Malawi Tank Lighting

[xing]

I've recently converted my planted community tank into a malawi set-up - no plants, coral sand substrate, plently of pale (limestone) rock etc. The current lighting is regular daylight(6400k) but they appear a little yellow (maybe they just need changing!)

I'm considering converting the lighting to 2x54w T5's - possibly a 10,000k tube and an actinic as I've heard this brings out the blues. Has anyone any experience of this combo or do you have any other recommendations? 2x 10,000k, 14,000K plus actinic, or stick with daylights etc.

the tank is 72" long x 15" wide x 18" deep if this helps.

thanks

 

[rewlyn]

focusing on bringing 1 colour out will result in lose of other colours, i use daylights then 2 hours before they go to bed i change to my moonlights (blue LED's) the whiter the light the better all the colours show

 

[mmanist]

I agree the whiter the light the better every color shows up, I had a hard time finding a light that made my tank look good, one was to dark, other was to yellow, one ended up being a weird red, that made my tank look a funky brown. I went thru prob 10 different lights before I finaly had someone who was knowlegable in the lighting at the lfs. But I ended up going to walmart and getting the same light spectrum for half the cost. But it was for plants and now my tank is growing algae... Trial and error, Find a light that fits your tanks need! Good luck and happy fish keeping!!

 

[wolfwolf]

I use 1 daylight and one 50% daylight 50% Actinic. This way my acei really pop, but the tank is not overly blue. Best combo I've found. I use T12's though.