Specifics on light combo?

[reefgeek84]

I ask this question in the LPS section not alot of help, not much traffic either... here is the question...maybe you can give me a little more specifics on the lights, what is a good grower the 18k or the 10k i know the atinic brings out the best color, but is not that great of a grower, so i thought maybe the 50/50 would be the better option just cause it offers some 10k wave in there...but lend me some advice please.

Small tank 12gal with 30w of light.

Should i go with which of the following set ups-

18,000k & 50/50
18,000k & Atinic
18,000k & 10,000k
10,000k & 50/50
10,000k & Atinic

I want to house hardy LPS's, while maintaining good color but also keeping them healthy...what do you think would be the best combo?

[reefgeek84]

TTT

[TimBob]

10,000K will USUALLY give you more usable light than an 18,000K bulb on the same ballast. When I was running PC lighting I had (2) 10,000K bulbs and (2) 10,000K/Actinic 50/50 bulbs. In my opinion this was not enough actinic because nothing really flouresced in my tank, the 10,000K bulbs washed out most of the actinic blue that I was getting. But, I was wanting to have more light available to my tank rather than just making it look pretty.

I would go with the 10,000K and Actinic combo if I was going to run only flourescent again. With my current lighting I am running (2) MHs at 10,000K, (1) VHO actinic and (1) VHO 50/50. I will most likely replace the 50/50 with another actinic since I prefer the purple look to the pink look I get currently.