Half Actinic and half Daylight or just Actinic?

[phastroh]

I run a Marineland Pro light system.

It has the 3 x 150MH 14,000K bulbs that are up to 4 hours a day 1 month into the new lighting set-up so my corals can adjust.

It also has the 8x39 T5's which I run 4 Actinic and 4 Daylight 10K's.

I was thinking of just going with all 8 Actinic and not running the daylights at all. I am just not the happiest with the color of the tank.

The MH bulbs had the tank looking sky blue when it was empty but now that it is filled it has dulled down from the great sky blue look it once had. The bulbs are new.

My only concern would be what I was losing from swapping out the 4 10k for the 4 other Actinic bulbs.

I have read all Actinic is bad for algae in one place and one said it isn't. I do have those little orangy spots in the corners that I have to always scrape off and this is with running Carbon, Big Skimmer, a lot of Chaeto, Large 36watt UV and cutting feeding down to one cube a day for 12 fish.

I had eggcrates on the tank when I started the MH bulbs(old tank only had T5's) and was running the 3 MH's for only 3 hours to start but have since removed the eggcrate and went up to 4 hours of MH.

I figured I would be running the MH here shortly for about 5 hours with no eggcrate since it has been 2 weeks since I started the 4 hours of MH.

When I got the lights they only had 8 Actinic T5's but Marineland sent me the 4 Actinic and 4 Daylights as replacements.

Any info from experienced people.

 

[phastroh]

I just checked around places to see what it came with and it originally came with the following.

Marineland Pro Series HQI T5 Lighting systems offer a balanced mix of lighting by including 14,000K HQI metal halide bulbs, high output T5 actinic fluorescent lamps and LED lamps.

So it comes with all Actinic I guess because it has the MH bulbs but I don't run the MH all day just yet.

I know there are many advocates of the 50/50 of Actinic and Daylights but I still have the 14,000K MH bulbs in there.

 

[fastrd400]

I don't run any day light T5's with my MH. I am running 250 watt 14K phoenix bulbs, and my T5's are 2x True actinic, 1x Blue Plus, 1x Purple Plus. You don't need to mix in day lights as you have the MH bulbs in the fixture. Call Reef Geek and talk to them about the coloration you want, and order what they suggest.

 

[Northstar24]

+1 Fast. George over at ReefGeek is the man. Give him a call and discuss the coloration you're looking for and he'll set you up

 

[phastroh]

Yeah Fast you recommended them a while back and I found them to have great prices.

I am just wondering like for in the immediate should I increase my MH up to the 5 hours or how much more. My corals seem ok with the 4 hours with no eggcrate but I like to wait 2 weeks to see how they are doing. 2 weeks so far and they are ok.

I will just for now put in all the T5 Acticnics and ditch the Daylights and see what ReefGeek says to me.

 

[Sir Alex]

I agree that having all actinic would be a good idea.

And right now I'm guessing with the 150 watt halides your coral selection is limited? Would it be possible to replace the ballasts with 250 watt ones?

 

[phastroh]

Well I know it is only 3x150 MH but I do not keep any SPS Corals and have no plans to. Of course there are corals in the LPS that need high lighting so yeah I am limited if they are bottom dwellers in need of high lighting.

If there was a way to upgrade the ballasts I would not even try because with all the wiring and stuff I would rather not.

You would think for a 6 foot light they would know the tanks are deep and need more MH wattage and slap 250x3 MH's in there.

I would loose my canopy if I tried to get a few 250watt MH Pendants and I am not wanting to hang stuff from my ceiling.

I suppose for now I am stuck until I can get one of those cool LED sets they are making that look nice with cool mounting options.

Right now my corals are set up like this.

I have a pretty big large bubble bubble coral on the bottom and it is growing faster than before.

Let me write it like this.

Substrate - Large Bubble and Small Bubble Bubble Corals. 2 Brain Corals, 2 sets of Candy Canes, Ricordeas, Zoas, and the other 2 are frags that can be seen here. I don't even know the names sorry

Link to pix - https://www.livingreefs.com/phastrohs-220-gallon-build-pic-heavy-t36169p4.html

Ones you may not see in the pix are similar to a Favia.

 

[fastrd400]

I would loose my canopy if I tried to get a few 250watt MH Pendants and I am not wanting to hang stuff from my ceiling.

Not really. I have them mounted in my canopy, along with a retro T5 set up. Just add a fan on each end and you should be fine if you decide to go that direction.

 

[phastroh]

Yeah I guess so but I would rather try to build my own crossbar to mount them to so that when I flip up the canopy they don't flip up with them.

I will have to see just how much lifts up because not all of the top lifts up just the front section.

What is a good system to get? Is 2 250's enough. I have 2 crossbars so I have 3 open squares into the tank so I could put 3 of them. I try to be a neat freak so having ballasts just wherever will be annoying.

 

[Sir Alex]

For just halide I'd say you'd need 3 400 watt halides. But if you you're running 4-8 t5s then you could use 3 250s.

But I guess 3 250s alone would be fine for lower light corals

 

[d2mini]

You just have to try different bulb combos until you get the look you like.
I was running one 14k Geismann Coral MH with four T5's. 3 ATI Blue+ and one ATI Purple+. Those Blue+ have AMAZING PAR and will give you more blue than true actinics will.

 

[fastrd400]

I'd run 3 250 watt MH, use a 20K bulb in them, it is bluer. Run all Actinic and Purple plus on the T5's.

 

[Sir Alex]

I'd run 3 250 watt MH, use a 20K bulb in them, it is bluer. Run all Actinic and Purple plus on the T5's.

Wouldn't the 20k and actinics make it too blue?

 

[fastrd400]

If you are running both at the same time. Depends on the amount of blue you want in your tank. Most people run the actinics before and after the MH. I run mine all day before, during and after the MH are on.

 

[phastroh]

Daaaannnnnggg even 3 250s would be like 750 watts and now I have 762 watts.

Maybe the light itself is just better as a MH even at about the same wattage.

Right now my tank stays at about 80 degrees with these lights on and my Fuge light and also I have a 600GPH pump running for my UV(it is huge) and a 1200 for my Carbon Reactor.

I have 2 clip on fans running. Back in my 80 I added only one fan and the temp dropped from 81 to 78 but I wonder how high it would get with no fan.

I have them both pointing in the return of the sump. I wonder if they would be better served if one or both were blowing across the top under the lights. I don't know if there is room under the canopy.

 

[fastrd400]

This is a pic of a 5" fan in my canopy. I run two of them. One pulls cool air in and blows across between the lights and the water. The second is reversed and pulling air out of the canopy.

 

[phastroh]

Ok so what is a good choice for the 250's. I may get them for X-Mas haha.

I will have to quit buying Halo figures for a while to get them. Yeah I have like 200 of them or more so not buying them will help.

I was thinking of looking for ones that come complete but I may be better building one like the fixture and bulb not in a combo pack deal.

???

Yeah I have a lot of fans like that from when I was building computers with plus for the wall too. I would use 2 fans though. I like to keep it extra cool.

What about the cost and performance difference of just getting a quality LED setup that look awesome like the new styles they have.

 

[Sir Alex]

I was thinking of looking for ones that come complete

You could consider this: Odyssea Metal Halide System

 

[Sir Alex]

What about the cost and performance difference of just getting a quality LED setup that look awesome like the new styles they have.

Good LEDs would cost well over $1000.

 

[phastroh]

Man that whole light cost 1/3 of this Marineland 72" I already have. What gives?

Is it a piece of shart or just waaaaaaayyyyy cheaper because the Marineland is a ripper.

I mean I only paid $400 for mine 1 year old with all new bulbs from Marineland but still.