Actinic vs daylight bulb positions

[hgsports]

I currently have 4 55W Power Compacts attached via a retro kit to the canopy of a 75G tank. Two actinic and 2 daylight bulbs.

Currently I have the 2 blues towards the front of the tank and the daylights along the back. Most of my rock is piled up against the back wall, so the idea was that the blue light would extend deeper into the tank and should go in front (since that's the deepest water).

I have an overflow in the back left corner of the tank (it's black) and I'm noticing that most of the daylight specturm light just gets lost "in the overflow". If you look at the talk from the front, the left side looks much "darker" since the blue is in front and the daylight is over the overflow.

Anyone have any opinions on lighting scenarios? Does it even matter?


John

 

[MattM]

The position of the bulbs does seem to make a dramatic difference on the appearance of the tank. I wouldn't be too concerned about it though - just change the positions until the tank looks good to you.

 

[stilmas]

I was doing that exact thing last night. I reversed my lighting from daylight in the front and blue in the back to reverse order. I like the look of the blue in the back much better cause it illuminates the rock that is stacked up back there and the green polyps better than the white bulb, IMO.

 

[stilmas]

BTW, if you're not doing a dawn/dusk effect, then mix your bulbs...Daylight/blue and daylight/blue