Lighting and Flow

[Chago09]

Ok two questions....

1.) For my 50 gallon 30" x 18" x 20". I am going to be running my sump with a quite one 4000 pump which pumps 1017gph but with my head distance it will only be pumping around 650gph. Now I currently own a koralia 4 which I don't want to waste. Can this powerful PH be used my on small tank??? is it two strong??? I was planning on using the return pump and this koralia to do all my flow. I will have over 36x turnover in my tank. Is this way too much?? Like I am asking will this be damagining to my system ??


2.) For my lighting I am going to be running 4 24W HO T5 from sunlight TEK. I wanted to know if using Actinics is completly required??? I was planning on running 4 10,000K bulbs and then have a simple 20watt regular Florescent tube which will hold a actinic bulb just so I can use it one hour before and after the T5 come on. Is this ok????

3.) Are 14000k bulbs better then 10000K????

 

[yeldarbj]

You will not like how corals look under all that 10K light. One of the advantages of T5's is the ability to mix different colored light bulbs. I would do something like this

front
blue plus
actinic
10k
blue plus
back

If you want a very white tank, substitute an Aquablue for a BluePlus.

 

[1F2FRFBF]

1) I'm not sure about the Koralia 4 because I'm not familiar with it, but if it's going to produce so much flow that you're kicking up a sandstorm, blowing corals off your rocks and sending your fish spinning wildly into orbit, then you might want to think about trading it in for something a little less powerful. I have a 54G and I just put in a Tunze 6025, which is the smallest they make, and it has a turnover rate of 660 GPH. It's working out beautifully so far combined with my SCWD. The fish are having a ball with the current, and the sandbed and the corals are intact.

2) I asked a question here a while back about whether there was any minimum actinic wattage required for a tank, and the consensus was "no". If you want to use actinic lighting as a transition between darkness and your full-blown "daylight", I can't see anything wrong with that.

3) Hey, I thought this was two questions... Anyway, the main difference between the 10000K and the 14000K is the color of the light. The higher in K temperature you go, the bluer the light will appear, and the lower the K temperature, the yellower it will appear. (Natural sunlight has a color temperature of 5500K, I believe, and the bluer bulbs, from what I understand, are supposed to mimic sunlight's passage through different depths of water.) But in the end it's as much a matter of your personal taste as anything else. Some people like the look of a bluer tank because it brings out certain colors on the animals; some like the natural look. Some bulbs get better growth rates than others, but as far as which do what, that's up for discussion. Just make sure you have enough wattage to satisfy the requirements of whatever animals you're looking to keep.

 

[Chago09]

alright cool thanx guys.... one question though what are the blue plus??? are those 14,000k???

I doubt the koralia is gonna kick stuff into orbit since it gives a very spread out flow.... although it does send a powerful 1200gph. I don't know if I should use it or not

 

[1F2FRFBF]

Blue plus is a type of actinic. They're measured differently than daylight bulbs.

Have a look at Reef Geek's T5 bulb page:

http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/Bulbs/

They have spectrum graphs there along with the types of bulbs, and the thing you'll notice is that actinics all fall in the blue spectrums, while even the bluest-looking daylights touch every part of the spectrum.

Do you have something you can test the Koralia in, like a tub or large rubbermaid container? That may give you some idea.

 

[yeldarbj]

blue plus is a bright blue spectrum bulb, specifically the ATI Blue Plus bulb. I don't know what k it is, probably 20k. It looks great mixed with other bulbs. I've read on RC that some people are thrilled with the color they get using 1:1 ratio of aquablue (really white) and blue plus bulbs. I personally have a mix of 1 super actinic, 2 blue pluses, 1 aquablue, and 1 6500 (yellowy white). I use 1 actinic and 1 blue plus for a great dawn/dusk glow.

 

[Chago09]

what you mean test the koralia???? test it for what???

ok heres what I will do... I don't want my tank to be too blue where it looks dim all the time so I will have 2 blue pluses and 2 10,000k.... is this a good mix???

 

[1F2FRFBF]

Test it to see how strong the flow is? According to Hydor's website, the #4 is 1200 GPH.

But if you've already seen it in action elsewhere and you think it'll suit your situation, then use it!

I'll defer to the folks who are using T5 lighting exclusively to guide you on your specific bulb selection.

 

[yeldarbj]

If you want more opinion on your T5 light choices, spend some time reading this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1120850

There are plenty of bulb combo recommendations.