lighting question

[chingking327]

I am buying a 36" fixture to hang over my 55 reef that is mostly softies with some lps and sps. The fixture has 2x 175w se and 36" vho's. If i am going to use uvl super actinics as supplement, what spectrum and brand mh bulb should i use? I was thinking a 10k xm but i do not want a yellow hue or i was also thinking a 14k but i thought with the vho's it might be too blue. My final question is will the vho's counter balance whatever mh bulbs i use, because i want a nice blue look to the tank?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

lighting is subjective.

you should look at aquariums (or pictures of aquariums) running these different kelvin lamps and decide from there what you like.

Personally, I like 14k Hamilton or Ushio combined with VHO actinics but I run 400 wattters. With 175 watters your corals might appreciate the extra PAR put out by most 10k's.