Lighting

[fencer]

What type of color/temperature lighting do you use? Do you think there is any benefit in having higher temperature lighting other than for visual effect?

a. 10000k
b. 14000k
c. 20000k

[Pan]

20k's run cooler than 10k's
I only run 20k's because I hate the way my DIY actinic's look. If I find away to do it better i'd run 10k's corals never grew as well when i switched. Now that i am setting up a tank again i may try to make prettier diy lights

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I love the look of 250w 14000k Aquaconnects & Phoenix bulbs over my mainly LPS tanks.

[michika]

I run 14s or 15s for the color more then anything. 10s give good growth, and 20s seem to give good color, but the color is more to the blue/purple side of things.

[untamed]

I run 14K's with T5 actinic supplement. I'm going to run 13Ks on the next load.

[Reefer Rob]

I run the 400W Reeflux 10000K, but I find the color temp a little warm. I think I'll try the 12000K next. I've tried Aquaconnect 14000K but found the light a little "flat" for my taste.

[fkshiu]

Generally speaking, the further up the colour temp scale you go, the more PAR you lose.

However, not every "14K" bulb is truly 14,000 Kelvins as manufacturers claimed colour temps are not always accurate. You'd have to look at the bulbs with your own eyes in action or check the bulbs CCT on Sanjay's site for its true colour temp.

[bv_reefer]

-i like 20 k's for that deep reef appearance, and they really bring out intense colors in neon green corals, makes green star polyps and turbinaria look intense

[fencer]

I have been running 10k's and they are fine. But I find that the colors from acros do not come out as well. I have also wondered what is the best comprimise between growth and color. It looks like by the poll 14K's are the way to go. As for consistency of colour/temp, I would think all bulbs degrade with time and is highly dependent on amount of use. I suspect with most bulbs output efficency drops less than 10%. One of the electricans at work say less than 2% over the year. Sanjays site is excellent, I don't knoiw if he has an upto date chart of various bulb performances. I myself have gone to replace after one year plan. I am going out to buy some 14K's.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by fkshiu

Generally speaking, the further up the colour temp scale you go, the more PAR you lose.

Yep, and HUGE too!!! Which is why I run low Kelvin with strong actinic supplement. I have T5s though. I run the Giesemann Midday (6000K) and Giesemann Pure Actinic (true 421nm actinic). On my next bulb order I'm going to switch from the Midday to the URI (aka UVL) AquaSun 10K as it has a much higher PAR rating than the Middays.

I choose the lighting that is best for my corals that I have chosen from researching bulbs, and are the best to my knowledge. I won't choose a bulb based on "it looks better than that other one". My corals are most important, not how I like the color of the light!! My corals then reward me with better coloring, so it we're even in the end.

I'm buying a MH for my 65 that I'm setting up. I will run a 400w XM 10K mogul bulb on a PFO HQI ballast which has one of the highest PAR ratings.