Coralife 50/50 - what do you think?

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billswin

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Dec 15, 2009
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I just went out and the LFS sold me on the Coralife 50/50 48" bulb. I just put this in and I am not sure.(I only have 1 48" spot) I had a standard cool white bulb from home depot in there. This to me looks more like a black light to me?

He said it will show the colors on the Cichlids much better and is the most popular bulb for them. I only have 1 yellow lab and 2 Blue Kenyi's so its hard to tell - it looks about the same to me (cycling tank now that why only 3).

So my question is what is the most popular bulb for cichlids, should I stay with this or get like a T5, T8 or T10 or what? I was hoping to show close to a saltwater setup.

one other note, I have a blue background not sure if thats why it looks so blue.
 
no i am cycling my tank with cichlids its going to be a african cichlid tank.. I just want the LOOK of saltwater I guess.

the 50/50 bulb makes my tank look more purple, probably because of the background which is blue

I don't have a fixture for the T lights (just found out) so my options are keep the 50/50 or switch it with a 6,500K or 10K bulb.
 
ok so I went out and switched the 50/50 for a Coralife 6,500k and it looks awesome..... it has a pure white no yellow with a slight blue tint perfect with my blue background.

very happy with this bulb
 
50/50 is a Day light/Actinic bulb, actinic is used in the salt water aquaria world because it helps produce algae for live coral to feed on. It's most commonly referred to as moon lighting because of its purplish coloration. However a 50/50 bulb is a cheap way for salt water aquarist to have day lighting and actinic lighting in one bulb, it saves the user money. Instead of someone having to spend lots of money for a say a coralife 48" light fixture which runs around $300, having 50/50 bulbs makes it so you can have a cheaper lighting system.

As for using 50/50 with African Cichlids, I personally wouldnt due to the algae growth the bulb produces in the tank. I would probably go with a 48" pro-glo bulb instead which will produce the same kind of glowing effect to your fish you're looking for.

Here's a pic of a salt water of mine using the 48" Pro-Glo bulb, notice the same purplish coloration.

proglobulb.jpg
 
I use a 50/50 on my mbuna tank and it looks fantastic. I've had very little trouble with algae and it really makes the blues of the fish pop.

I bought a bunch of bulbs and tried them all out on my tank. I tried the pro glo and the aqua glo and I didn't like them nearly as much as I did the 50/50. I kept the 50/50 and returned the rest.
 
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