Gandolf,
That light will serve you well and will be sufficient for just about anything you want to keep in your tank. That doesn't mean that you're ready for
Acropora right away. It just means that when your tank has reached maturity you have the right amount of lighting needed to keep them.
Jay,
I'll try to go over this without going into too much detail - I figure I will be opening a new thread on the subject of lighting soon.
White lighting, being a longer wavelength, starts to break apart once it enters the water and has less chance of penetrating to the bottom of the tank unless you provide a sufficient amount of it.
Blue lighting, being a shorter wavelength, passes more easily through the water and can reach further depths.
Since the blue spectrum is mostly beneficial to photosynthesis in symbiotic alga within certain invertebrates and corals there is only a small demand for this spectrum. A single Actinic paired with three other white bulbs will provide a sufficient amount of this spectrum at any depth commonly found in home aquariums.
Having 3 times the white lighting than blue will ensure that there is more equal amounts of both spectrums reaching all the way to the bottom of the tank.
I know its a crude explanation, but my head is pounding from a migrain at the moment and I can't really concentrate very well.
Aaron
