Jeremy had some spare PC lighting in his reef stuff.....we only use MH, T-5s and VHO for our reefs....he does use PC lighting on his macroalgea refugiums that are plummed into his main tank. The reason he uses PCs on just his macroalgea is because of PCs ability to grow plant life so well. So we got to thinking....maybe they will work for the CPs.
There are 4 65watt bulbs with ballasts and everything....2 bulbs are 10,000K and 2 bulbs are blue bulbs that everybody uses in tanks, Jeremy said they are a bulb that peaks at 450 nm. They are sometimes refered to as actinic 03 blue bulbs (a real actinic 3 bulb actually peaks at 420nm but these bulbs we have are real close to the same). They make corals and macroalgea grow like mad at the same time it makes all the colors glow florescents. The 10,000K are a real crisp white not yellow like a 5,000K but are very good bulbs and are very high in PAR.
My question I am sure PC lighting will be great for CPs but are these bulbs going to work or should we buy a 5,000 to 5,500 K bulbs to put in them, which is closest to true sunlight on midday over the reefs. Which would be close to a standard MH bulb.
Or, should we lean more towards a 3,000K which is more yellow/red and closer to that of a HP sodium lamp? Does anybody have any experience growing CPs under PC lighting?
Thanks;
Victoria
There are 4 65watt bulbs with ballasts and everything....2 bulbs are 10,000K and 2 bulbs are blue bulbs that everybody uses in tanks, Jeremy said they are a bulb that peaks at 450 nm. They are sometimes refered to as actinic 03 blue bulbs (a real actinic 3 bulb actually peaks at 420nm but these bulbs we have are real close to the same). They make corals and macroalgea grow like mad at the same time it makes all the colors glow florescents. The 10,000K are a real crisp white not yellow like a 5,000K but are very good bulbs and are very high in PAR.
My question I am sure PC lighting will be great for CPs but are these bulbs going to work or should we buy a 5,000 to 5,500 K bulbs to put in them, which is closest to true sunlight on midday over the reefs. Which would be close to a standard MH bulb.
Or, should we lean more towards a 3,000K which is more yellow/red and closer to that of a HP sodium lamp? Does anybody have any experience growing CPs under PC lighting?
Thanks;
Victoria