Coral lighting info

[leon1972]

What are each of these kind of bulbs for?

 

[Northstar24]

The two main types of bulbs are actinic bulbs and 'daylight' bulbs. The Actinics are run by many people for an hour before and after the daylight bulbs come on, as well as along with the daylight bulbs. They are very blue, and cause corals to fluoresce - so you see the crazy coloration of the corals. Daylight bulbs provide light in the band that corals need to grow, they come in various shades of white, rated in Kelvin. The higher the value, the more blue the daylight bulb will have. They usually range from 10,000 K (White) to 20,000 K + (very blue, like an actinic bulb) The more blue in your daylights, the slower coral will grow

In addition, there are also purple bulbs usually called 'Purple Plus" - These bulbs are primarily used to provide light in the red/UV spectrum, which aides in coral coloration

If you are planning on staying with the current tank you have, even if you plan on taking it down in a year, buy yourself a decent fixture. In this hobby if you decide on keeping corals, the largest, and most important investment you will make is your lighting - don't skimp here

 

[leon1972]

Yeah. I'm going to save for a better fixture. Hoping to get an led when I move next June. I will have to start over with tank cuz the best case scenario will be a cross country move

 

[leon1972]

So is it not a decent fixture because each bulb doesnt have it's own reflector? If the blue bulbs really make corals pop why do people only use them for two hours a day then?

 

[chichimom79]

The blue bulbs are usually on anytime the main lights are on, except for lunar lights. Some people just run the blues by themselves before and after the main lights for a dawn/dusk effect.