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im not too good with the technical stuff so any advice here would be great.

currently i have a single flouresecnt globe on my 55g tank .. i think its about a 100w globe. i want to get a light that will help bring out the colours in my cichlids, which are mainly blue and yellow in colour.

ive read something about blue actinic light really helping to bring out the colours. this i think is paired off with a normal white flourescent globe, i may be wrong

what lighting would you suggest to bring out the colours best?

thanks!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I don't own this but at the LFS they have moon lights over the tank, and they really bring out the fishes colors. These are expensive though.

-Vincent

I know about two different kinds of lights. I have a 55 gal. & I had one of my hubbies long shop light's in it. It was a cool white florescent, 40 wt. It gave off a lot of light making the tank bright. I liked it.

I had heard about regular tube aquarium lighting & wondering what the difference was, I went to wal-mart & bought one from the regular light dept.. It was also 40 wt. It says plant & aquarium, full spectrum, on it.

Putting it in I noticed a dramatic difference. First of all I noticed the tank wasn't nearly as bright as with the other light & I was almost disappointed. But then I noticed that the colors of the fish & even the ornaments in the tank sort of jumped out at me. My neons now actually seemed to glow.

I still have that light in my tank.

But you are using the word "globe"? That makes me think that maybe your light is not a long tube but round. If that's the case, they also make round plant lights.

Neither of these bulbs are expensive.

Thanks for your replies.
fish patty it is a tube.. sorry i call them all globes

i was reading somewhere something about either 50/50 globes which are both actinic blue and white in the same tube, or the other option is 2 tubes, one actinic blue and the other daylight 10000k... apparently they bring out the blues and also light up the tank. ..

has anyone here done this?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

A single straight tube bulb on a 55g is 40w. They go by length and 48" is always 40w when talking about regular straight bulbs.

Lighting is slightly opinion. I prefer bluer light like 50/50 bulbs or if doing plants 8,000-10,000k. A straight actinic is going to make your tank completely blue and wash out all the colors. Lots of bluer light will probably bring out blues but start to wash out any yellows, reds, and possibly greens. If you want the tank to be bright white and bring out all colors fairly evenly I'd probably go with a 10,000k bulb. Some people still say that high of rating on a bulb washes out some colors especially greens in planted tanks but they are one of the most often used on salt tanks with lots of colorful fish and corals. They look like they show off colors fine in that case. If you want it to look a bit darker, more subdued, and really bring out the blues I'd go with a 50/50 or put on 2bulbs with 1 being 10,000k and 1 being actinic. Even with more light the high amount of blue makes it seem darker. More like evening or looking into a cave than being out in bright daylight. If you want a tank that looks like night or moonlight all the time and only shows blues then I'd use an actinic. You can also run an actinic strip in the evening and the 10,000k bulb(s) during the day if you want to spend the money for a seperate light and timer. It can look interesting. I run red lights in the morning and evening for sunset and sunrise on my plant tank. If you have any plants at all they will not use alot of blue light. 50/50 bulbs and actinics will be wasted light to them and unless you add a bulb will actually lower the useful light on your tank. Not an issue if you have no plants.

thanks for your reply sham

i might try and find a 50/50 globe and try that out. if not ill have to switch to 2 globes as i still want that white light in there as well. the light i have in there at the moment really isnt doing anything!
i only have an anubius in the tank atm so it still needs a bit of light.

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them