what bulbs to get?

This is my current T5 ballast on my 20 planted long tank which im selling (if your in the seattle area its cheapppp haha). So im going to keep the ballast and use it on my 20 gallon high newbish reef tank. I was wondering what bulbs should i get for this?

Coralife F/W T-5 Aqualight Double Strip Light-30" - Lighting - T-5 Fixtures at BigalsOnline

 

That fixture will only be good for low light coral at best and very few of them. You will need to get a T5HO fixture to be able to keep anything more than mushrooms, polyps and zooanthids. You can not use T5HO bulbs with T5 normal output ballasts.

 

im fine with low light corals, using this is better than using my 15w floursecent lighting thats currently keeping my mushroom/anthelias/kenya tree alive.

 

Buy a 450nm (blue) and a 10000K (daylight) bulb. You will be adding 6 watts to the lamp output.

 

is the 450nm blue the same thing as actinic. I have seen that a lot of people use 50/50 actinic bulbs and was wondering what they are and why? 10000k daylight bulb the best for reef systems also? And lastly, how does that add 6 watts to the lamp output?

 

Actinic are 420nm wavelength and purple in color.

Your current light on the 20H is 2 15w bulbs and the fixture you are going to is 2 18w bulbs.

50/50 are half daylight and half actinic, they would be considered a 12000K to 15000K bulbs.

 

If that's what your going with, I would suggest either a 10K daylight bulb and a blue bulb, can be an actinic bulb or a blue bulb, or if you like a bluer look, a 12-14k bulb and a blue or actinic bulb.

 

is there a small chance anyone has pics of their full tank shot with the bulbs and different spectrums......Is there any difference in which is better for corals? I do seem to like the real blue/purple tanks..

 

Yellow to white light gives best growth but the color isn't popping. Blue gives great color but not much growth. You should mix your bulbs to get a good all around spectrum. This is a popular 4 bulb suggest, Get 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Aquablue Special and 1 Fiji Purple or UVL Actinic White. All bulbs contain actinic spectrum in their light. The Blue Plus is a strong blue color, the Aquablue is white and the Fiji is a deep pink and the Actinic white is a light pink. This will pop almost any color coral you have in your tank.

 

so how bout i get 1x 18W 10000k and 1x 18W 50/50 Actinic. Would this give a classic bluish tank without it being overly purple?