Lighting Philosphy...

[windwaterwaves]

So I am thinking of doing some lighting changes. I currently have 2 250W MH, and 4 VHO Actinic. I use a 10k and a 14k bulb.

If you could start a new 120 gallon, 4x2x2 tank right now one with all of your thoughts in lighting what would you do? It's my understanding coral grows faster under 10k because of higher par. When you choose is it for aesthetics, or production?

Choose your perfect combo in the Poll!

 

[fatboyt123]

I would go with 20k + VHO actnics.

 

[mfinn]

My tank is for my own viewing and I prefer something that has colors I like.
It's not there for a production thing, so I would and do use 14k and VHO on one tank and 20k on another.

 

[Myteemouse]

14 K MH and T-5 true blue actinics is what I use

 

[HumblePie]

While I prefer MH lights where possible I would swap for LEDs.

 

[roscoe]

I would go 14k and supplement with VHO or T-5s for a bluer look. If I go 20k I wouldn't need or want to supplement. I would just use the vho or T-5s for the dawn to dusk effect.

 

[vinny2261]

I had my tank with 20k MH and VHO actinics was very blue, which I liked alot. I switched over to 10K bulbs. I did not like the washout look at first. Within a month or so I seem to notice the color coming back to the tank, or maybe that is how long it took me to get use to the color. I think the corals did a little better under the 10k compared to the 20k, probably just me. Not sure on the LED lights yet, seem pretty cool, should cost a lot less to run just have not seen any post on people who have converted over and what results there seeing.

 

[windwaterwaves]

A chatted with a guy from XM lighting over on www.reeftools.com a cool site, I have my tank params, blog and tank log in my profile... oh and they are having a give away.. so if you sign up reference me He said the 10k's have a higher par value which causes more growth, but the 20k's give better coloration and most of the retailers use 20k, his preference if it was only mh. Since I have the bulb space and transformers i'll probably move to 15k bulbs and T5 actinic.

 

[fatboyt123]

It's really all what you want. I think my problem is that i only used vho super actnics to light my tank for about a year and I was used to that. Well once i got enough money to get my lights up and running They are still way to white for me. I am using radiums and i dont really see the blue people are talking about just looks white to me. I will be trying xm's next though as i hear they have a little more blue in them.

If i upgrade to a bigger tank though I am going to go with T5's so i can go as blue as I like.

 

[ac7av]

I went to 20k MH and 50/50 CF. I originally had 10k MH and super actinic CF but the color power of the CF could not do the job well in my 29 inch deep tank. I have so much more color now and it doesn’t look so blue with the use of the 50/50 bulbs in there to lighten it up a bit.

 

[windwaterwaves]

AC... That is one option I didn't look at, 20k's with daylight supplementation. So do you fire the CF's as morning/afternoon and the 20k's as day? What does your light schedule look like.

 

[ac7av]

I have not settled on a schedule as of yet. I need to open up my hood and separate out the two sides of the CF lights so I can have the timer turn them on individually. At this time there is only one power cord for all 4 CF lights. My thoughts were after the mod to the hood was to turn on the rear set of CF then from right to left turn on the 250watt MH and then the front set of CF in 1 hour increments. Then reversing the order in 3 hours. Don’t know how it will work out for everything in the tank but it looks good on paper. Total light time 12 hours but each light is only on 7 hours and I am just tiring to simulate the light cycle of the day and keep the heat down.

 

[mfinn]

AC... That is one option I didn't look at, 20k's with daylight supplementation. .

On my 240, I have 3x250 watt Hamilton 14K, 3x160 watt VHO actinic and
1x160 watt VHO 50/50.
Makes a nice color.

 

[windwaterwaves]

Any more input here? Considering 15k xm's and retro the vho's to T-5's