Do i need different light setup

[Jwill1316]

Just wondering if I would need different lighting. Currently running 3 ATI blue plus 24 watt. And 1 purple plus T5. System has a 250 watt 14k metal halide Hamilton. I'm wondering should I add a led strip bar either go with a full spectrum bar or go with just blue I was thinking about going this route here. Tank is young and I jumped the gun on buying coral. Want to help eliminate bleaching which a few of my peices already have. I'm currently running the halde for 2 hours and the t5s for 12 hours. Any help would be appreciated. These are the led bars I'm thinking of going with.

 

[Dom]

The lighting demands of a Reef Tank are far greater than that of a Fish Only With Live Rock setup. So when choosing a light for your reef tank, consider the following:

• Light Spread. When we speak of light spread, we are speaking of the area which a light covers.

An easy way to demonstrate light spread would be to take a flashlight, turn it on and stand it on end with the light facing down on a table. Now, slowly pick it straight up, moving away from the table. Notice that as you move the flashlight further from the table, the area of the table covered by light increases. The growing and shrinking of the area covered by light on the table based on the distance from the table is the spread.

So when selecting a light, the spread must cover the footprint of the tank. And much in the same way you adjusted the spread of light on the table top by changing the distance of the light from the table, you can adjust the spread of your light by changing the height at which the light hangs over the aquarium. But there is more…

• Light Intensity. It isn’t enough that your light spread covers the entire footprint of your tank. It must do so with the proper light intensity as well.

When speaking of light and it’s intensity in aquariums, people will reference light measurements in “lumen” or “PAR”. What is the difference between PAR and Lumen? Generally, lumen are used to measure the brightness of light as perceived by the human eye.

PAR is the amount of light that is actually available to be used during the photosynthesis process. So when speaking in terms of PAR, we are speaking about the portions of the light spectrum usable by the inhabitants in the tank.