[lastlight]

I was originally going to run twin hqi radiums on my new tank (36x30x20) but I like to stare at my tank a lot. I don't want to run my halides 12 hours a day. So supplementary lighting is the obvious solution but I think that's a bit much.

Another possible idea is a single xm 10k SE centered over the tank with t5s around it for a bit of blue.

Here are numbers from Sanjay's site (PPFD):

2 x 250w Radium 20k SE on M80 = 2 x 85 = 170

OR:

1 x 250w XM 10k SE on M80 = 182
+ some T5s

Seems like the single mh with T5s is the way to go. I'm a fan of a nice crisp white with blue highlighting. I just don't want any yellow. I've read plenty about the XMs on icecaps and people describe then as crisp white. I laready know the M80 will fire the bulb WAY brighter (182 ppfd vs 115 on icecap) but how does the color look on HQI? Almost impossible to search due to limitations with short words like '10k' and 'xm' so I'm asking for opinions.

Thanks!