atmmachine816

Ok so I'm pretty sure I broke one socket for one of my bulbs in my cp fixture when I took the bulb out because it was in soooo hard, I had to use pliers and wiggle it back and forth for over a half hour before it came out. The bulbs are also expensive so I'm going to switch to two fluorescent fixtures. My question is what type of bulbs should I get. I would only be growing basic corals, mushrooms, zoos, etc. and have one clown goby and a snail currently so I was thinking a 10,000K bulb and something else? I just don't know what else, should I get a actinic bulb or what?

thanks

Tumbleweed

Do you meen HO fluorescent or VHO fluorescent? Regular fluorescent is not going to be enough light for anything in your tank other then fish.

atmmachine816

No actually I was thinking of putting two 16" 14w lamps over my 5.5gallon tank. I currently have a double tube cp fluorescent fixture with two 50/50 18w bulbs. I know I won't really be able to grow much but in two years I'm off to college and I won't be able to take the tank with me and I don't plan on getting many hard to take care of corals so it's easy for my sister to take care of my tank. The only place by me that sells nice healthy corals, the corals are more expensive and he doesn't sell many types in small enough amounts to fit in my tank. I was under the impression that mushrooms grow under almost any conditions and a few other types do also, am I wrong?

Tumbleweed

Almost all corals, soft, hard or even mushrooms require a good amount or light. If you have PC now that would give you enough light for some types of mushrooms and even a couple types of LPs corals. Regular flourecent bulbs will not be enough for these things.

GreenMan13

The should be plenty of light for mushrooms. I think 14watt bulbs are normal output bulbs anyways.

The color of the bulbs is more of a preference of looks then anything else if you are going to have one 10,000K bulb and something else. If you liked the color of the 50/50s get an actinic but if you would like it more white get another 10,000K. The 10,000K will give off more light then the actinic of the same wattage though.

atmmachine816

Ok I'll talk to the guy who owns the saltwater store by me and see what he can do with maybe fixing one of the sockets in my current fixture because I'm pretty sure it's broken and I'll see if he will sell me low light corals cheaper and in smaller quantity. If he can't help I'll just go with fluorescent and maybe mushrooms and that's all. I do like the color of 50/50 but I'm not sure how much light I will want so I'm not sure what I'll do there.

thanks for the help

SaleenS7Rs

would T8 bulbs work for coral in a tank that is 22 inches deep and 5 feet long (120 gallons) oh and the bulbs are 22 inches long

sgould

No. They just do not put out enough light for photosynthetic corals. I would suggest T-5s. If I am not mistaken for that size tank, you would be looking at 2 30" light fixtures, each covering half of the tank.

nemo addict

i have 2 x white 10k and 2 x atinic on my 4 ft tank
Blue light travels further in water than other wavelengths. Actinic lighting fixtures produce only the blue end of the spectrum, which is perfect for deep water fishes and invertebrates, and fishes that don't like bright light (such as cichlids). Actinic lighting fixtures promote coral growth and proper photosynthesis in symbiotic algae that corals need to thrive.

Actinic fixtures either use 50/50 bulbs, which produce 50% actinic light and 50% white daylight, or a combination of actinic blue bulbs and daylight bulbs for more intensity in deep tanks.