advice on new T5 bulbs?

[pascal32]

I'm looking to replace some of the 6 54W T5 bulbs in my Nova Extreme 48"

The tank is a 72 Gallon mixed SPS and LPS (softies down the road).

I'm thinking of:

white:
(1) UV Aquasun - 10K - growth
(1) Giessman aquablue+ (change later to ATI Aquablue Special - 12K - growth)

actinic
(2) ATI blue+ - actinic supp
(1) UV Super Actinic (highest PAR value of any actinic bulb on the market)

other:
(1) KZ Fiji Purple - pink / red pop

Questions:
- I'm thinking about replacing the UV super actinic with Geissman pure actinic which was a nice wide flat 400-450nm range compared to the peaky UV Super Actinic
- I'm worried about growth being that I'd be lacking a 6500 range bulb

are there better choices to pop color and facilitate growth? I really don't want to go to MH and the current T5s aren't working for me.

thanks!

 

[dan10342]

I have had good success with both color, and growth using the following bulbs: (as a note, for a while i was using all "bluer" bulbs and i was losing color over time)

giesemann pure actinic
giesemann actinic plus
aquascience 22k (same as actinic plus)
giesemann aquablue plus 15k
giesemann actinic plus
UVL superactinic

i was using radium 20k before that and i didnt like the color

 

[sg1838]

Blurry, you may want to post your question in the "T5 Q&A Thread" hosted by The Grim Reefer. He seems to be the resident Reef Central T5 expert...he answered my question of which bulbs to use within a day...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1706461

 

[belgian_waffleman]

My stuff is coloring up nicely now that I have new bulbs: I used to have color combo that was less blue.
I picked all ATI, since so many people rave about those bulbs

front to back:
ATI Aquablue special
ATI Aquablue plus
Fiji Purple
ATI Aquablue special
ATI Aquablue plus
ATI Aquablue plus

Bulb2 and 5 or the first ones to come on.

Waffleman

 

[sg1838]

Oh, and here's some good reading at The Grim Reefer's website:

http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarsen00/site/?/home/

Specifically, check out this page:

http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarsen00/site/?/page/Lamps_and_lamp_combinations/

 

[sg1838]

Here's specifically what The Grim Reefer likes for your fixture:

8 lamp Tek or Nova Extreme

1. Blue
2. Blue
3. Actinic White
4. Blue
5. GE Daylight
6. Aquablue
7. Blue
8. Blue

For a more blue look replace the Aquablue with a blue, less blue replace the blue in slot 4 with a Aquablue. You could also try the Actinic White in slot 2 which is one of the 4 dusk/dawn lamps, it adds a purple hue to the look.

Another combination people really like that is more of a 20K blue

1. Blue
2. Blue
3. Fiji Purple
4. Aquablue
5. Fiji Purple
6. Aquablue
7. Blue
8. Blue

1 is front - 8 is back...

I wouldn't have posted this information as it's in the link below, but I figured it was better than a double post...

 

[pascal32]

wow - after hours of reading and looking at spectrums you would think I would have made up my mind! for now I'm putting in some ATI Blue+ to replace my aged current 460s. maybe next month when all this stuff settles I'll swap out some more bulbs!

thanks for the links!

 

[Cptn Spaulding]

no matter what, with 6 bulbs on that fixture, check out the fiji purples.. get one of them.. makes colors pop hardcore and changes the tank dramatically

 

[pascal32]

appreciate the advice. Unfortunately no one carries them locally and neither does BRS whom i just put an order in with. I was going to have ABC order one up just to try it

no matter what, with 6 bulbs on that fixture, check out the fiji purples.. get one of them.. makes colors pop hardcore and changes the tank dramatically

 

[Cptn Spaulding]

appreciate the advice. Unfortunately no one carries them locally and neither does BRS whom i just put an order in with. I was going to have ABC order one up just to try it

check out hellolights dot com. thats where i got my replacement bulbs.. around $95 shipped for 4 4" bulbs... not too bad

 

[pascal32]

update -

I just got in 3 ATI Blue+

I replaced two Current Atinics and a Geisman daytime.

WOW - the colors on the Frogspawn and torch are unreal! looks like someone added some radiative material to the tank! Order for a Fiji and one more Blue+ coming up!

lighting will be:

1. ATI Blue +
2. KZ fiji
3. ATI Blue +
4. Giessman AquaBlue
5. ATI Blue +
6. ATI Blue +

 

[superkat]

pics? pics?

 

[pascal32]

I'll take some tomorrow. We couldn't believe the color difference of the two Blue+ compared to the Current Atinics. The color intensity wasn't even close.

 

[pascal32]

here's some pictures with just the 2 ATI Blue+ running in my 72. They pop a lot more than the picture shows, must be a white balance thing.

 

[Newreeflady]

I don't particularly like my Blue Plus's- just way too blue for me, without any actinic. I added the 03 actinic, but would have preferred to just have 2 actinics and no blue plus.

I like the Fiji Purple and Actinic White a LOT- former really pulls the reds out, latter provides the bulk of my light with no yellow tinge.

I have 4 bulbs, if I did it again I'd do two Actinic 03, 1 fiji purple, and 1 actinic white. I think the blue plus would be good if you had more white to balance it (say in a 6 bulb fixture), but I'm not liking it in my 4 bulb setup.

If it were me, with your fixture, I'd try:
2 x 03 actinics
1 x blue plus
2 x actinic white
1 x fiji purple

-A