Help w/ lighting.

Hello,
I recently went from fresh to salt maybe 5 months ago, and have a t5 3 bulb 54 watt each (Catalina Aquarium). I was wondering what kinda of corals or mushrooms i can have. I have a 10k 6500 and a plant bulb at this time. What would i need to switch to 2 10k and a actinic (spell check). Thanks.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The 6500k GE bulbs are great for high PAR and will give you a wider spectrum. I would get rid of the plant bulb and get an actinic to try to balance the color. The 6500k bulbs tend to be a little yellowish orange, and we reefers like whitish blue tanks so the actinic should help. The catalina reflectors havce one single reflector if I am correct. You probably won't be able to have SPS (hard) corals thrive but you could probably keep montiporas and birdsnest towards the top. With 3 bulbs, you should be able to keep mushrooms, leathers, zoos, palys, and pretty much any low-low med light coral.

 

So 2 10k's and 1 actinic should be fine. Is there a brand i should look for in bulbs. What light schedule do recommend. Sorry for all the ?'s. Just want to learn as much as i can before investing $$$. LOL. Thanks alot for ur help, i asked these ?'s in other forums but not as much help as this one.

 

Coral respond well to light temps around 6500, so I would seriously consider holding on to it. Actinic is certainly a must though. My tank has power compacts with 10,000 & 6500 kelvin daylights, and 460 & 420 nanometer actinics. What are your tank gallons and dimension? Wattage is an okay starting point when talking about lighting, but you need to consider the water depth that you are placing it over. So as a simple example, 160 watts of T5 high output would work great over a 33 long, but may be a bit weak over a 55 gallon. Not that either of these setups would be wrong necessarily, it simply changes the types of corals that can be kept and their placement in the aquarium.

 

- I would keep the 6500 and swap the plant bulb for an actinic.
- I run my actinics for 12 hrs a day and daylights for ten hours. This allows for a one hour sunrise/sunset each day. I highly recommend timers for your lights in order to keep a consistent schedule.
- I don't know what the best brands are for T5's. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can answer that.

K+ for asking questions before instead of after!

 

I have a standard 75 gallon.

 

i like the UVL bulbs myself, i have a 6 bulb setup and i have 1,12,000k 1,14,000k 2 super actinics and 2 454s, my tank is a 72 bow but soon to be a 120... hope this helps?

 

In that case, I would suggest doubling your light at a minimum. I know lights are expensive, but they are absolutely necessary for coral health. If it was my tank, I would shoot something like this:
T-5 Aquarium Lighting: Nova Extreme T-5 Fixtures w/Lunar Lights

 

I wish i could afford that. Right now i gotta make w/ what i got. I guess its just gonna be low light stuff for now.

 

If your only option is to work with what you have.....so far you have a 10k, daylight, and plant bulb....lose the plant bulb. The spectrum is off for a reef and will probably only grow algae plants. keep the daylight and the 10k. Get yourself an ATI Blue Plus bulb. Its a nice blue actinic that puts out ALOT of light compared to other actinics. It will also balance your yellowish colored tank giving it a blue hint. That should look pretty nice on your tank. Its going to run you around $25 for the one bulb. You will be able to grow low light corals in that tank.