Lights for Mixed Reef

If you had an open top tank 24 inches deep and weren't concerned about heat, energy costs or the cost of the light fixture, what kinds of lights would you get that would really show great colors in your corals?  This tank will have a combination of some softies, LPS and maybe someday SPS.

Aloha,

Certainly, color and beauty is always a matter of personal preference. If you look back in this forum where this same question has been asked numerable times, our usual response is to go see members tanks using different lighting and decide which ones you like best. It's a lot of fun to visit hobbyists and talk about all the things that they do.

To get colors to look great to my eyes, any of the lights we have used in the hobby will work, IF the right spectrum is chosen:
14000 kelvin MH and Actinic White VHO
PC pink-blue and PC Actinic
2- T5 actinic and 1- T5 pink
LED combination of blue, pink and white emitters

Mahalo,
Mark

I too love LED's. I had great success with metal halides (175 watt) with vho's for actinics but as soon as I switched to LED's I had the same experience as Ann.

I would do exactly what she said if I were doing it over again with a larger budget.

LEDs all the way. You can dial in any look you want!