halides or t5's?
- Thread starter VickyH
- Start date
I would shoot for a "blue" bulb, but not an actinic. The actinics have very little useable light. Something like the ATI blue+ tubes would be ideal in that configuration. Maximizing bulb brightness is essential, especially if the fixture doesn't have individual reflectors like yours (at least I don't believe it does).
Kind of an old post to dig up eh?
To get the most usable light for corals, yes, 3:1 (Well, 4:0 would be the most, but that would look terrible. Your tank will look slightly yellow though with 3:1). To get the most balanced light 2:2 (White/Blue tint tank). You can also get a mix of 10k, 14k, etc bulb. I don't have any experience with anything other that 10k/actinic though so I couldn't say how blue the 14k looks compared to 10k.
I have 6 T5HOs on individual reflectors and it goes 4 10K UV Aquasun bulbs, 1 UV Super Actinic (420nm) and 1 03 Actinic (460nm). The Super Actinic really makes the corals florece compared to the 460.
To get the most usable light for corals, yes, 3:1 (Well, 4:0 would be the most, but that would look terrible. Your tank will look slightly yellow though with 3:1). To get the most balanced light 2:2 (White/Blue tint tank). You can also get a mix of 10k, 14k, etc bulb. I don't have any experience with anything other that 10k/actinic though so I couldn't say how blue the 14k looks compared to 10k.
I have 6 T5HOs on individual reflectors and it goes 4 10K UV Aquasun bulbs, 1 UV Super Actinic (420nm) and 1 03 Actinic (460nm). The Super Actinic really makes the corals florece compared to the 460.
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