[SlyOne]

I need some advice from all you knowledgable reefers on here. I have Arcadia series 4 double 150w halides over my tank at the moment and my colours never seem to as stunning as tanks i see on here and in my LFS's. Bulbs in my halides are 10kBLV's and the blues are arcadia antics. I have no trouble with growth rates as polyps especially seem to spread like wild fire it's just the colours are not as stunning. So my question is what lighting do you use and what would you reccomend for mine? My tank is 52inches length by 25inches high and 25inches deep and is mixed tank of polyps / LPS /SPS / mushrooms on lower part of tank and a couple of softies. Look forward to the replies.

Simon

[wayne sarah kernow]

Wish I could help but all I will say is your gonna get lots of various opinions!!!



I'll add to the debate and say whats better? 10K? 12k?



Ha Ha Ha


Enjoy!

[pete1234]

imo, the wattage is the key factor here. the sps love light, there are quite a few threads on here explaining this. one quite recently. thats providng that all your water parameters are good. i have found that running with an inadiquate skimmer causes a loss of colour.

[SLAPPY]

I have to agree with Pete1234, 150w halides will give you the growth you see but not necessarily the colour you would like.

My acro's have grown but never coloured up to what I'd like, I used to have 250w halides but since I changed the 400w, the difference was amazing.

[SlyOne]

Thankyou for the responces so far it seems more wattage is whats needed. Therefore to change my question slightly which is the best 'setup' to go for eg Arcadia series 4 250w or other types of setups like the ones on marine lightings website with twin t5 narva blues. Also from reading other posts i would prefer single ended rather than double as there seems to be a better preferance for single over double ended regards light output and for keeping costs down i see electronic ballasts are more energy effecient then magnetic ones. I have changed light setups twice in 2 years so want this to be my final change if possible! as bank managers don't like you spending all your money

Thankyou once again for the responces so far and look forward to seeing what other input can be added for me to look into

[ChrisR]

Well if you want to upgrade then i have a pair of 400W Lumenarc's for sale in the equipment for sale section. Wont have to upgrade after that and you will get good colour with those as Slappy says!!!!

[ben]

it depends on what your happy with, with regards to looks. if you went for lumenarcs you may not like the look of them and want to cover them in a hood.
i have one and its exposed. i really like it that way. downside is its harder to add actinics.

it also depends on what you want to spend.

single ended are better imo as they are more of a flood light rather than a spot you get from the double ended

[SlyOne]

Hey all.Thankyou for the replies. After reading your comments and doing some more looking around i opted and got a Twin 400w Halide & T5 Retro Kit Utilising ReefLux SE 10k Lamps from the sponser on here called marine lighting. With this unit i get to have Blue t5's to add more colour to the 10k bulbs aswell. Unit is delivered Monday and i can't wait to get it set-up and see my corals in the colours they should be I got some pics of my tank as it is now then will take some more after new lights been up a good month, then once ive sussed photobucket out will try and get some pics up!!

[ben]

nice one. your in for a nice shock when you switch them on