I'm gonna apologise now, cos I'm moving my tank later today from 1 room to another (reason = decorating the sitting room), and I've decided to do a few modifications and badly needed updates, money allowing that is!
I've got 4xT5's which I know are in need of renewing but when you go on the internet it is so confusing as to what bulbs to buy. At the moment I have 3 marine tubes and 1 actinic, Arcadia do a 14k range of bulbs or Blau do a 15k range what's the best to go for and in what arrangemet, same as I'm using or more actinic? . They are all about the same price £15.99 & £17.99 so no real difference there, but I want the best light for the tank inhabitants, which are:-
various mushrooms
colt coral
ricordeas
xenia leathers
polyps
numerous zoas
sponge
toadstool
sea fan (gorgonian)
derasa clam
2x clowns
algae blennie
regal tang
mandarin
randalls anthias fairy
small sailfin tang
sand sifter starfish, blood shrimp, 2x cleaner shrimp various snails and a couple of hermits.

I'm looking to upgrade later on in the year to a bigger tank (I've seen a fantastic one but don't know the make yet as I have to gaze at with longing very discreatly as hubby doesn't know that in my mind I'm having it, supposing I have to sell my sole to get it )

At the moment though I'm making this tank as good as it can get till I get the sitting room decorated and can inform hubby of the new tank I've just bought.

P.S For Sale.....1 used but reasonable condition sole, slightly frayed around the edges but on the whole pretty decent. No deals with the devil made (as yet)and no stains that cannot be washed out, eventually. Will accept nothing less than 120g tank with sump and accessories. PM me with any offers please.

yeah go for the arcadia 14k marine whites i use them and there great.i would stick to 3 whites and 1 actinic.

I've been replacing wit JBL tubes and they seem very good - although I am comparing them to the ones that came free with the light fitting. Again 3 white and one actinic.

ati seem to be making tubes everyones talking about seen some at lfs and they do look good

Sorry to jump in on this thread, but i have the standard tubes in my TL 550 tank which are two double tubes one white one actinic, question i have is evryone seems to be saying 3 white tubes and one actinic, so when i replace should i buy 1 double white and one half white half actinic?

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to have a look at both the JBL & the ATI and see how they compare to the Blau & Arcardia ones I was looking at. I've been reading all the hype on the internet about all these lighting tubes and it's a bit confusing knowing which ones are good and which ones are just hype, I suppose it's just a case of making your choice and keeping your fingers crossed

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i have just pinched this from another website (lol) but it was easier than retyping! and i wouldnt have remembered all the big words either...

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so going on that if its a shallow tank,it wont make much difference, for those of us with tanks deeper than 15metres... (lol, anybody?) need more blue!

Thx for that, i may as well stick with 50/50 then.

Interesting but I read that a little differently.

If red light penetrates to 15m then surely its not a hard cut off at 15m and at 5m one third of the red light is gone?
This would mean that corals growing in the wild at depths of 5m are expecting their light to have all the blue but only two thirds of the red that we would see at the surface.
To properly mimick their conditions we can either have a 5m deep tank and give it a light source as powerful as the tropical sun - OR - place the coral relatively close to the surface with a much less powerful light source but with the frequencies adjusted to be right for what it would normally get. ie, more blue than red.

So, marine whites for us to see the tank and actinics for coral growth. The right ratio? I think you have to figure out what works for you.