In-light me!!!

[tattooedlife]

Can someone explain the different floresents for me? (Actinic Blue, 50/50's) I'm currently running 2 50/50 40 watts, 1 40 watt Actinic Blue, and 1 full spectrum 40 watt. I'm planning on replacing the full spectrum (Cheap-O). Would it be best to have 3 50/50's and 1 Actinic Blue. Or 2 of each? I'm not really sure wich lamp does what? Wich ones would do best in my reef. I have 50 lbs. Figi rock, Polyps, Feather dusters, Condy anemone, and a Gorgonian(tan colored flesh with brown polyps.) And a good list of inverts, Yellow tang, Maroon Clown, and six-line wrasse. (Plan on keeping it simple, adding shrooms and different polyps in the near future.) Also thinking of adding a Bulb Tip Anemone. Has any one kept a Bulb tip under this type of lighting? Will it survive?

 

[clayton]

Remember the way that light behaves naturaly. The light spectrum runs blue-green-yellow-red. A combination of all of these produces white light. In water blue light penetrates the furthest and red the least. Many corals would hardly be exposed to any red light naturally.
The wattage is the power of the light. The higher the wattage the brighter it is.
The spectrum is the colour of the light (the wavelength).
Kelvins is like the intensity of the light. The higher the K the more blue the light is.
Lumens is like a cross between the power and the intensity (I am no expert).
Generaly stay away from the red end of the spectrum and provide a mix of actinic and 'daylight' tubes, (daylight tubes will contain some red light but check the spectral analysis to see that it is less than yellow or blue).
What to use is the tricky question. I use 2 x 40w actnic. 2x 10,000k 30w daylights. 1x 20,000k 30w daylighjt and one 40w triton (I am thinking about removing the triton for another daylight)
Corals come from different depths and are therefore used to different light.
It has been proven that corals taken from greater depths fair badly and often die when placed under intense aquarium lighting. This is because the zooxanthellae photosynthesise at a much higher rate and produce far more oxygen than the coral is used to. This can result in oxygen bubbles becoming trapped under the coral 'skin' and cause oxygen toxicity. Corals need to be aclimatised to new light conditions which can be very difficult if you do not know what they are used to. Brighter is not always best!

 

[kass]

50/50s are half daylight and half actinic. You could have the same effect with 1 daylight bulb and 1 actinic instead of 2 50/50s. Daylight is a certain color and is not the cheapy bulbs you can buy in the store for shoplights. It should say daylight on it. You can get the 10k and 20k bulbs now from coralife which are higher k(kelvin) than a standard daylight. I like the triton in the mix also as it's bright and I think gives better color. I use 2 daylights, 1 triton,(triton also has actinic in it) and 1 actinic on my 55 gal. I've kept many corals including clams for a long time but my lights also sit directly on the tank with no glass. I think this tank has better color especially the purples than my 384 watt pc's on my 150 gal. I hav'nt tried the 10k or 20k but it sounds like a good idea.