Reef lighting question

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spoonmerlin

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
43
Location
Chicago, IL
I have a standard size 65 gal. 36" long

I am upgrading my lighting from 2 96 watt Power Compacts to 4 96s and if I can get it to fit I'll add my 2 65 watt Power Compacts too.

I was wondering what would be the best bulb options.

I was thinking of 3 96 watt 10k daylights + 1 55 watt 10K (I have)

and 1 96 watt Actinic and a 65 watt Actinic.

Is this enough on the Actinic? I want to keep corals and also want to know if this is enough light for everything or is there some that require more then this. This is 7.6 watts per gal of Power compact.

Any other Ideas on Bulb combos. The 65s I have already and only 1 each The 96 I can pretty much go with any combo of 10k and Actinic.
 
The actinic lighting is more for your preference in tank apperance. The actinic light will bring out the natural colors of many of our fish and corals aswell. I recently went from 1:1 ratio of 10K to actinic to a 1.5:1 ratio of 10K to actinic and my corals have had no negitive effects.

Basicly I had 2 96W 10K's and 2 96W actinics but now I have 2 96W 10K and 2 96W 50/50 bulbs.
 
I think I'll go with 2 10k, a 50/50 10k/actinic and a regular actinic. That would be 5/3.

Also Anyone have a good suggestion on going from 1 10k and 1 actinic to this so I don't light shock the few things I have. I have read some on this and it sounds like I should due a gradual increase instead of all at once.

Would a sequence like this work. a new 10k and 50/50 for a week, then add the actinic for another week and then add the last 10k. Or do I need to make the distinctions greater like every 3 days add more light by changing the timers or something.

I'm not sure how light sensetive Live rock, 1 soft coral and an anemone are. I don't think the fish will care much.
 
What you can do is add all the light at once and then reduce your photo exposure. Instead of running lights for say 12 hours a day run them for only 8. Then after a week or so up that to 9 hours and slowly do this till your back at 12.
 
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