lighting question

cyclops23

Premium Member
I just got a 6x54w t-5 light hood. but the bulbs aren't very good. what color of bulbs would be the best? ocean blue? ocean white? i guess i just don't know the difference. all i want to put in there later on is soft corals
 
If you aren't familiar with the terms Actinic and Color Temp (measured in Kelvin=K) you should do a little research on it.

There is by no means a rule that holds standard for lighting a reef aquarium but I will give you my opinion.

If I read your post right you have 6 bulbs? If so I would use 2 100% Actinic bulbs. These will give you a 'blue' spectrum of light. As for your others you need something in the range of 10K-14K (10,000 deg Kelvin- 14,000 deg Kelvin) These will provide you with a 'white' spectrum. The 10K bulb will be 'whiter' and the 14K bulb will be 'bluer'. I am not really familiar with the terms 'ocean blue or ocean white' but I assume that the white is in the range of 10k and the blue is in the range of 20k.

Good luck.
 
Also depending on the fixture(individual reflectors) and depth of your tank, that hood should easily handle softies, lps, and even some sps.

Jacob
 
i was going to go with at least 3 of the 10,000k, but i didnt know about the actinics. the bulbs i was looking at were labeled ocean blue and white, but were listed seperately from the actinics and the 10000s, so i didn't know if they did anything special that the other ones didnt. its 6 bulbs, but its one solid reflector above the bulbs, not individual
 
it's about 24" from the light to the sandbed, so hopefully it will be alright if i get good bulbs. the bulbs in there now are catalina, and they kinda suck
 
im getting T5 soosn too, im looking into the lighting bulbs too. its a 4x56

i want 2 white, 2 blue, probably 2 100%actinics, and 2 10K
 
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