Lighting: Mixed of blue and white

[chefrt]

I just change my lighting from mixed florescent and T5 to T5 only. Now I have 6 T5 54 watts on my 100g tank. I know you will say that is not enough, my coral mainly less light requirements, only soft coral, mainly leather coral. The question is how is the mixture of the light? I have a few options
1) 2 blue and 4 white.
2) 3 blue and 3 white
3) 4 blue and 2 white
I prefer option 3, anybody got any option or suggestion.

 

[billyr98]

its very much up to your preference.. i like a whiter tank than the actinic blue.. i would run option 1) in my tank...

 

[Witfull]

i like ooption 1 as well....are they all on the same switch? if not, then you can do dusk/dawn lighting.

 

[chefrt]

The light will be using time, 2 at 1 time.
1st light on at 10.00 am off 10.00 pm
2nd light on at 10.30 am off 10.30 pm
3rd light on at 11.00 am off 11.00 pm

 

[Jorgens]

I like actinics to bring out colors. It takes alot to compete with the white lights. But don't sacrifice your overall light for actinics either.....like they said before...it's all preference

 

[Warnberg]

It will really depend on what you like best and the bulb you are using. The giesmann actinic + is a very blue bulb and bright, makes the colors really come out. The actinic from ATI (make sure its really an ATI bulb) is more purplish but it too makes colors really stand out. I liked running a combination of the ati actinic, the giesmann actinic plus then a 6500 k GE bulb for par, it was a more yellow looking bulb but the actinics usually washed out most of the yellow look.

JME

 

[2455coop]

One of the members told about an article about lighting. I have read so much in this forum that I can't rember who to give credit to.
Here is the link http://www.reefkeepers.info/lightmain.htm

I have totally rethought my thinking when it comes to lighting...

If it was me I would try and use 6500K lighting on at least 4 of the bulbs.

 

[PhilOlsen]

I like option 1 as well, but it is all about what you like. There are adcantage to option 3, blue light travels deeper in a tank than white light does, you may also want to consider going with 2 actinics, 2 6500k and 2 10-12000k, this will also bring some yellow spectrum into the tank and the lokwer the k (kelvin) rating the more yellow tint the bulbs will have.

 

[chefrt]

The light that I use is Aquaz T5 HO. The blue is Aquaz Blue Pro 420 to 470nm wavelength range. The white light is Aquaz T5 HO Ocean Pro of 20000k. Now the lighting mixing is 2 blue and 4 white, but it look like to white a bit yellowish and the color of the coral it not very attractive

 

[prow]

i think you can mix it better. have at least one GE 6500k bulb and a atinic 01. there superblue bulbs that everyone seems to really like too. after lots of playing my set up is like this

blue+
aquablue
atinic 01
GE 6500k
blue+
aquablue

i have the 80watters and the superblue are not in this size might want to look into that one. with the options you listed i like number 2.

 

[R.yumaDaddy?]

If your experiencing yellowing on your T5's you may not be cooling them enough. Speaking from experience I can see the color take a dive towards dimmer and yellower when I turn the fan (6" household brand) off of 4 overdriven bulbs. IMO if your running actinics and whites go 3 to 1. I just helped a friend steup his T5's and the 1 to 1 ratio of blues to white looked very good.

 

[chefrt]

I try to used for the option 3, it look cool, i going to stick to this setup. Thank to all of you for the advice.