How to bring out coral colors with T5 HO bulbs

Yesterday I purchased a yellow leather and a blue/green leather which looked very pretty in the LFS tank. That tank was lit by 2 metal halides and 2 actinic flors. bulbs.

In my tank the yellow leather is still yellow, but seems paler and the blue/green leather is more of a beige. I have 2 x 54 w actinic (420/460 nm) and 2 x 54 wat 10,000 K T5 HO lamps. Are there other T5 lamps that I could use that would better bring out the colors of my corals? I really don't want to add MH due to heat and energy issues (plus additional cost!). I only keep soft corals.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

 

if possible , could move them higher to get strnger light. also, what size tank and how old are your bulbs?

 

I believe if you add another blue bulb instead of a day light bulb, the yellow will come out more. Also, get rid of the 10ks are use a 12K such as a UVL Actinic White, I had two actinic whites and two Super Actinics and when I had my yellow leather, it looks pretty good.

 

+1 on the uvl bulbs... they are the best!!!

 

Here's a pic of the leather I used to have, it was taken with a crappy camera, but you get the idea.

 

yea the uvl's are pretty cool, i have one as well

 

I have a 55 gallon and the bulbs are about 3 months old. The corals are as high as they can get based on the space I have on my rocks. I'm thinking it's the spectrum of the bulbs that maybe wash out the colors somewhat.

Here's a full tank shot with the new corals on the far right, plus another shot of both of the corals by each other. The top one showed up as blue/green at the LFS and the yellow one was a deeper yellow.

 

Where might I find UVL lights?

 

check out reefgeek.com that's where i bought my light fixture and bulbs

 

I'll check them out. THANKS.