YOur lighting opinion

[crossxfire2]

Alright, for my 55 gallon, I have 2 power compact bulbs running, 1 is 50/50, the other is actinic. I also have another lamp thingy running, and it has a big thick coralife 10,000k daylight bulb. Now, I am going to replace this bulb. Should I make it 20,000k also, or keep it the same? What do you think?

[caferacermike]

you'll need to explain your current set up and future plans. IE: is this a reef tank or fish tank? It makes a huge difference. Also if keeping, or planning to keep corals, what do you have/or wish to have.

[erikharrison]

Sounds like a VHO bulb? Can you give us the specs off that bulb? Also, as Mike explained.

Essentially you could make the VHO (if that's what it is) a 6500k (yellow) bulb since that one uses the most wattage and it will give you the best growth. Then to offset the yellow, you could add to super blue bulbs to the other fixture. It is all a matter of playing around to get the coloration/growth that you want.

[crossxfire2]

Its a fowler. I will never keep corals in this tank. I DO want a high rate of corraline growth though. The bulb is a coralife 10,000k super daylight bulb. The other bulbs are regular 65w power compacts, with one bulb actinic, one 50/50. The power compacts are brand new, but the other bulb was first used in 2003! I really want to replace it. In the fowler, I would just like to bring the color out of the fish and coraline as much as possible.

[erikharrison]

Is the color currently as you want it or do you want more blue? You have more then you need to keep fish, you could keep some zoas, Kenya trees, or Xenia with what you have. It sounds like all you really need to do is determine what Kelvin rating you want yours to be at.

[MissT]

to get rapid coraline spread, try to keep your calcium up around 440 ppm, and your current setup would be just fine if you like the way it looks. If you do want something a little more blue looking, throw in the 20K.

[crossxfire2]

It does seem like it is blue, and yellow-ish at the same time. There isn't very much WHITE. I dunno. It looks fine I guess. Thank you very much!