big tank lighting.

[dahenley]

I currently have a 240 tank. (96 X 24 X 24) with 3-400w Metal Halides.

here recently i have made some new Reflectors for it, and i only run my tank lighting for about 6-8 hours a day. (i stagger the 3 lights by an hour)

i want to add some actinic lighting and dont know what to choose.
what are your opinions on bulbs and types? VHO vs T5 (for actinic only)
and what bulbs would you recommend?

i was planning on putting 2-4' bulbs in front and 2-4' bulbs behind the metal halides.

any other plans or recommendations are welcome!!
thanks

 

[khaosinc]

for the actinic effect, I would actually look towards LED. The colors they bring out are impressive.

 

[TTU_Reefer]

hey david!

Some of the T5s can produce nice blues and coral "pop", powerchromes and ATI are my favorite.

 

[TTU_Reefer]

for the actinic effect, I would actually look towards LED. The colors they bring out are impressive.

With his size tank and amount of MHs disagree, LEDs would be washed out and kinda lost(unless he used a TON $$$), plus he doesn't need the shimmer since he is running MHs. unless he is planning on running these when the MHs are off, then yes I agree! I love LEDs :dance:

 

[tom obrecht]

On my 260 ( 60L x 36W x 28H) I ran 2-400 watt 10K Ushios with 4 VHO actinics. I LOVED the color and the corals grew like weeds (all softies). I have never used t-5's but the VHO's did a very fine job IMO. Here's what I did.

 

[dahenley]

Tom, what VHO bulbs did you use?

 

[dahenley]

also, i am getting a lot of people saying that VHO does supplement better than T5's.

i have been told to use URI 454's and URI Super Actinics.
what is every ones opinion on that, or other choices of bulbs? curious?

 

[tom obrecht]

Tom, what VHO bulbs did you use?

URI if I remember correctly.

 

[tom obrecht]

Sorry, URI's Super Actinics is what I used. Had great luck with those bulbs.