220 watts of daylight are acentics necessary??

I'm running two 48" power fluorescents which equal a total of 220 watts. The tanks 18" deep I believe and the lights are suspended about 2 1/2 inches off the top. My plan is to start adding soft corals and a RBTA soon/eventually.

My question is will this be enough power and are acentic lights necessary for this set up?

 

That would be OK, getting some blue will balance the tank color and pop some of the fluorescing colors. Look into UVL brand bulbs or Current brand.

 

Ok will do the brand in them now are GE bulbs. So that will be a healthy amount plof light then?

And are the blue bulbs just for look? Or can you run them all night aswell?

 

They are not really required, but most people like the looks of them.

Not recommended to run them all night long. A dark cycle is good to let the fish sleep. Not to mention the algae that would grow with that long of a light cycle.

 

Alright thanks a lot, think I'll save some money and just use up the lights I have.can't wait to get the anemone!

 

personally, I would get a 454 blue and an actinic white over 2 day light lamps. how old are your bulbs, and how long has this tank been setup?

~Will.

 

Good question, and I have one more: What are the Kelvin rating on your daylights? If it's between 6500 and 10,000, you definitely want blue actinic. With anything over 10,000K it's not necessary, but can be used.

Cheers

 

The tanks only a few weeks old, don't worry I'm waiting on getting the anemone for a few months. The bulbs are brand new and the Kelvin rating is 9500 give or take 250 (I'm not at home).

If I were to put actinic bulbs in should I convert one entire fixture to them or alternate one in each?

And do actinic bulbs affect growth at all?

 

Actinics will do nothing for growth, just color

 

So they're just a different hued day bulb