T8 color for a qt tank?

[Rscott]

hey all
So I have setup a small 20 gallon qt tank for coral dipping.

I have a T8 fixture that came with the tank but need to order a proper bulb.
Hoping for a 30 day QT after various dips

What color bulb should I order?

Thanks for the advice

 

[jda]

You are just going to be at mercy of what is available to buy... there are not many choices anymore. Anything from daylight (5500k to 6500k) will keep coral well, all the way up to reef type bulbs like 50/50s and Actinic. Don't just use Actinic, but a mix of any of these will be fine for the coral. Even all 6500k will color and grow coral quite well, but you might think that they are yellow.

 

[Rscott]

Sadly the fixture I have only has 1 bulb

I wanted the fixture because it was part of a hood.
I wanted the hood to prevent evaporation given I have no ATO for this little tank

It’s jusy one of those little 20 gallon aquaeon kits from my LFS

I have found plenty of bulb selection from coralvue on amazon

They seem to have quit a bit.
I will be pretty limited with only the one bulb choice I guess which I didn’t think of

Thanks for the thoughts

 

[jda]

If just one bulb, get a 50/50 if you can. 10k would be next for me. Get a few spares if you want to run this for a while and put them in the closet.

This won't be a lot of light with one bulb, so test the output before you put coral under it for a month. ...what might work for softies and LPS might not work for clams and stuff. If you ever get a PAR reading, then post back.