10,000k or 20,000k

[jla9508]

I am building a canopy for my 55 gal. I am planning on putting 4 48" bulbs in it. 2 blue actinic and 2 daylight. Should I get the 10,000k super daylight or the 20,000k super daylight. Once I get the lights I will have 160 watts. What corals can I have with this lighting?

 

[kris walker]

I would go with the 10,000K. Sounds like you are getting 4 40Watt NO lights, which are the lowest powered flourescents you can buy. That's cool though. Just realize that this is not a lot of light for that sized tank. I would think you could put in there most soft corals, but no hard ones. So say polyps, xenia, mushrooms, leathers, and sun corals. I'm sure there are more, but can't name them all.
kris

 

[jla9508]

Well, right now I only have two 18inch 50/50 15 watt bulbs so I think the 4 40 watts with be a big improvement. I can't afford the vho ballasts right now. Being a high school senior with no job, money is hard to come by.

 

[indy1]

I have a 10k over my refugium and I love the WHITE light it puts out....

 

[randolph]

put in 2 96 watt power compacts one blue and one white the best deal going think about this 4-40 watts , look at them in your face, then take 2-96 in tour face which would make you sqint. make sense the pc are brighter

 

[krusk]

10000K is sufficient for 55 G depth

 

[kris walker]

From the lighting research I did, PC's have efficacies of about 50-60 lumens/input Watt. NO has 60-70 lumens/input Watt. Don't ask me why, I can't explain it. But anyway, you take 1 40 Watt NO bulb and 1 40 PC bulb (if they exist), both of the same kelvin rating, if they are the same in length and diameter, the NO will be slightly brighter, not the PC.
<a href="http://pangea.stanford.edu/~ktwalker/Reefpage/lights.html" target="_blank">http://pangea.stanford.edu/~ktwalker/Reefpage/lights.html</a>
But since the PC's only take up half the space, I too would go with PC's in leiu of NO.
kris

 

[adrian]

I have to say I have seen some great tanks using only NO bulbs in the past, IMO PCs seem get a lot of undeseved hype, true they are compact, but they give off a good bit of heat, and theyre color is quite poor.

 

[bosco0633]

i have 2x55w power compact with 10,000k coralife bulbs and they are awsome. They are so bright its sick. compared to the daylight bulb that came with the canopy, the coralife 10k bulbs are great. i also have a 20,000k phillips 36' atinic tube which is great.

 

[uvmfish]

I'm in the same boat you are! I built a canpoy recently and could not afford the higher end bulbs/ballast. I went to the local hardware store and got 2 48" strips with ballasts that hold 2 bulbs each, they only cost 8$ apeice! The 160watts of NO looks great actually... I have 3 10k and 1 actinic bulbs. I don't have any corals but the live rock looks wonderful and the colors of the fish are great! It may not be the best setup but it still looks wonderful! As a fellow broke individual I would recommend this setup as a short term method for decent lighting (although replacing the bulbs will get expensive over time!) I will upgrade in the future though! Good Luck!