Lighting Question

[Patterson333]

Hey all! So my old lighting fixture has been acting kinda crummy lately (namely one of the lamps would choose certain days on which it did not feel like working), and I decided it was time for an upgrade.

My lfs was having a pretty awesome sale, and I was able to get a dual bulb T5 lighting system (two 54 watt bulbs). Here's my question though: the kit comes with one daylight fluorescent bulb (the white bulbs), and one actinic bulb. I figured it'd probably be best to swap that actinic out for another daylight fluorescent bulb, but I'm having some second thoughts. Would there be any advantage at all to keeping the actinic on there? (I have an all male Peacock and Hap community tank, in a 55g).

 

[mfdrookie516]

Got plants? If not, I think your current setup is perfect. I ran a 10,000k daylight and an actinic on my mbuna tank... the blue really made them stand out. Even if you do have plants, one daylight bulb should be good for most low and some lower end medium light plants.

 

[abrahamavelar]

well in my case i have it like that and when i had my reef tank it brought out the colors on the fish and im pretty sure it will work the same for urs, also r they t5 ot t5ho cuz the ho's will bring algae faster alot faster

 

[Patterson333]

They're T5 HO's, and I've got some anubias and an amazon sword, but they've been thriving with my current lighting set up which provides less wattage so I'm pretty sure they'll be fine.

As far as the algae goes, I've got an albino bristlenose pleco who gets the job done. If things start getting out of hand I'll see if I can get him a helper, but as of yet the tank actually can't provide him with enough lol.

Thanks! I'm gonna try to see how they look with the actinic before rushing out and getting another bulb (I actually haven't put the lights on yet bcz I need to buy a glass canopy).

 

[mfdrookie516]

I forgot to mention, if you change out to another daylight bulb, you'll probably experience some algae issues. I think your current setup is ideal

 

[abrahamavelar]

yah and the thing wit the algy its the hard kind that u have to scrape off wit a blade in my case thats the problem

 

[Patterson333]

You both bring up good points, especially with the algae. I'll be holding onto that actinic, and if by any chance I'm not satisfied with it (which I don't really think will be the case), it's nice to know that I always have the option to add another daylight.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[abrahamavelar]

yw and wit those lights it will evaporate the water alot faster so check on the water levels constantly

 

[Patterson333]

Looks awesome! Though I might just leave the actinic off. With the blue background and blue gravel (which I eventually hope to change to sand) there might be too much blue, but I'll wait and let my girlfriend be the judge =)

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yeah, that is a bit blue... changing out the substrate would definitely help with that.

 

[Patterson333]

Yea that's definitely on my to-do list, I'm also gonna flip that background around (making it black), I feel like the contrast would make my fish stand out more.

 

[abrahamavelar]

nice looking tank