Lighting Question

[Aquapod24]

I have a dumb question about lighting. Why do people care for MH lights if they really don't make the corals look good? In the end I see PC and T5's everywhere and the corals look spectacular. I have an MH on my Aquapod but may do away with it and get something else. Tips? Suggestions? Clues? I may be going about this wrong??

[Andrew v.s wild]

T5's are better they are more energy efficient.
And are roughly the same as Metal Halides!
hope that helps.

[Ping]

MH do make corals look good. Sanjay Joshi is the subject matter expert on lighting in out hobby.



http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting

[ACE]

I have MH on all of my tanks. My corals look great. One thing I also notice is my fish look spectacular under MH.

[FossilReef]

It all depends on preference and spectrum. A 14k or 20k metal halide bulb is perfect for showing off the colors of your corals, and you'll probably get the colors to "pop" more than with pc or t5. Mh is also much better for deeper tanks, as even T5HO or VHO have a hard time penetrating adequately deeper than 30 inches.

[Aquapod24]

Thanks guys. I guess maybe since I am at 3 watts per gal it might be on the softer side. 70w MH is on my 24gal. I was also thinking about maybe buying one of them small coralife daylight/actinic screw in lightbulbs and modding one of them mechanic shop lights to put behind or in front.