6500k color effect on corals

[musicman980]

Will a 6500k light turn my corals brown? Or would they just seem to be brown and as soon as I move them under 20000k's they look normal?

Will actinics make the coral's colors back to normal under the 6500k's or would I need to buy 10000k lights to solve the color issue?

You see HD sells pairs of 6500k light for like $7 and I REALLY don't want to spend $25 per light.

 

[disc1]

My impression is that the more red in the light, the more it encourages algae growth.

 

[rtparty]

Will a 6500k light turn my corals brown? Or would they just seem to be brown and as soon as I move them under 20000k's they look normal?

Will actinics make the coral's colors back to normal under the 6500k's or would I need to buy 10000k lights to solve the color issue?

You see HD sells pairs of 6500k light for like $7 and I REALLY don't want to spend $25 per light.

Are you talking about T5's? Better make sure those bulbs are the right bulbs. Not all T5's are the same. There are Normal Output and High Output bulbs. I bet HD sells the Normal Output bulbs and those won't work with High Output ballasts.

If they are High Output bulbs, I wouldn't run more than one unless you have like 10 bulbs to play with. They are harsh bulbs and very overpowering.

To be totally honest, if you don't want to spend $25/bulb, better look at going with LED or getting out. This might be the wrong hobby to be in.

 

[musicman980]

I'm using regular not-overdriven T8's and am successfully keeping softies and LPS just fine, my tank is only 14 inches high and the bulbs have reflectors on them. I don't have bad algae issues because my nutrients are as low as they should be any reef tank.

I don't want this thread to turn into a "your killing your corals 'cause you have T8's" thread because I'm not. So, back to the original questions.

Thank you for your responses

 

[jarrodsanborn]

As long as you keep your nutrients low algae should not be an issue those bulbs will be brighter and have more par than the average 10k t8 so I would be more concerned about shocking the coral.
1 thing you should be aware of is the color of the bulb will be yellow instead of white light so you may not like the look of your tank after the change. More blue bulbs could help.

Sps will brown out and die, but softies are able to live in surprisingly minimal ammts of light. Notice i said live not thrive or grow?

Ignore the haters. I kept mushrooms some leathers and palys growing through out a 29 gallon tank with only 2 t8 10k for a year before I upgraded. Par was measured to be under 50 through out the tank with some low spots of 10 !!!!!!! I still had some....tiny growth in that time but it was just my sump w rocks. The coral was stuff i intended on selling.... But life happens.
I hope you will be upgrading sometime in the future but for now you should be perfectly fine just use the cheapest bulbs you can

sent with my fat thumbs typing on a stupid damn smartphone

 

[musicman980]

Haha ok thanks for the response man. I wish I had a par meter or knew where to get one so I could measure it in my tank. I don't mind the "yellow" look, I doesn't even look yellow to me anyways it looks white.

 

[108reefer]

JMHO here, but I am a firm believer in the high dollar high wattage bulbs... now that being said - we all got a slap in the face (so to speak) at one of our meeting in the sarasota fl area - there is a guy there that is growing the most amazing tanks I have ever seen - defying all known "beliefs" in this hobby - using fixtures you would swear came out of the trash somewhere, all t-8 bulbs, some have tinfoil for reflectors, no skimmers, etc,etc, and has the most amazing coral tanks you have ever seen! 3,000 + gallons of awesomeness - I really just don't know how he does it!! (no one did!) I believe he is a member of the TampaBayReefClub - you can look him up there... but really, no t-5's no monster halides, just no high tech anything! growing huge colonies of sps, lps, zoa's you name it, he has it growing out of control! I have a video of me walking through, I will try to post a link... you can see near the end he has a street light over one of the tanks! I didn't get a good picture of that one, but the corals were showing INCREDIBLE growth under that as well, also, I see that he did have a few halides - but the vast majority had T-8's over them - go figure! This is a single individuals garage!!! I ended up with a garf purple bonsai from him that he went to garf to start his collection! and yes, they are growing under just 2 or 3 T-8's!!!