Suggest some bulbs, please.

[Kayak_Guy]

Ok, I'm about 2 weeks away from starting my 1st saltwater tank.

The tank I'm using is a 55 gal, formally freshwater. And has a hood with regular 18" florescent bulbs.

I plan on upgrading the lighting to T5 HO's but it may be awhile.

SO...I want to replace the current bulbs in the hood. I will be doing a FOWLR tank.

Any suggestions?

 

[RobNJ]

Regular NO lights are fine for a FOWLR. You don't need to upgrade you lights.

 

[Kayak_Guy]

Really? I was under the impression that it won't be bright enough?

Lighting is still a bit of a mystery to me.

 

[papagimp]

Won't be bright enough for corals but fish don't care about the lighting. too bright will actually hurt some fishies. And the reason you need lighting for corals is that they have zooanthellae, an algae that lives inside the tissue of the coral, they expand there tissue (puff up) to receive more light to their zooanthellae and this in turn gives the corals the nutrients that the algae isn't using. It's a symbiotic relationship that benefits both. But as mentioned, for the fish only tank, normal output is all you need, now deciding on the bulb you want, that's all personal preerence, pick the color youlike the best. 6500k will be a yellowish color.....10,000k will be more white.....14,000k - 20,000k will be very blue. Probably don't even need to worry about actinics yet (different color spectrum of bulbs, needed by corals, bascially replacating the very very blue and purple found deep in the water where reds and yellows do not penetrate.)

 

[Kayak_Guy]

Thanks for clearing that up!

I really like the blue look, should I use 2 different bulbs? Like a 6500k and a 15000?

Or stick with one color? Also, will mixing bulbs look funny? (Since I only have 2 ballasts? And there only 18” long?)

 

[Kayak_Guy]

Anyone else? Bulb suggestion