Reefering1]

I visited a place where there was 2 metal halide fixture on a tank, i'm used to 6500k and i think it was 10k, and now thinking about that i think they was a blue led bar, it was the most beautiful lighting i ever seen. I seen lots of led tanks, nothing beat the tank lighting i saw, for me atleast

As long as i see a bit of it, i'm okay, i dont want crazy pop color, for me,10k light alone is too yellow for me

Yes, i just saw a pair of led above on another picture

The only blue bulb i had was with t5, fluval acnitic, alone it looked so bad, i'm better try 14k halide with some blue led then

Yeah, i'm gonna fix acnitic leds on the MH fixture lol

You probably shouldn't attach any led directly to the halide reflector, heat is bad for led lifespan. Iirc, most have them a few inches away, not directly mounted against. I have hydra64s hanging between the halides

 

[VintageReefer]

Halide plus led bar is a good combo. I ran this when led was new, and was happy with the results

 

[Lobophyton]

You probably shouldn't attach any led directly to the halide reflector, heat is bad for led lifespan. Iirc, most have them a few inches away, not directly mounted against. I have hydra64s hanging between the halides

the MH fixture is large and the edge when i want to place the LED is cold

Is 150w bulb not everkill for a 26g tank, 21 inch deep ? thx

 

[VintageReefer]

I ran dual 150w on a 46g bowfront. So I don’t think that would be overkill

 

[Lobophyton]

Hi, i found a metal halide fixture with Arcadia 14k bulb, inside the bulb there is some black spot, maybe that explain why it looks so yellow on the tank ? thx

 

[Reefering1]

You don't have a yellow problem, you have a green issue. This is what alot of tank's look like, but the ultra blue lighting hides it and they may even think they have no algea- but its there. Now that you turned the lights on, you can see what your tank actually looks like. Time to meet the challenge- utilize herbivores, optimize nutrient export, continue/ increase manual removal. Once coraline sets in and coral cover increases= problem solved. Unless you rather take the easy road and live in the darkness, but you now can't un-know what it looks like.
The darkness of the arc tube is indicative of bulb age/ wear. Iirc, the blackness is the electrode burning away, then settling on the bottom when the bulb is off. My bulbs have been running about a year, for comparison...

 

[Lobophyton]

You don't have a yellow problem, you have a green issue. This is what alot of tank's look like, but the ultra blue lighting hides it and they may even think they have no algea- but its there. Now that you turned the lights on, you can see what your tank actually looks like. Time to meet the challenge- utilize herbivores, optimize nutrient export, continue/ increase manual removal. Once coraline sets in and coral cover increases= problem solved. Unless you rather take the easy road and live in the darkness, but you now can't un-know what it looks like.
The darkness of the arc tube is indicative of bulb age/ wear. Iirc, the blackness is the electrode burning away, then settling on the bottom when the bulb is off. My bulbs have been running about a year, for comparison...

Thx, maybe the 12 hours light didn't helped. I run about 50% white / 50% blue, despite extra low nitrates (barely detectable) i have high phosphate though (0.2), i only feed frozen food to my fish and once every other day.

Coralline is there, slowly growing but she's there.

i'll try to reduce the light duration, from 12 hours to 8 hours. blue 2 hours, white+blue 4 hours, then blue again for 2 hours.
i'll remove algae, increase the water changes, hope it will help.

For the bulb, i can conclude that, mine is definetly old right ? (i'm not english some term are still hard for me)

 

[Reefering1]

Thx, maybe the 12 hours light didn't helped. I run about 50% white / 50% blue, despite extra low nitrates (barely detectable) i have high phosphate though (0.2), i only feed frozen food to my fish and once every other day.

Coralline is there, slowly growing but she's there.

i'll try to reduce the light duration, from 12 hours to 8 hours. blue 2 hours, white+blue 4 hours, then blue again for 2 hours.
i'll remove algae, increase the water changes, hope it will help.

For the bulb, i can conclude that, mine is definetly old right ? (i'm not english some term are still hard for me)

It takes time and persistence, every other technique is just another tool in the toolbox. There is no magic solution here. I think i see the coraline, your goal is to keep algea in check, while it spreads. Get stuff to eat the algea, manually remove the long stuff, maintain water chemistry. Takes time though( think months and years, not days and weeks)

 

[jda]

The Giesemann Megachrome bulbs have more of a purple tint that some other MH bulbs. Being from Germany, they should be available to ship to France.