What Light Bulb Shows Up Dwarf Neon Rainbows Best?

[mattlee]

as title says really. just bought a group of 9 dwarf neon rainbows and when the light is on they look quite grey/silver and when the light is off you can really see the blue in them!
what bulbs do you guys have to show off the rainbows colours? im due new bulbs anyway so would like to get my fish looking their best with my new ones. at the minute i have 2 white tubes, would a coloured tube be better?
it might be worth saying that the fish are about an inch long so still young and have only been in my tank a few days.........

 

[howard_hopkinson]

I'm quite fond of the Arcadia Original Tropical Lamp. It definitely brings out the reds and blues of my fish. My plants seem to like it too and grow very well.

 

[trojannemo]

the trick with rainbows is you need light a sharp angle from the front. that is why you notice the colors better with the light off, because the only lighting then is the one from your room's overhead light, which hits the fish at the right angle. what i did to (slightly) improve the colors of the fish was to buy a second light fixture, so i have 3x bulbs in the back of the tank, which lights up the whole tank, and a single tube in the front of the tank, which makes a big difference in the way the colors show. if you have a canopy on your tank, then you could do one better and attach the light to the front panel, which I expect would be the single best thing you could do...

if others have different tips i'd love to hear them as well!

 

[drobbyb]

I have my lights pulled up to the front of the tank like trojannemo has indicated. For bulbs I have 1 6500k daylight bulb and 1 18000k bulb. The different colors of light have an effect on their coloration and also balances out a bit. The 18000k bulb appears purple and the 6500k bulb looks yellow compared to the 18000k.

 

[mattlee]

thanks for your replies guys.
mt tank is a fluval 240 and the lights are mounted centraly in the hood and the front and back of the hood lifts up for feeding/ maintenance so there is no where to fit another tube.........! could i get a better colour using different coloured tubes like drobbyb but without the front tube?

 

[kiriyama]

18000k tube.
have a look at hagen aqua-glo and power-glo , also arcadia.
http/www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/technic_and_accessories/_illumination

 

[drobbyb]

I tested a couple of tubes before I settled on my setup. I just changed them out having a nice long look until I came to a decision on what looked best to me. The 18000k purple tube balanced out with the white 6500k tube. Somehow the fish just seem more colorful.

Really though, to get the best colors out of rainbows, especially parecox, you ned a tube at the front of the tank so that the light illuminates and reflects off the scales better. I realize this isn't always possible though, so you have to do the best with what you have.