Lighting questions

This is a discussion on Lighting questions within the Saltwater Aquarium Equipment forums, part of the Beginner Saltwater Aquariums category; -->
that fixture has halides and compacts most likely for the compacts to be actinic and to turn on first then the halides, kind of ...

that fixture has halides and compacts most likely for the compacts to be actinic and to turn on first then the halides, kind of like simulating sunrise/sunset. i have low lights turn on 1 hour before my powerful lights and one hour after my powerful lights turn off if that makes sense because your not going to want full power lights then darkness or vice versa as you will shock things.

as for my opinion id say its a good fixture but im personally a retrofit t5 guy.

It sounds like a winner. You would be strap to find a coral that wouldn't like this lighting. You'd have more issues with corals that need less light and you're giving too much , wouldn't that stink? too much light .

I agree with you. Call it a day and don't worry about the DIY, i love my MH and i wish i had some actinics, but you won't have that problem.

I suppose you could, but i think the best option would be to use the correct amount of daylight period. Don't run your lights more then 8hrs especially since you'll have so much wattage over them.

Also, be sure that when you do start getting corals, you either lower your photo-period to 4hrs and increase it by 2hrs every 5days or use multiple screens to cover the tank and every other day take one off. By doing this it'll keep you from cooking your corals and ultimately killing them. Not very many LFS will use good lighting over their corals. They normally use just enough.

You also have to take into consideration the health of the corals. It comes into play when you talk spectrums. Yes, white 10,000k bulbs make things grow faster then something like my 14,000k bulbs, but without the supplimentation it takes a bit from the coral. Lights Continued should give you a better idea of what i mean.

Its switching me from PC lights to T5's. I'm now wondering if this will give me the needed light, spetrum, colors to make my coral bright, happy, and thriving. The Watts are still up there, but again Im trying to get now, save later.

The lunar lights come up again as confusing as these have white and blue led lights.. so im not sure what the white would be for, as onefish mentioned they do need downtime.