Question on lights

[sonicfish]

I have two 250 watt medal halide bulbs and 4 96 actinc compact floresect bulbs my question is whenever i go to look at somebody elses reef tank it is much bluer than mine and even when the bulbs were new they just werent blue the color of the water looks kinda like if you go in a swimming pool in the morning any reason why this is happening

 

[BigAl07]

Could be SEVERAL reasons but the most likely is they are using bulbs of a different spectrum. This is especially the case with T5 bulbs. There are so many different bulb variations that you can pick from yellow to deep blue to purple. It's partly by what LOOK you want and as well as what's best for the corals. Some people like the more yellow look and some people (Like myself) like the crispy blue look.

MH's can make a huge different... MH's in the 10k range are more yellowish and the higher the K rating the bluer they look until they start to get WHITSH around 20K or so. Also bulbs with the same K rating will look different from different manufacturers.

 

[Phyxius]

Its possible that the blue may have come from VHOs also. I ran T5s on my 65 and it just couldn't give me the added blue and pop that the VHO actinic blues could. When it came time to replace the bulbs I switched back to VHO supplementation. I have it on all my tanks and also added to my 210g I just finished.
Cant beat the blue when the halides go off either

Also as BigAL07 mentioned it could be the K rating of the MH with 10s being white to deep blues in the 20s.

I run 10s with the VHOs and its a white/blue

 

[Varga]

My guess is it's your bulb type/brand/K rating, yellow water, etc. i dont have a problem with slightly yellow bulbs, I dont think the corals mind it either.