coral lighting needs

i have t5ho lighting. my fixture has 2x 54w 12,000k and 2x 54w actinic. would i just be limited to lps or could i have a mixed reef with both lps and some sps maybe higher up. should i get one more actinic bulb and run 3 actinics and one 12,000 k? i have heard the actinics penetrate deeper into the water for the corals.

 

Skiegd011013

I believe from a lighting perspective 4 x 54 watt tubes should give you enough lighting for SPS corals placed higher in the tank and LPS placed lower ( I know a couple of people on this site who have 4 x T5 fixtures and healthy looking SPS frags)

I would run 2 x 12K (or higher) and 2 x Actinic as a 1:1 ratio is a very good starting place IME
I Personally run a 6 tube T5 unit with 2 X 14K , 2 x 15k and 2 x 22k (mix of Geisseman and aquamedic tubes)
so you might want to consider 14 or 15K tubes x 2 and actinic x 2

Steve

 

That sounds like enough lighting to me if you want to place some SPS higher up in the tank.

 

blue wavelengths do penetrate deeper, but they also have lower PAR values (light usable to the coral for photosynthesis) and tge difference over an aquariums depth isnt that much... bulb size and reflectors effect penetration more for aquariums... a 10k bulb will give you better par than 12 14 or 15k bulbs... actinics have very low PAR and wont do a whole lot for growth, they do a lot for coloration but supply little energy to the corals.

my suggestion is either swap an actinic out for a 12k or 14k so you get coloration and par, or swap a 12k for a 10k or even a 6500k

if anything you need more white/yellow light and less blue, trading a 12k for an actinic would be wasting a lot of wattage that your corals really cant use, might look cool if you have a lot of neon fluorescent corals and like that eerie deep-water look, which i do personally... im just afraid if you want sps you'll not have enough usable light

 

Why has no one asked what size tank this is? If it is a 55 you can easily grow SPS in most of the tank...

10001110101,
You bring up some valid points but there needs to be some clarification...
Aquablue by either ATI or Giesemann puts are more PAR than most other lamps be them 6000k or 10000k...

Yes most TRUE actinics have low PAR (some though, are better than most brands stock 10,000K) BUT have high PUR(photosynthetically USEABLE radiation) UVL's Super Actinic comes to mind.. It has one if not THE highest PUR rating of all T5 lamps...

I have seen plenty of blue tanks that grow SPS, but I have also seen white tanks that grow coral well.. Sometimes you want that added 10,000k or 6000k to help bring out colors that would otherwise be drowned out by TOO much blue.. Reds for example...

Original poster, what size tank are we talking?