FOWLR MH - Color Temp

[reef_enthusiast]

For those running MH's on FOWLR, what color temperature do you feel is best at bringing out the colors of fish? Most of the discussions I found on kelvin rating were in regards to color growth and coral coloration.

I converted my 280 reef to a FOWLR. I'm running 3 x 250W double ended Phoenix 14k MH bulbs and 2-6' VHO actinics. I'm curious if the colors of the fish will look better under 10k or 20k MH lighting.

Thanks for your opinions in advance.

 

[Recty]

Depends on the fish. 10K will bring out the reds/oranges more and the 20K will bring out the blues/greens.

I went with a 13K bulb on my tank and I love it.

Personally, I like the 10K look better than the 20K look, although if you're still going to run 3 MH, maybe you can do a mix and match, leave just one MH at 20K and do something else with the rest.

 

[yukonblizzard]

I use 13k too. Im not a fan of really blue tanks, nor really yellow tanks, so I found that 13k seems to be a happy medium.

 

[reef_enthusiast]

Thanks for your response. Thanks for the suggestion of mixing different bulbs. Haven't thought of that.

I've never really listed what I had due to almost certainty of being criticized for my bioload I have a mix of large angels, tangs, dwarf angels, butterflyfish, wrasses, and anthias.

 

[reef_enthusiast]

I agree about too blue tanks. Surprisingly, the phoenix 14k's with VHO Actinics don't look too blue. I know trying to get good representation in pictures is pretty hard but this is pretty close to how the color on my tank is with MH & VHO:

Since it's FOWLR, do you guys still stick to changing out the bulbs every 12 months? To be honest, since I no longer have corals, I've been running the same MH bulbs for over 24 months.

 

[Juggler]

Yeah, they say old mh bulbs cause algae but i havent noticed a thing. I have bulbs that were run for 1.5 years and were used when i got them!

 

[Recty]

I'm not planning on replacing my MH until I notice horrible algae problems or it start spitting out sparks.

 

[yukonblizzard]

I havent changed my bulbs since I started in 2006, and I havent noticed any color change.

 

[reef_enthusiast]

Sounds good. Good to know I'm not the only one that doesn't change out bulbs every 12 months If I remember correctly, one of the studies on 250W DE MH bulbs I read stated that the Phoenix's PAR did not decline much going from 12 months to 18 months.