pc lighting question
 

I recently got into this wonderful yet frustrating hobby. I have a 46 bow with pc fluorescent lighting. I cannot afford to switch to hh now, My lightingis 2 x 96w. One bulb is blue actinic, the other 10,000k daylight. The 10,000k just went out. I have heard that the 9600k is brighter, but the 10,000k is more pleasing to look at. Which is the best replacement for my LR and corals? Thanks!

I would stick with the 10k's

the color temp really doesn't effect "brightness' all that much, at least not a difference between a 9600 and a 10,000. To the human eye, they'd probably look identical.

for your live rock, it doesn't matter what bulb you stick over it, rock don't care one way or the other, or if it will have light at all for that matter. Just the photosythetic livestock to worry about for lighting, that and what you prefer looking at.

As for "the best" for your corals....what corals do you have? And are you wanting the best "look" or best "growth"?

Sorry... Typo... I meant 6700 vs. 10000, Not 9600! as far as my corals, I'm not sure what kind I have, but I am looking for best growth, but still attractive to look at.

That would be pretty yellow, which for my eye doesnt look so hot, but hey, if thats what you want for for it!

6700 would be very yellow. That typically used as a plant bulb, but many stoney corals benefit and tend to show better growth under such conditions, but for display purposes, it is kinda drab looking. My 6 bulb T5 fixture current has 1 6500k bulb amidst plenty of blue spectrum and the longer I keep that one bulb in their, the more and more I notice the yellow color and really starting to hate it. Looks like a freshwater lighted tank.

BTW, not to gripe, but I would not recommend purchasing any corals whatsoever unless you KNOW what they are. Not neccesarily an exact species since that's darn near impossible to the average hobbyist and to many experts as well, but as long as you understand the "basic family" and similar corals, that'll help. So many are completely 100% non-beginer specimens, and many others have such specialized needs that you can quickly and easily throw money away buying up such specimens only to have them die off. for instance, i see loads of the dendronepthia's around town here, awesome colored specimens that look fabulous. But their non-photosythetic and do not utlize the light for nutrition at all, instead they require daily feedings to sustain them. Many others such as sea whips as well as species of dendro's won't even attempt to feed unless current speed and direction are in the correct orientation. Back in my newbie days, I did waste quit a bit of money before I realized the importance of reading up on a specimen prior to purchase. I'll even "borrow" the stores books to look up a specimen if I really want one at that time.

I agree with papagimp. You will not be happy with the 6700k unless you have a lot of actinic supplementation. I had a T5HO overdriven 4 bulb setup with individual reflectors, 2x10k and 2xActinic on an icecap 660. To me it it just didnt look good, down the line I found the best 4 bulb's for my setup and I am sure that would have helped tremendously. In the end I got a new tank and switched to MH.

So I would go with either 1 10k and 1 actinic or some 50/50's 10k/Act03.

On my nano tank right now I have 2 sets of 2, PC lights. The first set is a 10000K and a 6700K and the second set is a 10000K and an actinic 03. The 1st set comes on for about 4 hours, then the first and second are on for 4 hours together, then just the second. Once the first set turns off, all the corals close instantly. They definitely seem to like the 6700 bulb better than the actinic. Unfortunately, the actinic also looks 100 times better....

Although I should add I do really like the look when all 4 are on, everything is very crisp.

I have a customer with your exact same setup. She is retired and wanted a system that would need little care other than the 3 week visit I make to do a water change/cleanup. The 10k bulb and the actinic bulb is the combination she uses. She has kept candycane(screaming green),open brain,alvepora(sp) star polys, zoeanthids like carpet, mushrooms, green neptha,and leathers for over two years with great growth and no losses. She actually has some sps in there too, but I think this is a fluke and don`t want to promote such things. However with these bulbs remember to mark the change date on the calandar and change them before they are a year old!