lighting for rapid lps growth

[A.T.T.R]

im thinking of setting up a 75 gallon lps frag system
what would you use for lighting for the most rapid growth
two 175 w 6.5k halide.
two 250 w 6.5k
1 250 6.5k
two t5's on an icecap ballast ( one actinit one white)
same thing but two white
or
4 ts 2 blue 2 white.
and so on.

really my only options are halide or t5

 

[A.T.T.R]

oh this will be mostly for blastos and chalic frags along wiht a few acans

 

[TIMMYE]

I would run 2 175- 65 K's and all blue attinics so you keep your colors.

 

[Serioussnaps]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9934642#post9934642 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TIMMYE
I would run 2 175- 65 K's and all blue attinics so you keep your colors.

That will look like crap. Most all of your lighting options are sufficient, but I believe there is no point in putting a 6500K bulb over blastos and lords. They arent light demanding to the point where they need all of that par. I think you should just do what looks best and feed them very well. IME with blastos(im a **** for blastos) I get great growth with the feeding of them more so than the lighting.

 

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9934642#post9934642 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TIMMYE
I would run 2 175- 65 K's and all blue attinics so you keep your colors.

I don't think this would look bad at all. If there were enough actinics the color would be fine. My first reef had one 250W 55 K light and VHO actinics. I thought it looked fine. My animals loved it. After they adjusted to it.

 

[Bcollins111900]

I would run dual 175 Watt Metal Halides with 10 or 12 or 14K bulbs. Then you do not need actinic suplementation. You have the lower kelvin rating which will premote fast coral growth with other ideal conditions (water quality, flow, and everything else), yet still enough blue color to make the corals pop. Not to mention less heat will be generatated w/o running addidtional actinis and less engery consumption.

 

[elegance coral]

There will be pros and cons to any system you choose. MH allone can save you some money on lighting and you light bill. However you wont have much controll over your lighting. It will be much harder to simulate dusk and dawn. Harder to acclimate animals to the lights because you can't turn off parts of the light and leave others on in little steps. You will be stuck with 10.12,14,or 20K lighting. With supplemental lighting you can have a Kelvin rating anywhere in this range you want. The bad thing about supplemental lighting is that it will cost you more money up front and more on your electric bill.
I have 7 lightbulbs on my 29gl tank. I have all the controll over my lighting I want.
I believe that Lps corals sometimes need time to adjust to bright lights, but once adapted they grow much faster under these lights.
If I were in your shoes I would get 2 250W 10K, not 65K, and some cheap PC actinic lighting. Your corals would grow like mad.
I would also use Kalk.

 

[GreyHawk1968]

Well if your looking for this to be a frag system then I would suggest two 175 watt 10K bulbs and 2 t-5 actinics.
Why 10K , it gives the best coral growth.
You are after growth if you are going to make this a frag system.The actinics would give you a little blue light to add some color. 6.5K bulbs are heavy yellow . About the only thing I have ever had any luck growing under those is all the stuff I didn't want.