Actinics or 14,000K MH?

I was wondering what you all thought would be the best way to get some flouresence out of my corals. Right now I have two 250W MH 10,000k on my 72 gal. I was either going to get some 14,000k or 20,000k MH bulbs or get some VHO actinics. If I went the VHO route, would that be too much wattage on my tank? If I went with new MH bulbs, should I get just one or two new bulbs? If I got one blub would half my tank look bluer than the other? I am leaning towards the new MH blub b/c it would be cheaper and alot easier.

 

we are in the same boat i decided after 3 months that 10k MH and VHO for blue would get optimal growth and still look nice if you want are just wanting your tank to look good i would say 20k and no VHO needed

 

Based on the corals you have right now, none of them require intense lighting! Granted, you really can't have enough light(wattage) as i've seen 1000watt metal halides on tanks, however, you should look at finances and what you are going to be adding in the future as far as corals are concerned. Are you going to be adding Acropora's, and montipora's, or Goniopora etc.? Then the stronger light will be needed. If you are going to be doing mostly soft corals then increased lighting isn't necessary.
With that being said, it is advantageous for you to have some higher temperature kelvin lighting(14000k-20000k). To have a dawn and dusk light regimen schedule, it will enable the corals to downgrade from the higher light intensity to darkness without stressing them out with the drastic change in lighting. You may want to get a strip lighting for a pc or t5 actinic to offset the 10000k metal halide to add the dusk and dawn hours of each day.
If you go with adding another metal halide bulb of a different kelvin, I believe it will make one side of the tank a different color than the other. I would try to balance it out by adding two metal halides of the bluer color to keep the tank constant as far as color. The one thing I will say that may be a little different but at the same time could be cool is to keep the 10000k bulbs at the one side an the middle and then have the 20000k for example at the other end of the tank to represent water depth increasing. In this regard your tank could have a biotrope that goes from shallow to deeper water!!!
Hopefully, I didn't lose you on this matter, but I think that could be a cool representation for water depth!!!

 

Thanks for your opinions guys. I was not going to add another MH fixture in the middle. I was just going to change out the blubs in the fixtures I already have. My tank is only 72 gal, thats almost 7 watts per gal. In the event that I do go VHO, Where can I get some VHO setups at a good deal.

 

bump

 

if its a DE than i would get a phenix 14k, very nice color and great pop. buy if its a SE than i would go with hamilton 14k