ATI bulbs - Blue Plus AND True Actinic?

[agoutihead]

I have a couple of ATI Blue plus bulbs & 2 others that are burnt out (4 bulb fixture)

I was going to replace the burnt out ones with ATI Blue Plus, but then I went to ATI's website & they have a True Actinic bulb too.

It's best to get both bulbs correct? Some corals pop & florescence under the Blue Plus & some will be brighter & pop more from the True Actinic?

 

[parrthed]

I use 3 blue plus and true actintic in my 4x24 over my lps/zoa 60p , love the color and intensity.
The actintic actualy brightens up the blue a bit and the blue plus have great par as well.

 

[degibson84]

The true actinics have little to no par value. Depending on what you plan To add in the future you may be better off staying blue plus.

My 6 bulb fixture runs 3 blue plus 2 coral plus and a Fiji purple

 

[Tom39]

Not trying to hijack the thread but I am in the same situation and I too am looking to replace the T5s in my fixture too. Thinking of using these bulbs.

2 - ATI Blue Plus
1 - ATI Coral Plus
1 ATI Aquablue Special

What do you all think?

Thanks,
Tom G

 

[agoutihead]

The true actinics have little to no par value. Depending on what you plan To add in the future you may be better off staying blue plus.

My 6 bulb fixture runs 3 blue plus 2 coral plus and a Fiji purple

I'm an LPS guy, so zoas, Xenia, shrooms, rics, hammers, frogspwan, acans etc.

Do you think it would be worth it to put 1 True actinic in? What kind of corals really pop under this bulb?

 

[flamron]

I'm an LPS guy, so zoas, Xenia, shrooms, rics, hammers, frogspwan, acans etc.



Do you think it would be worth it to put 1 True actinic in? What kind of corals really pop under this bulb?

Yes. Do it. Don't worry about PAR. You're not growing anything that high demanding of light ( and I'd bet most SPS, appropriately placed, would be fine as well).

 

[flamron]

Not trying to hijack the thread but I am in the same situation and I too am looking to replace the T5s in my fixture too. Thinking of using these bulbs.



2 - ATI Blue Plus

1 - ATI Coral Plus

1 ATI Aquablue Special



What do you all think?



Thanks,

Tom G

I think this will look like a 8-10k look. Not my preference, but if that's what you want, then go for it.

My current bulb setup is two blue plus, one actinic, and one aquablue special. I supplement with LEDs (built into my fixture), and the colors are absolutely stunning.

 

[Tom39]

I think this will look like a 8-10k look. Not my preference, but if that's what you want, then go for it.

My current bulb setup is two blue plus, one actinic, and one aquablue special. I supplement with LEDs (built into my fixture), and the colors are absolutely stunning.

I have to admit that I know nothing about lighting and was hoping that you could explain what you mean by the 8-10k look.

I tried to do a search for the answer but to be honest, even if I had found the answer I was looking for, I don't know enough about the subject to know that I had.

Thanks,
Tom G

 

[flamron]

It'll be pretty white. The sun is 5000-6000k in color (yellow sun, yellow look). As the number gets higher, the light shifts. 10k is pretty white. 15k is white with more blue to it. 20k is very blue.

The lower the number, the brighter it appears to our eyes. The higher the number the more dim it will typically appear.

 

[agoutihead]

I'm an LPS guy, so zoas, Xenia, shrooms, rics, hammers, frogspwan, acans etc.

Do you think it would be worth it to put 1 True actinic in? What kind of corals really pop under this bulb?

Yes. Do it. Don't worry about PAR. You're not growing anything that high demanding of light ( and I'd bet most SPS, appropriately placed, would be fine as well).

There are 4 bulbs total, do you think it would be worth it to get 2 of them the True Actinic? Or 1 bulb is enough? It's a 24" fixture with a 150w MH over a 24x24x20 tank.

You for sure think it will give a lot of additional pop to my tank? I would prefer having all Blue Plus so the PAR stays up there, but if True Actinics really add pop & color I'm all for that even more.

 

[Mark426]

2 Blue+
2 Coral+

 

[Macimage]

I wouldn't add two True Actinic bulbs to a four bulb fixture.

 

[Mark9]

ATI has bulb recommendations on their site

16K - 20K - Bluish white with a noticable blue and red under-tone
3 ATI Blue Plus
1 ATI Purple Plus

12K - 16K - Cool white with a noticable blue and red under-tone
2 ATI Blue Plus
2 ATI Coral Plus

10K - 14K - Crisp white with just a hint of blue
2 ATI Blue Plus
1 ATI Aquablue Special
1 ATI Purple Plus

 

[Kairus]

I would definitely look into the purple plus bulbs. They're awesome looking bulbs.

2 ATI Blue Plus
1 ATI Purple Plus
1 ATI True Actinic

Is what I would do.

 

[Tron_954]

2 Blue+
2 Coral+

This turned out to be my favorite setup. I've also tried 3 B+, 1 C+, then 3 B+ 1 P+, and 2 B+ 1 C+ 1 P+... the others were either too blue, or white with literally a pink tone... but the 2 Blue+ 2 Coral+ is a perfect 14k look, icy white, with clean, crisp blue tones throughout the tank.

Choose what features you think you would want

 

[agoutihead]

I don't want/need to use Coral + bulbs - my foud T5 bulbs are just for actinics/night time viewing, I have a 150w MH for the daytime light.

So I want it super blue/actinic as possible.

I also want to get as much pop out of my corals that I can.

So 2 True Actinics would make a lot of my corals look a lot better? I don't know if I want to add a Purple + because it makes the blue glow less bright, so I really want to keep them all either Blue + or 2 Blue + with 2 True Actinics

 

[Tron_954]

2 blue 2 actinic

 

[Bpb]

Agreed if you're already using MH, 2 blue+ 2 true actinics. And people constantly talk about how actinics don't have any par, but remember that a ton of photosynthesis occurs in the 400-420 nm range so it's not a totally wasted bulb

 

[agoutihead]

Do you guys think 1 True Actinic will give off enough to make everything pop or would 2 be needed?

The tank display is actually 20tallx24widex16deep so it's actually a fairly small foot print display.

I could run 3 Blue + & 1 True Actinic or 2 Blue + & 2 True Actinic.

I don't think I would want to run a purple bulb, I had one before in the mix & it just kind of washed out the tank & wasn't blue enough all the way around for me. I LOVE a really blue actinic look for the evening hours. (I have moonlights for night time)

Are ATI Actinics really blue/bright? I have a couple of Aquatic Life Actinics & they are just a very pale blue & really don't add much to the tank so if they're anything like them I think I may just want to run all 4 with Blue + for my evening/actinic setup.

 

[Bpb]

From what I've read anecdotally, the giesemann pure actinic and the uvl super actinic bulbs are actually a but better looking than the ATI true actinic. Just what I've read. The actinic bulbs will be dim in appearance. They cover only the area of the visible spectrum that our eyes have trouble seeing. One bit of science that befuddles me is how people say that 405 nm and 420 nm LEDs are ultra powerful for how dim they appear and to be careful because you can bleach corals with them...yet actinic bulbs are labeled as par-less. It's exactly the same spectrum. 400-420 nm. I vote for two. I used ATI blue plus bulbs when I ran t5, and while they look good, and are super powerful, I missed the actual violet look actinics provide