Metal Halide Aquarium Lights
Aquarium Lighting Upgrade?
I recently up graded my lighting from pc to metal halide. My question is would my corals be ok under just 20k (2-150W) metal halide lighting or do i still need to run the 2 96W Actinics. There is LPS, Mushrooms, leathers, polyps and 2 clams. The tank is a 55g and been up for almost 4 years now.
The problem I see with your situation is that your understanding of lighting spectrum and the common term actinic seems to be askew.
The 20k lighting you're currently running is almost like running actinic lights already. 20k bulbs are extremely blue. If your clams don't do well, it might be too late to know it. Many times clams don't experience 'pinched mantle' to indicate that they are suffering. Clams can look PERFECT today and tomorrow be 100% dead, no chance of survival. Therefore, using your clams as a 'barometer' for how successful you are with your 20k MH lights is not a good idea.
If you decide you want to add 2 x 96w Actinic supplementation, then the course of action you'd want to do with your MH's is lower their kelvin rating into the 12k-14k range. This will add the crisp white/red spectrum (daylights) into your tank. The actinic supplementation will run at approx. 460nm and be the blue to create the actinic 'pop' for those corals you've got that fluoresce.
Here's the way I really like to run my MH lights. And I'm able to do this without ANY actinic supplementation at all. One of the best mid range MH bulb you can use to get enough daylight AND actinic lighting in your system (great colors fyi) is the Phoenix 150w 14k DE or SE bulb. I don't know if your fixture is DE or SE, so I can't be precise with that recommendation, but Phoenix makes both bulbs, so no worry.
I get all my reefing equipment from the site below. They are very knowledgeable, won't sell you things you don't need just to make a sale, and their pricing is comparable to ANY of the big internet aquarium shops (if not, just send them a link and they'll match the price). They are Saltwater Critters.
Best of luck with your new lighting. Remember to acclimate your coral and fish to the new, more intense MH lighting. Shorten your hrs on to about 4 hrs/day for a week. Next week increase it to 5 hrs/day. Following week increase to 6 hrs/day, and continue this until you reach the lighting cycle that you find works best for you. FYI, you can also raise your MH lighting 6" higher than you normally keep them and lower them 1" every week until they return to the height you normally hang them. A combination of these two acclimation processes will guaranty that you're animals will acclimate well.
Here's the link to the Phoenix 150w bulbs on Saltwater Critters:
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US $3.25
