Lighting Help

[Madreefer]

I have a 48" Coralife Aqualight Pro with 250W Hamilton DE bulbs and 2 96W PC Actinic. I am happy with the MH bulbs. The PC actinic bulbs need to be replaced. I have enough blue with my MH and was thinking on replacing the actinics with 10000K PC instead. The question is "is there no growth with actinics?" and "any thoughts on how the tank will look?" I also removed the peice of plastic that serves as a lens or cover for the PC's, is that going to cause a problem? And no the bulb will not fall in to the water as the tank is covered. The tank is a 144g half circle witk SPS and LPS. Any feedback will be appreciated.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I have the 6' version of the same light, but with 14000k Aquaconnects. I never turn on my Actinics unless its just to show off the corals' glow to visiting friends.

I think if you're wanting to add more "useable" light, then switching out to 10000k PCs would be fine. Not sure how much extra growth you'll get though since bowfronts are deep & PC lighting doesn't penetrate well, compared to MH.

Maybe replace 2 & see how you like it.

Anthony

[Madreefer]

Well when I turn on the actinics you can't really tell that they are on. The bulbs are shot. So I'm thinking of replacing them 10000k PC instead. Has anyone tried this? I figured since you get no growth with actinics I might as well go this route just to brighten up the tank a little.