Steve Tyree's chat the other night

[DJ88]

Tony,

Thanks for filling a few blanks I left empty. [img]smile.gif[/img] I appreciate it.

Good info as well. [img]smile.gif[/img] Great actually.

You have just stated in one paragraph 1/2 of the reason I want the 50KK aquas for my tank.

So, what to make of this? If your goal is "growth but don't care about colour" then go for a high PAR bulb. If your goals is "colour but not necessarily growth" then go for the blue bulbs. If your goal is "both growth AND colour" then you need a mixture of both bulbs.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">One thing to keep in mind Patrick is that light isn't the only part of the equation for corals. It is one of four IMO. I was going ot say three but forgot one. :D

1. Light
2. Food
3. Water quality
4. Water motion.

We can't recreate #2 yet to mimic nature so we overdo the others IMO. Light with the big MH bulbs(PAR and Color temp), water quality we skim or run other methods of waste removal(refugiums, ATS's), water flow we put powerheads, pumps and other assorted devices to carry away wastes and carry food to the corals.

Hopefully someday we can recreate all the foodstuffs corals get in nature but till then we have to make up for the areas lacking by our equipment.