Lighting help

I have a set of these AQUATICLIFE LINK FIXTURES and am looking to buy another one so I have 4 bulbs for my 55 gallon. My question is can I put the 2 actinic bulbs in one fixture and the 2 10000k in the other so I can put them on separate timers? Or should they be alternating like --- Actinic bulb, 10000k bulb, Actinic bulb, 10000k bulb so the light is spread more evenly? Should I just maybe buy a 4 bulb fixture that allows me to control them separately? Thanks for the help!!!

Also what would be better bulb to put in there than the ones that come with it??

 

you get better coverage of spectrum with each bulb alternating..but if thats the only way you can do it then its fine..and you can keep just actinics on and vice versa..

 

I agree alternating is the best way to go.

 

If you are planning on having sps, I would recommend ATI Blue Plus bulbs instead of the actinics (much much more light. You could also look into ATI aqua blue special or ati purple plus.
I have 1 10k & 1 actinic, 2 ati blue plus, 1 ati purple plus, 1 ati aquablue special. I am planning on getting rid of the 10k's... I hate white light. Only problem is I have 2 fixtures, one 4 blub Odyssey and one 2 bulb corallife. I hate the corallife, the bulbs are a weird length so not too much fits in there except the actinic and 10k, the ati's dont fit. I am planning on selling it. Those ati bulbs bring out colors so much

 

I did the same thing you did and bought 1 of the 2 bulb fixtures and then i started getting coral so i bought another 2 bulb fixture and i dont like it. If i could do it all over i would have just bought a 4 bulb from the biginning. its a bit more but i would get the aquaticlife 4 bulb with LEDs and built in timer instead. thats just my thought though

 

Thanks for the help everyone.. Tatooed..thats the other fixture I was thinking of getting. Why don't you like the 2 link fixtures??

 

i like my aquaticlife but my other fixture is a hagen glo so i have 2 different fixtures on my tank and it just kinda looks like crap. But since the aquaticlifes are linkable it would look better with 2 of thoes instead of mismatching like I did. But i still think you would be much happier with the 4 bulb with LEDs and timer, it would be more money but the timer is built into it so you can program your LEDs to come on right after your daylights turn off.

 

Well, I have seperate LED moonlights and have a reefkeeper lite controller with two powerstrips (8 outlets) coming that has separate timers on each outlet. So maybe I would be better off with another link fixture???

 

So what do you think if I switch over to 2 Aqua Blue Special bulbs and 2 Blue plus bulbs? Doesn't the tank need some white???

 

the aquablue special is kinda the white. its a day light bulb but with some of the blue spectrum in it, i think its a 12,000k. I got that same combo and its a nice tone of color, not to blue but not to white either, if that makes sence. and if u already have 1 of the link fixtures and have a led strip and timer then you might as well just get another 2 bulb fixture since it will save you alot of money. sorry, i diddnt see that you already had one fixture. i thought you were just wanting to buy 2 of the 2 bulb fixtures, thats why i was saying just to buy a 4 bulb in the beginning.