lighting question

[Solarfall]

I feel like light quality and spectrum are getting a little bit confused here.

Homer is partially correct, ideal color temp for GROWTH and only GROWTH is around 5,700k - 5,900k for SPS and other shallow water corals. The idea being that you want to emulate nature as closely as possible. However as this guy is new, and probably not trying to keep SPS, you want your color temp to get closer to the blue end around say, 14000k. The further the light penetrates water, the higher the Kelvins.

However, are we all growing and fragging corals for the sake of growing and fragging them? No, that's why people use bluer bulbs. Your corals may not grow as quickly, but who wants a giant colony that looks like brown poop because you don't get your neon colors out of a 5700k bulb?

As far as cost vs effect, plain florescent bulbs meant for a room or warehouse aren't manufactured with the intention of maintaining the same frequency at all times, they're manufactured with the intention of lighting a room. Aquarium bulbs are made for stability, so please use a quality brand aquarium bulb no matter the kelvins.

 

[Gatilidie]

Lol smh if you look at his experience it says eight, I think I'm gonna stick to listening to lil fish

 

[NanoReefer]

natural sunlight in the ocean at 30 feet around 12000k. this is because the deeper you go the higher the nanometer of the wavelength gets and the higher the kelvin. the water blocks out rays of the sun causing a more blue light. the information stated was total garbage and you probably think your clear nem is cool.

 

[kbuser92]

Thus using higher kelvin bulbs: to simulate natural light in our shallow tanks to that from the depth most corals would be living/thriving in. Actinic is 99% for aesthetics, but the high kelvin is not. Does that about sum it up?

 

[Solarfall]

Thus using higher kelvin bulbs: to simulate natural light in our shallow tanks to that from the depth most corals would be living/thriving in. Actinic is 99% for aesthetics, but the high kelvin is not. Does that about sum it up?

For the most part, yes.

The OP of this thread is new and just trying to get an understanding of lighting.

The easier-to-keep corals would thrive under a bluer light and it would bring out their sexy colors anyway. So long story short, use a quality bulb with a higher color temperature.

 

[Bifferwine]

I am partial to the 12K and 14K bulbs myself. I think those are a nice balance between growth and color. Those bulbs will work for a wide variety of corals, and will make colors pop, yet you'll still get outstanding growth (provided the other things in your tank are in check of course).

You can go with straight 10K -- but everything in your tank will look brown and yellow. You can also go with 20K -- but everything in your tank will be blue.

 

[Nonfamous]

Okay, so we ALL have a pretty good understanding of what light/colours/temps we need for what we are doing. So let me ask, how much difference, with say a 10,000k bulb, does it make having the fixture closer to or further away from the water's surface?

For example, my 3, 2 bulb, t5 units are sitting on the tank rim. This puts the bulbs about 2" from the surface. If they were to be moved to the next convenient location for mounting, in MY tank, they would be raised up to about 6" from the water's surface. How would THIS effect the quality, quantity and temperature of the light at depth? How about colour? Any effect? Heck I have seen all sorts of fixtures mounted low and high. What is a good rule of thumb for that?

 

[little_fish]

T5 lighting needs to be pretty close to the water because the light it puts out isnt as good at penetrating the water. Basically you lose PAR readings, and it gets harder to grow coral the deeper you go. This is also why T5 lighting isnt recommended for deep tanks.

However you wouldnt be able to see a difference.

 

[kbuser92]

Except the tank may be slightly dimmer.

 

[Droskie20]

so my lights finally came in!!!! I got t5 lights from aquatraders 4 bulbs 96 watts comes with 2 10000k bulbs and 2 blue actinic bulbs hooked em up and damn I'm impressed!

 

[Ulta]

Just remember Droskie, idk if anyone has told you this before but the bulbs those cheap fixtures come with (Aquatraders) are not very good bulbs. As you start to get more light demanding corals(LPS/SPS) your going to want to start looking at replacing the stock bulbs with a good brand bulb. I recommend the ATI Blue Plus for the bulb with the most blue light and has the same PAR as some of the best growth bulbs. If you want something a with a little more daylight properties I recommend the ATI Aquablue Special (12,000k). And for Aesthetics the UVL Super Actinic Bulbs :)

Normal bulbs last ~8-12 months. The bulbs that came with your fixture I would only give half that time.

And some of the posts I read on this thread from earlier are ridiculous lol. But they are from a week or so ago so I wont bother, just that SolarFall straightened things out a bit.

 

[Droskie20]

Thanks for the advise! I am planning to run these lights for a few months and then buy some better bulbs such as you mentioned

 

[Northstar24]

Thanks for the advise! I am planning to run these lights for a few months and then buy some better bulbs such as you mentioned

I would not replace them all at one time, as this could photo shock anything that you have in the tank. I would replace one of the whites and one of the actinics at the same time, and then several weeks later change the other pair out

 

[Droskie20]

didn't know that, thanks, one more,I have 10000k bulbs what do I benefit from switching to 12000?

 

[Ulta]

10,000k or 12,000k is irrelevant. Your just changing the color spectrum slightly.

Now if you talking about what is diff between the 12,000k Aquablue Special bulbs that I was talking about and the 10,000k bulbs you have and the answer is prolly about 2x the amount of PAR (Photosynthetically active radiation) This is the measurement of usable light for photosynthesis. Not to be confused what so ever with Lumens, like was earlier in this thread. This is due to the quality of the bulb however, not because of the color spectrum.

The companies who manufacture reef lighting measure this, as do some of the more experienced veterans in this hobby. If you try hard enough I'm sure you can find data that compares the PAR values of different types of lights. Otherwise you can always go by what other reefers say are the best by their own experiences and popularity of the majority.

 

[Droskie20]

so let me ask, what kind of bulbs do you guys use on living reef?????? Lol