Lighting opinion

[trigger1121]

I currentlly have a 120 gal. (60x18x26) FOWLR tank that I'm slowly converting into a reef. My current lighting consists of 4 39w T5 bulbs. I am wanting to retrofit two 250w MH's into this system. If I go with 14k or 20k bulbs for the MH's, will my tank look too blue if I use my actinic T5's? I am looking for opinions or options to get decent growth and color.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!!! Yeah, I think it may be way too blue for you. I ran dual 250w 20K XM bulbs on my 75gal and it was BLUE!!! With running something similar along with actinics, will make it really blue! Another thing to consider as well is different brands give off a different spectrum. Take my tank again for eg. I got a 12K reeflux bulb and took out one of the 20K's and ran them side by side and you couldn't even tell the difference at all. The colors (to the eye) were exactly the same. I'll go back and try and locate this link that was given to me on 250w MH bulbs that allows you to select the kelvin rating as wekll as the brand of bulb so you can see the different shades of color you get all tested on the same tank

Hope you enjoy it here

 

[Krish]

Here you go. Once you click on the link, give it a few seconds to load and then you can click on the aroows under the pic, to change the bulb's kelvin rating and brand. HTH

http://metricksystem.com/chris/250wcolour/

 

[twilliard]

Well I use 2 250W 14K hamiltons and 3 4' actinic VHO's and I think the tank is to white
so I guess it depends on what brand of lamps you use.
I have pheonix lamps that are a LOT more blue than the hamiltons

 

[trigger1121]

Thanks a lot for the link, Krish. The coloring of my tank now is just about perfect for me. I just need a lot more light. At $50-$100 per MH bulb, I don't have the budget to experiment too much there. Are you suggesting I look into getting two different Kelvin temp bulbs for the same tank? Would that make one side look unnatural?

 

[Krish]

No prob on the link

Are you suggesting I look into getting two different Kelvin temp bulbs for the same tank?

Definately not(LOL) That would mess with your eyes! I was just trying to explain that different brands of bulbs with the same kelvin rating, will give out different color shades. For instance, a 10K XM may be pure white and then a 10K Hamilton may appear more yellow.

 

[reefmarker]

20K = smurf colored tank.
14K = daylight colored tank.
10K = very bright white tank.

You pick your color...

 

[trigger1121]

Thanks again for the help. I think I'll start off with a 14k bulb and go from there. I can use my T5's as dusk/dawn only, and shut them off after the MH's come on.

 

[diablo]

best growth off a higher par bulb such as 10k's then supplement vho's for your atenic.
with 10k's your tank will be yellow with vho's it help the yellow color look more blue.
with 14-15k's color is nice but par is not great. so slow growth.
havent tried 20k's yet I have some lying around I will have to fire them up one of these days.

with my 14k's color was great but I had no growth in my sps. switched to 10k's and now my sps have new growth all over.

what ever you choose it will grow on you. Just think about your goals of what you want to keep. choose whatever will work best for corals and what you want to do with them.

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/index.htm
http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/articles.htm
trying to be like nikki heres a link