zoa lighting question

[bugbdon]

hello everyone,
i have a bc29 and i'm looking to upgrade my lighting so that i can have zoa's and have them really "pop" with color. at some point i am going to have a clam and some sps so i know i need a metal halide fixture. i've looked into the 20" sunpod 150W, but i'm told that the zoa's color won't look that great under just metal halides alone. (even with a 140000k bulb) is this true? and if so, how can i solve this little problem?
any advice on lighting? please!

[bugbdon]

sorry for the double post, the internet was being wierd!

[650-IS350]

Who the heck told you that. I'm actually going to run 14K 250watt MH with 4 T5s on my other tank that I'm building 37cube.

I have friend baking (LOL) their zoos under 250s and 400 MH's. some are even 5-8" below the surface of the water. and they have the brightest colors i've seen for those morphs.

charles-

[bugbdon]

no actinic bulbs needed? the sunpod doesn't have the actincs, just the 150 W metal halide and lunar LED lights

[flyyyguy]

heck......I run straight 10 k halides (white light) and think I have pretty good colors.
Some polyps in particular I think with my high light I can bring out much brighter colors than less light ever could. Others need to be as far away from my light as they can get..........

[bugbdon]

the reason i ask is because i was just at a store and i saw some zoas, i could see they had potential....but they were brown and unattractive. i asked why and they said becuase there isn't any actinic on the tank. the guy also said that he has the same zoas at home under a combination, MH and actinic, and the zoa's look great. i've also done alittle more research and i've found a lighting fixture finnex (i believe) which is 19" long and has 150 W MH and 2 18W actinics. any one think i should get the finnex instead of the sunpod?

[john76]

I got the best colors with 14k halides

blue corals will wash out, but greens/reds and mettalics pop way better

When ever I ran 10k I couldn't stand the yellowy tinge, it may be more natural in regards to the real color but to me it wasn't as pleasing.

[650-IS350]

14Ks for me for best of both worlds. Still white with blue hints.

[john76]

exactly... on my 40 I ran a single SE 14k 250w and it worked great

[bugbdon]

that sounds good to me. sunpod with the 14K pheonix bulb? i appreciate the advice

[Kigs]

bugbdon, I ran the exact same fixture on my aquapod awhile back; 20'' 150w 14k sunpod and I was able to get amazing colors out of my zoas.

[bugbdon]

thanks for the input everyone i'll be getting my zoas and sunpod soon