Timcat wrote:
Being an idiot, I couldn't pass up a really good deal on an Oceanic 40 gal
stretch hex...without realizing the lighting difficulties. After a great
deal of research, I finally had to settle on a 130W Coralife CF fixture to
get anywhere near enough horsepower. My question is this: the fixture comes
with 1 65W 10,000K bulb, and 1 65W actinic blue, with 3 blue moonglow
LEDs...Is this spectrum way off, or should I toss these bulbs for a couple
of 6,700K bulbs? If need be, I can slap a 15W bulb in the ultra-pathetic 15W
fixture that came with the tank, if someone can recommend a good red
spectrum bulb.

Thanks,
Tim


All I've heard about actinics and FW is that they grow algae quite well.
I've got a 10,000K bulb over my fairly deep 15 high tank (LFS told me
it was 5500K) and it grows plants just fine, with no algae problems.
The color of the light is attractive too. When the bulb fails, I'll
probably put a 6700K in to see if there's any difference.

So, with your fixture I'd leave the 10,000K in place. I'd replace the
actinic with a 5500K rather than 6700K to put more red in the overall
spectrum.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com