Lighting Question

[abe77901]

I have my 100 gallon mostly sps tank and am unhappy with my lighting.
I have 4 60" vho - 2 actinic 03, 2 daylight bulbs
and
2 - 175 watt metal halide bulbs
1- 10,000k ushio
1- 20,000k blueline

just not happy.....any different combinations anyone can recommend.

[Tim Marvin]

All t-5 or t-5 with 250 DE halides.

[StephenA]

Sounds like too much blue to me. I've got a 120 with:

2 250W Metal Halide (10K)
1 center 48Watt Actinic

I think mine looks great.
I tried a 10K and a 20K on the tank one time and it was brown on one side and blue on the other. It drove me nuts having a color diff in the tank.

[GaryP]

I can tell you that my XM 10Ks have been giving me very wide spectrum response. My VHO actinics have been out for the last week and I haven't really been able to notice the difference.

[Dozer]

I recently got 2- 250W DE's, with 20K bulbs for my standard 125 (6'long, 18"w, 24"tall). I've been really happy so far. I hang them about 8-9" from the surface. I went with the 20K's so I don't need actinic support, and because I don't really need fast growth in that tank.

[Brett Wilson]

Unhappy how?
I'm guessing you maybe dont think it's bright enough?

If you are simply wanting peoples favorite lighting sure I can do that:
3x 400W 20,000K Radiums. (for a 110 gallon tank)
Lots of heat, lots of wasted electricity on such a low PAR bulb... But I had some of the best coloration i've ever seen when I ran that combo and it was surely pretty to look at.

I dont use it now though; I'm 100% T5 on a nano.

[alexwolf]

my personal tank is 4x250w 10k XDE, and i love the color. i do want some actinic supplement, and the light box to hold them is being built currently. At the store, all the tanks are T5. 54w HO. The softies have 2 bulbs, 1 10k and one actinic. The fish have 3 10k and the SPS have 3 10k and 1 actinic. nice bright light, but the tanks are only 10" tall!