Suggestions for light temps/colors.

[Anonymous]

The tank is a 75 gal tall (21”). The canopy has two MH 150 watt mogul sockets and room for 4 VHO bulbs. It’s going to be a scaped with a combination of LPS and SPS. So here’s the question…..what is going to give me the best light for the corals and be aesthetically pleasing? For the MH go with 10,000k or 20,000k? Mix daylight, 50/50, or actinic VHOs?

I want to make sure that the corals are happy, but want enough blue to get them to fluoresce all the time and not just during the sunrise/sunset periods. Or am I asking to much?

All suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

-Gregory

 

[Ben1]

If that was my setup I would do 2 x phoenix 14k and 4 x 110 watt VHO URI actinics.

 

[AZDesertRat]

The best growth and coloration I have ever had was with XM 10k MH and URI(UVL) VHO Super Actinics. The XM 10k will have the punch or PAR to reach the bottom for tremendous coral growth and the actincs will give the added pop to the colors. I am not sure you will need all 4 VHO's in actincs though, maybe do two of them on a seperate switch with 50/50 or Actinic Days and run them to impress visitors, you certainly won't need them all the time. I have been running 14k to 20k bulbs recently but will switch back to the XM 10k next bulb change as its now too blue and I have slow coral growth in comparison.

 

[Petsolutions]

I'm not a big fan of the 20k bulbs for the situation you describe. I think that either of the suggestions from the two who commented above me are good ones. I know that we just swapped out some 10k bulbs for 14k bulbs into a couple of fixtures here that also have supplemental blue florescent in them and the colors look really great without being overly blue. If it were me personally at home, I would probably go with 14k's, but that's just my own taste.

 

[Anonymous]

I have used 10K XMs and they are great but they are somewhat yellowish. They can be offset by actinic supplements. I have used Iwasaki 15Ks and they are crisp white with a hint of blue(very slight). Both of these had excellent growth, but the color was not as pleasing as 20Ks. I would also be willing to try phoenix 14Ks due to the stunning pics I have seen.
20K XM:

15K Iwasaki:

10K XM:

My next lighting will be LEDs.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Both the Phoenix 14k and XM 10k come in a 150wt, but no one seems to be selling it. They all seem to have the 175wt. What happens if you run the 175wt on a 150wt ballast?

-Gregory