Lighting question

[Schgred]

I have a marineland reef capable led light for my 37 gallon reef tank. I'm wondering what you may think about adding a T8 actinic bulb to the tank since I already have the T8 fixture. The led light is definitely more of a white light and I've heard that the best lighting is equal white lighting with actinic lighting. Since there are only 4 actinic led lights on that fixture would the t8 actinic light help a lot?

I realize I could just buy the bulb and return it if I don't like it but I thought I would ask the question.

 

[Ingy]

Marineland "reef capable light" ain't. Sorry

 

[Schgred]

It's the light I have so I'm going to use it even though it may not be perfect. Any other "helpful" thoughts?

 

[aadair22]

The fixture you have is capable of only keeping lowlight soft corals, not much else. I wouldn't worry to much about adding the t8 unless you want it for visual effects.

 

[Schgred]

Web you say visual effects would it help make it look better? I realize the combination wouldn't be sufficient to grow a lot but would the extra actinic help the look?

 

[aadair22]

Web you say visual effects would it help make it look better? I realize the combination wouldn't be sufficient to grow a lot but would the extra actinic help the look?

I imagine it would bring out some more fluorescents in the corals

 

[oyf709]

You might want to just sell the marine land and pick up a full T5 set or a different LED set. The reason is that any T5 or T8 would pretty much blend your LED shimmer effect, and the LED itself doesn't really make a huge differences in performance.

many people thought actinic doesn't help coral growth, and "white" bulb are the one growing coral, that is incorrect. You can grow coral with full power royal blue LEDs and they would grow like a charm. The only problem is that without the white, you can't really see the coral yourself lol.
As long as your blue LED/bulb give enough PAR then your coral would be fine. As far as for fluorescent in coral, you can easily get the best out of them with some Royal blue LED or violet LED.

 

[Schgred]

So sounds like most people really don't like the reef capable led light. Anybody on this forum use it for very basic coral?

 

[aadair22]

So sounds like most people really don't like the reef capable led light. Anybody on this forum use it for very basic coral?

Well if by 'basic' corals you mean mushroom zoas Xenia.. Things like that you should be fine

 

[Schgred]

That helps. I guess when i say basic, i mean coral that will do fine with this light. Since I'm new to this I am pretty ignorant about lighting requirements for certain coral. I found this website which gives PAR values for the light.

http://blog.aquanerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Marineland-Reef-Capable-LED-PAR-Numbers.png

But what I am not totally certain of is what corals would then do alright under these lights given these par values. Obviously you can't say all softies and all polyps but not sps or lps. So what PAR values would be considered light, moderate, or high?

 

[aadair22]

I am no expert on the par that particular corals need, but if those numbers are correct, then you should be able to keep any soft coral and some lps if place them high in the tank, but to be safe, I would stick with softies

 

[Schgred]

So I tried out the zoo med coral sun t8 24" bulb with the marineland reef capable led. It definitely didn't do much to bring out the blues in the tank. It was REALLY subtle. So I returned the bulb and want to try two other options. Essentially these would supplement the lighting that I already have.

There is a guy who is willing to sell me a dual t5ho fixture and a 12" Innovative Marine SkkyeLight SingleStrip LED Light actinic light for pretty cheap. Because the marineland led puts out so much light I want some more blues still. I would not use both of those fixtures but could buy them both and choose to use one or the other.

I have a 37 gallon tank which measures in at 30x12x22. I am concerned that the 12" singlestrip will be too narrow yet recognize it is a pretty wide angle led fixture.

If I used the t5 fixture I would try different combinations to see what coloration I could have in the tank.

What would you recommend for getting more blues in the tank? And would either of these options serve to get better growth for corals that demand more light?

 

[aadair22]

I'm just kind of guessing, but the output is probably going to be the same with those fixtures. If you happy with the marineland that you have now, keep it and just get an led strip for the actinic. Look at marinedepot.com for other options for that before you buy the one you mentioned

 

[Schgred]

Thanks. Any other thoughts on adding the t8 or the innovative marine led?