First of all, I would like to say hello, as im new to this fourm. Well im currently down gradeing my current setup.I plan on purchesing a acrilyc 65/70 gal. tank 36x18x24. Now my question is will I be okay to get 2 250watt 20000 MH with 2 actinic. As there seems to be very diffrent opinions on good/overkill lighting. I have never experimented with MH before and would like my purches to be benificial to the inhabitance in the tank.A few types of things I would like to have in the tank are colt coral,some polyps ,frog spawn , hamerhead , brain coral etc. thanks to all in advance for your replies.
lighting ? 4 new tank stup
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Navarre
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Hi and welcome.
The lights dont pose a problem in itself but I feel you have too much in the blue spectrum to be honest.
The usual bubls go up in stages. 10K 14K 20K (you can go lower than 10K but they are not as popular)
The higher up the specrum you go (towards blue) the less of this light that can be converted into energy by the corals symbiotic algea.
The closer you travel to 5.5K the closer you move to sunlight and the more of this light that can be used for energy.
Isee that you have all your lights in the blue spectrum which means that although you appear to have lots of light, not much of it is actually being used.
Im not saying tht it wont work, i have seen tanks run on 20K bulbs and actinics, they look fantastic (the human eye likes the blue light as opposed to red light) as the coral will show off their flouressing.
I would recomend that you mix the MH bulbs.. 1x 10K and 1x 20K or perhaps 2x 14K
The lights dont pose a problem in itself but I feel you have too much in the blue spectrum to be honest.
The usual bubls go up in stages. 10K 14K 20K (you can go lower than 10K but they are not as popular)
The higher up the specrum you go (towards blue) the less of this light that can be converted into energy by the corals symbiotic algea.
The closer you travel to 5.5K the closer you move to sunlight and the more of this light that can be used for energy.
Isee that you have all your lights in the blue spectrum which means that although you appear to have lots of light, not much of it is actually being used.
Im not saying tht it wont work, i have seen tanks run on 20K bulbs and actinics, they look fantastic (the human eye likes the blue light as opposed to red light) as the coral will show off their flouressing.
I would recomend that you mix the MH bulbs.. 1x 10K and 1x 20K or perhaps 2x 14K
Navarre, thanks for the reply.So if I were to add 1- 10k& 1- 20k ,would I be able to run the actintics?.Also im more concerned for the inhabitance that will be in my tank then my own eye plesure.So i dont mind any other recomendations on light set up.Thanks again
Navarre
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I ran twin 150w halides like this and although it gave a fantastic spread of light, it did look a little strange in the tank seeing 1 end undre 10K (more lellow light) and another under 20K (far more blue).
You might get away with this though if you run actinics alongside as these might blend the light enough to make it uniform. (i did so i really cant advise on that)
Personally i love the 20K bulbs, but like you i would like to see corals thriving etc so i reluctantly change the halides back to 10K and are using actinics to enhance the blue light in the tank.
The advantage of this is tha tthe corals get a better spectrum of light and also you can have a morning.evening period that you can simply run actinics only.
The last thing to think over of course, (and i didnt really touch on this in my orignial post). IS what type of corals are you wishing to keep?
Remember that corals like Acropora and millipora live practically under the surface so they require high temperature light ( more like natural sunlight 5.5K-6.5K)
Corals that live lower down the reef walls can and will survive on light with more blue in it.
Give me an idea what you are wanting to keep and we might be able to tailor meet your/their requirements
good luck with the project.
You might get away with this though if you run actinics alongside as these might blend the light enough to make it uniform. (i did so i really cant advise on that)
Personally i love the 20K bulbs, but like you i would like to see corals thriving etc so i reluctantly change the halides back to 10K and are using actinics to enhance the blue light in the tank.
The advantage of this is tha tthe corals get a better spectrum of light and also you can have a morning.evening period that you can simply run actinics only.
The last thing to think over of course, (and i didnt really touch on this in my orignial post). IS what type of corals are you wishing to keep?
Remember that corals like Acropora and millipora live practically under the surface so they require high temperature light ( more like natural sunlight 5.5K-6.5K)
Corals that live lower down the reef walls can and will survive on light with more blue in it.
Give me an idea what you are wanting to keep and we might be able to tailor meet your/their requirements
good luck with the project.
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