Best lighting

[Aneisch]

Hey guys, I've been researching different lights, but want to get yall's opinions on the topic.

What is the best type/temperature of lighting for coral growth and coloration? What is even the difference between actinic, led's etc if they're the same temperature?

[Darbex]

My rankings on lighting from best to worst

PAR, lumen, etc
1. LED
2. MH
3. T5 VHO
4. PC

Spread
1. MH
2. T5 VHO
3. PC
4. LED

Heat
1. LED
2. PC
3. T5 VHO
4. MH

Price
1. PC
2. T5 VHO
3. MH
4. LED

In my opinion the best at the moment is MH because the spread is fairly even and wide whereas LEDs are very focused requiring a lot of LEDs to cover the same area as MH. Probably the best set-up is a MH LED, you can run a MH for spread on the sides and spot light certain areas via LED for exceptional growth in that spot. I have read that some corals do better in one than the other. I used LEDs once and just didnt like it since it is so focused.

[myjohnson]

How deep is the tank?

If it's deeper than 24" I would go MH.

If it's 24" or less I would go LED.

I think 20K looks the best on a reef tank. Really lets those corals pop.

[Aneisch]

18" deep, have 7 and 10k LEDs on it now, 15W. Some cheapo ebay blue led's too (mostly for moonlight, though they're also on during the day).

[Darbex]

In regards to color its up to you. I prefer the 14K-15K range it provides a blue to make the colors pop but still provides some of the lower color for PAR. 20K is to blue for me. As I mentioned there is a difference between a 20K LED, MH, and T5. Regarding your particular light it depends. Not all LEDs are created equal, if its a cheapo fixture more than likely you are going to get what you paid for.

[Aneisch]

Ah, no, the fixture is nice, just the blue strip I added is cheapo