Lighting Upgrade Options (more PC or MH)?

[jeffrey_ropp]

As a new zoanthid collector, I'm somewhat uninspired with the coloration of the zoos from my current PC lighting setup. I'm running 2x55W 10K bulbs and 2x55W Actinic 03 bulbs.

My ballasts do support 96W bulbs, so I could get quite a bit more wattage by buying new bulbs (220-->384).

The other option is to go MH, which would obviously be more expensive and require some refitting of my 6" tall canopy.

So my question is this:

Will upgrading to 384W (perhaps 1/2 actinic) will result in significant better coloration or do I need to go MH to achieve real results?

Thanks for the thoughts.
Jeff

 

[LA-Lawman]

hey jeff:

where do ya live... i could give you some zoos they grow like crazy in my tank....

i have green,purple,orange.... they are ike the plague in my tank. 8O

 

[Anonymous]

I'm running 2x55W 10K bulbs and 2x55W Actinic 03 bulbs.

I would think that with the actinic you have there that your zoanthids would look pretty. I think it is the actinic that really brings them out, although depending on how deep your tank is they might just not have enough illumination to really make their color stand out.

Now, someone correct me if I am wrong, but I have not found that zoanthids "color up" under more intense light the way an acropora would, they just seem to stay whatever color they are, but can be enhanced by more blue light. All of my zoanthids look their prettiest when the MH goes off for the evening and I just have my two actinic PC bulbs going.

I must say I am a big MH fan! I think my zoanthids looks great under MH, but I bet the 96w PC bulbs would make a big difference as well compared to what you are seeing with the 55w ones, as long as you keep two of them actinic. So if you are looking for that perfect excuse to go MH, here it is, but I do think the bigger pc bulbs would do the trick, and be far cheaper and less of a hassle.

How deep is your tank? I am assuming you don't have some kind of super deep tank that the PC light just isn't intense enough to penetrate to the bottom.