T5 Lighting and colors question

I am stumped on this one and can't really decide what would be best for my situation. I have a 46 gallon bow front with two 36 inch T5's. One blue and one white. I want to be able to run only actinic blue at night and in the morning for viewing and I understand it to be beneficial for coral growth. This would also replicate dusk/dawn/moonlight... right? My problem is, the fixture is either all on or all off. I am unable to run them independently. So, I am considering buying another fixture for two more T5's, and running all four during the day (11 am to 6 pm) and only the two blue's at night and in the mornings.
How many T'5 and color combinations should I run?
Is this a good idea or a waste of money? Any suggestions/guidance is greatly appreciated.

I have several pulsing zenias and button corals. And plan on many more variations once I get my lighting figured out.

 

i can help a lot with lighting but its wayy to much to type! pm me and ill answer any questions

 

Yes i think its a good idea. There are TONS of color combos you can do with t5hos. My sugestion is just stick to 2 blues and 2 white. I think if you do that you will be fine.

 

Hope Dingo got ya handled...But you need/or dont need LUNAR lighting when its bedtime...some folks run NO lights at night...but I prefere the lunar...but I would think that T5 after dark would be a bit much...JMO
Good luck
LG

 

Hmm good point LG i thought he ment just lunars if hes talking about running t5s at night thats def not a good thing IMO

 

yup...not clear..but pressumed T5 at nite..no beuno..(I spelled that wrong AGAIN!! )

 

Correct.. you wouldnt want to run your actinics at night. More like dusk/dawn lighting when the sun is going down/going up as far as simulating. I usually have my actinics come on 2 hours before my daylights... then daylights go off 2 hours before actinics... then my moonlights come on.

So actinics from 10am - 10pm
Halides from noon-8pm
and Moonlights from 10pm to 10am

 

Thanks guys... I think I will go with two 4 T5's (2 white, 2 blue) run the blues for an hour or two in the mornings and evenings, and all on from 11am to 6pm. Would this be agreed by most?

 

yup thats fine!

 

Sounds good