Everyone has their own theory on lighting. The article here will discuss general concepts as well as my own beliefs. What is the best lighting? I have read forums and heard discussions of people go rounds and rounds about lighting. There are so many different options. There is no "best lighting". Most of it will come down to personal preference aside from coral requirements.

This article will focus on my own experience with lighting, due to the fact that there are numerous other articles and endless data. First lets start off with my current lighting scheme and how I cam to this conclusion: Two 400 watt Radium, and two 250 watt Ushio metal halide bulbs. Along with 4 VHO super actinic URI bulbs and 8 t-5 blues (these are not actinic but bright blue). These are spread out over an 8 foot tank. Each "half" containing 1 400 watt Radium, 1 250 watt Ushio, 2 VHO and 4 t-5 blues. All these bulbs are about 8" over the water. The halides are driven by PFO HQI ballasts and the VHO- Ice Cap, and the t-5's by Advanced electronic ballasts. I believe each ballast to provide the maximum performance for each bulb. The PFO ballasts will actually run a 250 watt bulb at 330 watts, burning them hotter- thus whiter. They also overdrive the 400 watt bulbs. Their life is shortened by a few months but to me and my corals, its worth it. When running Radiums on other ballasts, their color is much bluer, and the PAR lower. The look of my tank- screaming white with a nice bluish cast. My goal in lighting for 5 years now. I have bright yellow corals, right next to deep blue - the two hardest colors to achieve together, in my opinion. My last set of bulbs were Coralvue. These were the old style bulbs before the recall. All I can say is, the bulbs were 3 months old when I made the switch, and the clouds have now cleared over the tank. Along with the yellow cast. They were 10k's and two 12 k's. The 12k's were a pretty bulb, but very dim.

More of my theory: If a person is going to run a high kelvin bulb, and is aiming towards SPS corals, go with a 400 watt bulb. 250 watt high kelvin bulbs are great for LPS and soft corals. Not to bright and pretty bluish color. To me, the 400 watt radium looks whiter than the 250 Radium on PFO HQI ballasts. 250 watt 10k bulbs however seem to do fine with SPS corals. But they lack the blue tint. Coloration is not as vivid. I am a big fan of a broad spectrum. This requires running multiple bulbs of different temperatures. I believe this comes closer to duplicating natural sunlight and its broad spectrum with our big blue sky. One step closer to achieving the absolute amazing colors of corals on the wild reef.

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