# lighting question



## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

I'm running a actinic and a 10k bulb in my t5ho's but in my opinion the colors have been washed out and they just don't pop. I was wondering if I could change the 10k to a 12k or possibly a 14k to make them pop and would this harm the growth/life of the coral and other creatures inside?

My other idea was to add a 50/50 or possilby just add a few royal blue LED's

What you think willis?


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## caker_chris (Apr 22, 2010)

if I were you, I would change both bulbs to an ATI Blue Plus and a ATI Aquablue Special or the equivalent to another brand of bulbs.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Well the setup use to be 6,500 and a 10k so I changed one to the actinic so to save money i'm not changing that one for atleast a few months but I'll look at the ATI brand of bulbs.
Thanks!


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

What brand of lamps are they? When I fist got my tek, I put in all coralife lamps cuz I get than at cost and couldn't afford 6 ati/d&d etc after the fixture purchase. When it came time to upgrade them, at one point I had a d&d actinic next to a coralife and the difference was insane! Like comparing apples and oranges...


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

I had the exact same thing as you Alt. 10k and actinic.

I'd suggest upgrading your 10k to a 12 or 14 (your choice) and then considering getting a blue LED strip light. Then you can do moon light at night, and a wide spectrum in the day.

The blues are what makes the corals pop. However, if you go too high in the spectrums you don't get the lower colours which help corals grow.

It's tricky with a 2 bulb system. People with a 4-8 bulb system can have their growth bulbs, but then also their 'pop' choice of coloured bulbs. They're used just for effect.


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