lighting 55 gall.

[ckam]

my tank is a standard 55 gallon. my light fixture is4- 54 watt t-5. i've been using 2-10,000k and 2-460nm actinic. would using 3-10,000k and 1-actinic be better for my corals.

 

[bkv1997]

Well it depends.. Can you tell us what type of corals you are growing?

In general I tend to believe that the corals would prefer 6700 -10k light. They seem to grow faster this way. The problem with that though is they usually don't look as colorful and people aren't usually happy with the yellow looking water.

My advice would be to use as much 10k as you can, but make sure you are still using enough actinic to enjoy the look of your tank.

I just upgraded from a 55 gallon and I ran 2 250 watt HQI 14k bulbs and loved it.

Brandon

 

[minireefer]

is your lighting a retro fit in hood if so maybe adding a 175 watt retro halide might be good way to go and this will let upgrade to The SPS you posted about earlier

 

[rarecoral21]

they both said what i was going to say 175 watt metal halide 14k will do the job 10k if you want to grow fast and 14k-20k for more color good luck keep us posted

 

[ReefWannabe]

My 175 watt 10k from coralife has no yelow at all. I also have a set of 12k from another company, I forget the name. They have a lightly more blue look, but not much to notice.

 

[jhnrb]

460 nm is blue, 420 nm is atinic. hope this helps. I recommend the true atinic over the blue. good luck.