ati bulb combo suggestion

[greg0385]

So i got a 4bulb t5 kit with a icecap660 that i want to use in combo with my two 250watt 14k phoneix metal halides.

My plan is
9:00am-12:00pm all four t5s ON
11:50am-6:00pm metal halides ON and t5s are off at 12pm
6:00pm-9:00pm t5s come back on and metal halides off at 6pm
9:00pm-? Blue led moon light strip on til whenever.

With that said i want ati bulbs so what i got in mind is
blue+
coral+
14k MH
purple+
blue+

Is this a good ati bulb combo?

 

[dustinc]

Personally, I would lose the coral+ and switch it for another blue+.

 

[foxandhound]

I have a 4bulb, maybe this can help you decide what color scheme you want.

I use....Placement front to back:
Blue Plus, Aquablue Special, Purple Plus and Blue Plus

If you have 3 Blue Plus bulbs, it might be too deep of a blue. JMO, if you want a deep blue, go for it, just depends what you want!

 

[rtparty]

It won't be blue with an icecap ballast running them. It will overdrive the bulbs and shorten the life considerably. It also makes the blue bulbs more white

 

[greg0385]

I would like to keep the 14k look so thats why i didnt go with 3 blue+. I read a reveiw on the coral plus and it seemed to be a better bulb color and par levels then the aquablue special.

When you say shorten the life of the bulbs, but by how much?

 

[rtparty]

I would like to keep the 14k look so thats why i didnt go with 3 blue+. I read a reveiw on the coral plus and it seemed to be a better bulb color and par levels then the aquablue special.

When you say shorten the life of the bulbs, but by how much?

If they are properly cooled it cuts their life in half.

 

[greg0385]

Is it worth to overdrive t5s with a icecap 660. The tank is rather tall(30") and rock scape is 16" from top of water.

 

[rtparty]

Is it worth to overdrive t5s with a icecap 660. The tank is rather tall(30") and rock scape is 16" from top of water.

Not if you are using good reflectors and properly cooling the T5s. Not to mention you have MH which should be providing most of the light anyways.

Overdriving T5's just uses more electricity, creates more heat, shortens bulb life and you only see an increase of about 15% in PAR.