Bulb choice: Best combo?

[DHodges34]

Hey folks,

 

I'm about to upgrade the lighting on my NanocubeDX 12g

 

It will have 4 24W bulbs, and possibly 1 T5.

 

Right now I'm running the 2 stock 50/50 bulbs.

 

The 2 new bulbs will be connected to one ballast. I'd like to have an actinic only period at the beginning and end of the lighting period. My concern is that if I get both new bulbs actinic that the tank will look too blue.

 

This is why I'm considering getting the T5 bulb as an actinic, and the 2 24W bulbs 10000K Daylight. Will the one T5 be enough if it's the only actinic?

 

Can anyone comment on this or offer suggestions?

 

Also, if anyone is so kind as to actually respond to one of my threads Could you explain WHY you are suggesting a certain course of action? I'd like to not only end up with the best choice, but learn and understand why I got it that way.

 

Thanks a lot.

 

- Daniel

[rbaby]

For long-term growth, 10k's will benefit your corals way more, I would lean towards getting the T5's and the 10k's, but 1 10w T5 might not be enough. I would swap out the stock 50/50's with 1 Actinic and 10k's or 1 Actinic and keep a 50/50. This will help keep the balance of actinic/daylight for aesthetic reasons and for the growth/health of your corals.

 

If you want to run an actinic period, you can't really have 50/50's then...

 

1xT5

1x24w Actinic (Realux is good)

3x10k's

 

Would be my recommendation, and you can run the T5's and the 24w Actinics on a separate ballast for your actinic period. That will leave you with 34w of actinic...and 72w of 10k's. As long as your actinics don't overpower your daylights in wattage, you should be kosher.

[DHodges34]

Good point, thanks for the info!

 

I found a pretty good deal on T5's at www.commodityaxis.com so I'm going to go with 2 actinic T5's along with the 50/50's I have now. Then I'll add 2 10k 24w bulbs, and when the 50/50's need to be replaced I'll probably go with 1 actinic and 1 10k.

 

So the lighting scheme will be:

2 10w actinics

2 24w 50/50

2 24w 10k's

 

and once I replace the 50/50's it will be:

2 10w actinics

1 24w actinic

3 24w 10k's

 

Thanks again.

 

- Daniel

[rbaby]

When I was looking for a different lighting mod for my tank, I looked more closely at the 50/50's and really disliked them. If I were you, I would swap them out now. The daylights in the 50's in our tanks are 7100's, the hue just isn't as pleasing as a 10k and your tank will end up really white or slightly yellowish. But you can test it out if you'd like, the 10k's aren't as white, they have a slightly bluer hue which seem to be more appealing.

 

Also, algae tends to grow a bit better under 7100's than they do under 10k's, the PAR for some reason benefits algae growth--so if you have macro in the sump, I'd recommend 7100's for them. My tank has 10k's up front and 7100's in the back...my hairy algae only grows under where the 7100's are, so I swapped them...well not only, but it rarely grows up front...and now that I've swapped it, it's starting to grow up front now as well.

[DHodges34]

ok cool I'll try to muster up the funds to get all new bulbs

[Web Guy]

What are some good bulbs to replace stock bulbs or stock bulbs set up?

 

links...

[ccjung]

Actually, the JBJ 50/50s are as follows:

 

10000K Daylight / 7100K Blue

 

For Realux, its flip flopped,

 

12000K Blue / 7100K Daylight

 

Basically the Color temp is the color of the white bulb, the "blue" is a tint added to the bulb.

 

Hope this helps

 

Chris

[rbaby]

That would explain my confusion, I have the Realux 50/50's that's why ...thanks for clarifying that Chris.

[theclearblue]

Not to hijack the thread, this will probably help dhodges as well. Chris could you explain the differences in quality among your replacement bulbs. Is the cost difference indicative of quality difference?