Lighting

as a newb this was very interesting... any recommendations on what to get for a 46 gallon, about 18 inches tall, want to eventually keep soft corals...


Depends, do you want to be able to keep them towards the bottom of the tank? Any possiblity you'll want to move into anything more light demanding in the forseeable future?
 
as a newb this was very interesting... any recommendations on what to get for a 46 gallon, about 18 inches tall, want to eventually keep soft corals...

Will you be getting an all in one unit or will you be retrofitting into a canopy, because I think a canopy will make your choices alittle easier to upgrade in the future.
 
archer and everyone else very good information.. I still have problems with lights etc.. But this helps break things down a little for those who are in the design stages.
 
Lighting is easy...just ask away! There's no reason someone should be in this hobby and on this forum and not have their lighting questions answered.
 
No kidding Clown, I still think the lighting on a reef is more difficult to understand than the chemistry.

Grins, come on now!:banher:

Understanding the link between pH, Calcium and Alkalinity is way tougher than trying to figure out what bulbs you should use, how long they should be on, what freq to use and how far to place them from the water.
 
Well, since we are on the topic of lighting, I have been doing some research on what bulbs to put in my Aquactinics TX5 and I believe I have a good combo of bulbs but want to get some more opinions. I am going to go with these 5 bulbs in this order:

Aquablue
Blue +
AquaSun
Blue +
Aquablue

The only thing I am worried about is that it will be to much of a blue hue to the tank. I have not seen any T5 set up in action, so I am not to sure how it will look. Sorry to hijack thread, mods please move if in wrong section.
Thanks,
Scott
 
When I had my t5 setup, it used 2 10k and 2 actinic bulbs, and that looked pretty darn good to me. The 10k (probably the aquasun you mentioned) is really the main feed for the algae that lives in the coral...meaning it gives the best growth. The actinic bulbs are really more supplementary than anything else.
 
Well I am running 1 current 10k, 1 current actinic and 2 of these https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop...d=293&osCsid=b1377a01613e9b9961253c57dfdb045e
and it gives a nice crisp white look but the colors still come out good and I am getting good growth. I am not sure about the coloring of the bulbs that you listed but you might want to look into one of the GE Starcoats, they are yellow but it might lighten up the blue that it looks like you will end up with and the GE is a par monster as I have heard it called by others.
 
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