best supplement light for 20k radiums ?

[MSHUR]

i have 2x400 radiums running on hqi. what u guys would recomend as far as t-5's? i have spaece for 3 ice cap reflectors, one in the back and two in the front
i was thinking 2 new actinics from uri and one 11k on iC-660

MIKE

 

[HorseoftheSea]

with 20k bulbs your tank should be plenty blue and not really need actinics light too

 

[MSHUR]

well, actinics makes colors stand out a bit more..
its not really how my tank will look,its about coral coloration
maybe a wire 2x aquablue (11k) and 1x actinics..

not sure yet))

 

[jer77]

You may want to add some daylight bulbs to encourage faster growth with your sps. I have a radium SE bulb and a 10000k MH bulb on my frag tank and I have noticed more growth under the 10000K. They say the midday T-5's are suited for sps corals. IMO I would get 2 middays and one actinic.

 

[MSHUR]

thankx jer,
i think, i might go this way. do u think i should run actinic on regular ballast or on ice cap?

mike

 

[RichConley]

Radiums have a huge spike in the blue area, and actually have very little violet to them. On sanjay's charts, the 250w radiums are almost exactly the same as the 14K Phoenixs, so Violet(Actinic, or 10K) supplementation is teh best way to go.

 

[MSHUR]

rich,
in my case ( 400w radiums) i should get 2x10k and 1 actinics?

mike

 

[RichConley]

Its still the same situation. The 400w radium has a ton of blue, and not a lot of violet.

Both 10K and actinic bulbs tend to have very large spikes in the violet area, so its your call on what looks better to you.


Have you ever seen a raspberry milli under a phoenix, or radium? Looks like crap. If you get it under a bulb with lots of violet, all that red comes out, and it looks great. Looks all washed out on the phoenix. Thats why you want to balance out your violet and blue. If you're gonna run radiums, you want to supplement violet to get the best colors.

 

[ejocam]

Mike, I run 4 - 250w SE Radiums on a 72" tank with 2 - 48" Super Actinic VHO's from URI. Growth and color is great. I've used T-5's but like the VHO more. If you can see both bulbs in action, your choice would be eaier to make Eric

 

[RichConley]

Heres what I'm talking about incase you're curious:

 

[RichConley]

Violet(420nm) spike on the 10K bulb, Blue(450nm) spike on the Radium.

 

[MSHUR]

thankx rich ,great info.. now i know ,why i always had a problem to keep red/pink color..
here is what i think i am going to do..
2x 400w radiums on hqi run for 7-8 hours
1x t-5 uri actinic on regular ballast for 12 hours
2x t-5 10k on ice cap for 8 hours
i think this way i can ballance out..)

eric,
i know what u are talking about ,i use to have vho long time ago ,before i step to t-5"s
have u see new uri actinics ( t_5)?
btw, how do u like ac-14k