what is going on?

[artur]

Hi everybody it is me again.I' m a little confused.I bought 4 weeks ago a maroon clownfish and cleaner shrimp.In my QT with some 15 W fluorescent bulb they look great but in my display tank maroon is black and shrimp is much darker too.Those are only red fishes in the tank.Is that because my lights(4-65 W compact fluorescent, (2 actynic,2 double actynic)Do they change that red color.Also i 'm thinking about upgrade.I like pendant lights (150W with lunar lights) What you guys think? Thanks!

 

[Ziggy953]

The lighting will make things in your tank look different.

How big is this tank? I'm guessing with 4-65w PCs that it is a 4' tank? The type of lighting you have on your tank is dependent on the kind of system you have set up. If you have a FO of FOWLR then you don't need anything more then what you have now. If you are going for a reef system then you may want to look at upgrading your lights.

 

[artur]

Yes my tank is 90 gal.4 feet long.I have some fishes and corals(mushrooms,zoas,colt coral,brain).I'd like to upgrade to better lights so i can keep more difficult corals.What you guys think?Metal halide or T5 are enough?And second question like i mentioned Why my maroon looks black under my compact fluorescent? Are metal halide or T5 gives more true colors? Thank you!!! In my QT under regular fluorescent maroon looks maroon!

 

[cmor1701d]

Your current lights are very BLUE. You have more daylight spectrum on yoru QT so you see the real color of the fish. Under water, red is aborbed first, and blue last. Your lights being skewed in the blue spectrum make the red appear black. If you add some 10k light to offset that you will see the natrual color of the fish again.

MH lights will allow you to have more SPS coral, though the T5s are fine for most others. What corals do you want to put in your tank?

 

[artur]

Thank you!!! I' not sure about corals. Like you see i have only the simple ones, very easy to take care of. The other think is i want to see natural color of my tank (fishes and corals) (not like right now my maroon is black).That is why i want to upgrade my lights. What lights give me more natural color;MH or T5? Thank you guys again!!!! Because of you my tank looks almost perfect and in my first year with you guys i had no loses in main tank.Thank you again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ziggy953]

It's not a matter of what kind of lighting T5 or MH it is the color temp of the bulb. 10,000k is closer to day light and will give you the real look of your fish. 14,000k and up is going to give you the blue look. I like to keep a nice mix of 10,000k and actinic on my tanks.