lighting questions.

doox00 · Post by **doox00** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:44 pm

Couple questions..

I just moved my 90g megaflow reef to another tank and am setting up the 90g now as a freshwater. This tank is going to have live plants, lots of inverts and some fish. I am going to use my 2 x 250 watt hqi metal halide setup with this tank. (I was originally going to sell the mh setup and use my old 260 watt power compact fixture, but have decided to just use the mh so I can keep any light requirement plant).

I have 14k bulbs now in my pendants, I plan to switch to 6500's, will this give me a white color? I do not much care for a yellow look. The 14k's I have now add a hint of blue, helps to make colors stand out and pop more. Which brings me to my next question.

Like I mentioned I plan to put in 6500 bulbs in my mh setup, will getting some actinics help colors stand out more in the freshwater tank? I would assume so, since it really does in saltwater. I would like to add a vho actinic strip in addition to the 6500 mh's to help bring out colors more.

thoughts?

thanks
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badflash · Post by **badflash** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 8:04 pm

6500's are a lot closer to sunlight, but I use standard daylight flourescents in a shoplight for my tanks. Not fancy, but it gives good color and the plants like it.

Steer clear of the fish for an invert tank unless you go for small plecos or ottos. Any fish that will eat live food (which is nearly all) will take baby inverts and eggs.

marusempai · Post by **marusempai** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 4:24 pm

I would avoid the actinics, personally, for freshwater, as I find they make everything look too BLUE, and are expensive to boot. I agree with you that the yellow thing looks funny, but don't worry, 6500s seem to be a little on the blue side of white anyway, if that makes any sence. Good luck with the tank.