which lights grow corals fastest?

[runn3rb3an]

Hey everyone I plan on setting up a fraggrowout tank in the future and was wondering which lights are most beneficial to the coral? T5s? Metal halides 10k? A combo of both? I'm going for growth really and color. It dosnt need to look good in the tank as long as I can put it in my main system and it will be nice and big bright and colorful
Thanks guys

 

[mrdc]

What sort of corals are you planning to go with? A little bit of everything? IMO, I would go with the halides. I personally like the Phoenix 14k halides.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by mrdc
http:///forum/post/3263234
What sort of corals are you planning to go with? A little bit of everything? IMO, I would go with the halides. I personally like the Phoenix 14k halides.

+1 on MH lighting...however 10K creates the most growth...14K is too blue and slows down growth.

 

[saltn00b]

if you go T5, you can get a variety of bulbs, for both color AND growth, run a cooler tank and a cheaper elec bill.

 

[wangotango]

You can have all the light in the world and it's not going to matter if other conditions aren't met.

 

[speg]

Originally Posted by WangoTango
http:///forum/post/3263276
You can have all the light in the world and it's not going to matter if other conditions aren't met.
You can have the best conditions in the world but it's not going to matter if you don't have sufficient lighting....

 

[maelv]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3263238

+1 on MH lighting...however 10K creates the most growth...14K is too blue and slows down growth.
So true, you will probably get great growth here, but then your coloration starts to suffer a tad bit. I had a 10k bulb and found my corals, although growing like they were taking HGH , started browning out a bit.
Originally Posted by saltn00b
http:///forum/post/3263260
if you go T5, you can get a variety of bulbs, for both color AND growth, run a cooler tank and a cheaper elec bill.
This is the route I would personally go. You can keep so much with T5 and growth, as long as you have everything else in order will come with it.
Good luck

 

[ibanez]

Originally Posted by maelv
http:///forum/post/3263300
I had a 10k bulb and found my corals, although growing like they were taking HGH
Wouldn't it be CGH?

I think t5 gives the best growth with the right amount of bulbs and color. ATI bulbs....... there are some other good ones.

 

[bang guy]

In my experience it's mercury vapor lighting that produces the most growth. That combined with liberal feeding, massive waterflow and temperatures of 85F - 86F. That's if you're only considering growth rates.

 

[mrdc]

Setup two frag tanks with one using T5 and the other with halide. Put the same type of frags in each tank and see which one does better.

 

[speg]

That would be interesting.. I would wager that certain coral would grow faster under halides and certain would grow faster under T5.

 

[runn3rb3an]

Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/3263350
In my experience it's mercury vapor lighting that produces the most growth. That combined with liberal feeding, massive waterflow and temperatures of 85F - 86F. That's if you're only considering growth rates.
What's mercury vapor lighting? Really 85 to 86 degrees??
Well I guess I should rephrase the question. What will give me the best growth without browning out my corals? I would think it would be maybe a 10k halide with a few actinic t5 tubes for supplemental growth?
The tank I like is 36 by 36 by 8 so t5s might be a little more difficult/ expensive to cover the whole tank with as opposed to a single halide. I'm going to be doing a bit of everything really. What do you guys think?
And anyone have some other pointers while where at it lol
Thanks guys!

 

[bang guy]

What I posted will brown out 95% of corals. My mistake, I thought you were only concerned with growth rate.

 

[runn3rb3an]

So what do you think would be bet for a 36 by 36??