Supplement to MH lighting?

[six.line]

I have a 55gallon tank that I will be building a MH system for it. I think I've gotten the MH questions answered, but I'm curious to know what the supplemental lighting should be.

I'm aware of T5 sized VHO lights, but I was thinking I could get away with just a NO actinic light to supplement the blue?

This is what I had in mind:

2 x 175W MH, rated 14K
2 x Actinic, basically just picking up an old hooded light system from a garage sale and replacing the bulbs with actinic bulbs.

Any help is, as always, appreciated.

 

[mystikdragon7]

If you are going to get 175w 14k lights, I think the 14k will be blue enough for you. But if your going to get a cheap actinic set up, I would set up the MH first and see how you like it, then set up the actinics to see which look you like better.

 

[six.line]

Is it not true that you want the actinics anyway, to simulate dawn and dusk?

 

[mystikdragon7]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6943930#post6943930 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chris.rogers
Is it not true that you want the actinics anyway, to simulate dawn and dusk?

You can if you want to, that's the kind of set up I have. My MH are 10k. Hers's and idea if you don't like both of the lighitng on at the same time. Set it up so the actinics turn on in the morning and them turn off when the MH come on and vise versa at the end of the day. Some people even hook up dimmers to thier ballast, but that will probably be a little more than the actinic set up you want to do.

 

[six.line]

Okie doke.

But have you ever heard of having high powered actinic lights to supplement MH? Like VHO or PC actinics? What would the be the advantages/disadvantages there?

 

[mystikdragon7]

I have two 96w VHO actinics to supplement my two 175w 10k MH.
The advantages I think would be more lighting power and depending on how you look at it, better or different colors you get from your corals.
The only disadvantages I can think of is getting corals that don't demand a lot of light and a higher power bill.
It all really depends on how you play with your lighting to get that certain look you want from your fish and corals.