Aquarium Lighting?

[Mat.P]

I have a reef aquarium with 2x 36w power compact t5 lights a 6watt white led strip and 1w blue led strip.

The aquarium came with 1 daylight white t5. And one 50/50 white/blue t5, also i can switch the led strips seperately from the t5 lights.

my question is what colour combination should make the fish look bright and colourfull like in the shop, things dont glow much atm, should i have both t5's as 50/50 white/blue or both daylight white or are their other options? I also considered a 6w t5. Black light in addition to the others.

i am fairly limited on watts and fittings as its a 22.5 gal tank with built in electrics ( although i probably could get another tube in there with some bodging!.

 

[Donya]

If you want to replicate a particular look, you will need to find out what lighting is used on the particular system of interest. Shops use all sorts of different lighting that is often adapted to highlighting different things, often mixing MH, T5, and LED. The same animal can look very different from one tank to another even within the same store sometimes.

I'm not very familiar with T5 PC bulbs, but do I understand that your T5s actually have 3 parts white and 1 part blue/actinic? If so, that could be the culprit in making things not glow much, as the actinics are what do that for a lot of fish and corals. The most common setup for T5 systems is 50% white and 50% blue alternating front to back. So, for two regular T5 bulbs, it would be one white and one blue. For four bulbs, you'd have two of each alternating, and so on. To really get reds and oranges to stand out on things like Zoanthids, some shops will do one white, two blues, and a purple/pink, but it gives a very deep-sea look despite the neon glows. Half white and half blue is much more common for home setups. Without seeing how the bulbs are designed and fit into the fixture, I don't know whether you would want to go with two 50/50s or one white and one fully blue.

 

[Mat.P]

If you want to replicate a particular look, you will need to find out what lighting is used on the particular system of interest. Shops use all sorts of different lighting that is often adapted to highlighting different things, often mixing MH, T5, and LED. The same animal can look very different from one tank to another even within the same store sometimes.

I'm not very familiar with T5 PC bulbs, but do I understand that your T5s actually have 3 parts white and 1 part blue/actinic? If so, that could be the culprit in making things not glow much, as the actinics are what do that for a lot of fish and corals. The most common setup for T5 systems is 50% white and 50% blue alternating front to back. So, for two regular T5 bulbs, it would be one white and one blue. For four bulbs, you'd have two of each alternating, and so on. To really get reds and oranges to stand out on things like Zoanthids, some shops will do one white, two blues, and a purple/pink, but it gives a very deep-sea look despite the neon glows. Half white and half blue is much more common for home setups. Without seeing how the bulbs are designed and fit into the fixture, I don't know whether you would want to go with two 50/50s or one white and one fully blue.

Thanks for the advice, the tubes are next to each other so 2 50/50 bulbs should alternate like you said, so i will try that and if i need the red i could maybe add an led strip or sqeeze a regular 8w t5 tube in there for red as thats about all would fit.

 

[jeasko]

Not sure what led's your using but to be honest most LFS will have some sort of true actinic lighting (420nm) which you have in the 50/50 tube, this is the lighting that will fluoresce the colours in the fish so really you need a single t5 dedicated to blue and one for white if all your trying to do is improve the look of your fish.

The actinics depending on the manufacturer can have dramatically different appearances even though they all hit the same wave length (or band of wavelength that contains the magic 420nm) one worth looking into is the geismann actinics as IMO it has the best effect on your tank and inhabitants

 

[Mat.P]

Thanks, i sorted it today i went to a very good local fish supplier who had a lighting display on a tank where you could switch different tubes and observe the fish (very good idea i think)

So i have a 50/50 pink/deep blue and a 50/50 actinic/white, its perfect for me all the colours show beautifully and the corals and live rock looks great now the purples and pinks are really enhanced and the greens are hidden a bit so the algea doesnt hog the colour spectrum so much, and if i want to whiten it a little the led light take up the slack and i can use the blue leds if i want to make purples deeper.

mat.