flourescent lighting question

[Spidey]

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I used to keep discus some years ago and after 10 years with reef tanks, I've downsized my 150gal reef to a 80 gal and have turned my 150 into a BB discus tank (non-planted for now). I'm still in the cycling process (20 Cardinals) and have yet to add any discus. I was wondering what sort of lighting people run now-adays? I used to use 48" T-8 Power-Glo flourescents as they brought out very nice colors in the Red Tourquoise and Red Panda discus that I used to keep. What is everyone running on their non-planted tanks these days? I want lighting that will bring out the beatiful colors in my fish.

PS: The fixture that I have left from my reef tank is 4 x 48" T-12. I would like to use it if possible and wouldn't mind using a mixture of bulb types if necessary to get the nicest effect.

Thanks

[kaceyo]

Hi Spidey,
I recently went through the same changes. I had discus 20+ years ago and gradualy went to Reef tanks. Started with a 45gl reef, then 75gl and finaly got a 180gl though now I have only discus and 1 freshwater Knife and Hatchet tank. I brought my ideas on lighting from reef tank to discus tank and found, for me, they didn't mix. I still have the Full Spectrum Daylight bulb I bought to replace the cool white sold with the hood. It's sitting in the corner collecting dust. It really washed out the color of the fish and made them look drab in comparison to the coolwhite. I'm not saying coolwhite is the way to go, only that the Daylight bulb I bought didn't show their colors nearly as well as the coolwhite that came with the hood.
Maybe a planted tank would require a mix but for discus only I'd save my money.
Kacey

[Moon]

What you need is a lamp with high colour rendering index (CRI). The closer you get to 100 the better. CRI is the ability of the lamps spectral characteristics to render colours true. Incandescent lamp has a CRI of 100. But these are not very efficient and produce lots of heat.
The next criterion is colour temprature. 3000 to 4000 will apprear warm and render reds very effectively. 5000 to 6000 renders the blues very effectively.
I use full spectrum lamps in my fish room and like it.
HTH
Joe