Best ATI combo for color

[Beckmola24]

I have a 24" 4 bulb unit over my zoas. I feel like the color could be better..... I have a blue plus, coral plus, actinic and purple plus. Any suggestions? I'm frustrated at this point..... My zoas have lost a little bit of color w this combo.

 

[organism]

actinic
actinic
fiji pink/aquablue/purple plus
actinic

You can put an aquablue instead of the Fiji pink, but if you want maximum color then it's not really necessary. Also by actinic I mean blue plus.

 

[that Fish Guy]

I have the Exact Same Setup

I use

Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

All ATI Blue Plus Bulbs

 

[reefwars]

I have a 24" 4 bulb unit over my zoas. I feel like the color could be better..... I have a blue plus, coral plus, actinic and purple plus. Any suggestions? I'm frustrated at this point..... My zoas have lost a little bit of color w this combo.

It's not all light , depending on how aggressive you export nutrients it will play a role in colors as well

 

[Beckmola24]

I have a massive skimmer on the tank... I'm not sure if it's doing harm or good. It's a 30g nano w a 10g sump. I have the Bubble Magus 5 skimmer. Wouldn't that many actinics wash out the tank color? Or the blue plus be too much blue? Can you guys post tank pics?

 

[Tweaked]

Got to have true actinic in there somewhere. Also, I get silly pop out of the ReeBrite XHO strips.

 

[Raven_aus]

I have
Ati Blue plus
Kz new gen/ati coral plus
Kz fiji pink/ati purple plus
Ati blue plus
Can post pics when i'm home.

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

I have
Ati Blue plus
Kz new gen/ati coral plus
Kz fiji pink/ati purple plus
Ati blue plus
Can post pics when i'm home.

i would like to see a pic? i'm in the same boat. lol some many combinations.

 

[Raven_aus]

Before t5 just razor led

After adding 2 t5 either side.

From this view it goes.
Ati blue+
Kz new gen
Maxspect razor 160w
Ati purple+
Ati blue+

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

thanks that looks great.

 

[SaltyWalter]

Personally I hate the look of actincs in 4 bulb combos, only 6+. I ran 2 blue+ 1 coral+ and 1 purple+ and added a 445nm stunner strip for corals to pop. You won't get much growth with lots of actinic.

 

[organism]

You won't get much growth with lots of actinic.

I used to get 1/8-1/4" a week with the bulb setup I listed, only it was in a 6-bulb and had 2 more actinics. Plenty of studies showing that's the case too, that myth went out the window a long time ago...

 

[SaltyWalter]

He wants it for zoas, right? I personally feel the actinic is lacking the blue spectrum they like better. Not sps.

 

[m0nkie]

I have 8 bulb ATI and here's mine:

Blue +
Blue +
Blue +
Blue +
Blue +
Purple +
Purple +
Actinic

 

[that Fish Guy]

I have 8 bulb ATI and here's mine:

Blue +
Blue +
Blue +
Blue +
Blue +
Purple +
Purple +
Actinic

Why do you have all the Blues in a Row like that?

Why don't you space them out evenly so Corals get more Even Light?

 

[BigJohnny]

I have 6 bulb back to front:

Blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Purple+
Coral+
Blue+

this is about a 16k look. Equivalent on 4 bulb would be like:

Blue+
Purple+
Coral+
Blue+

Same as this guy:

Personally I hate the look of actincs in 4 bulb combos, only 6+. I ran 2 blue+ 1 coral+ and 1 purple+ and added a 445nm stunner strip for corals to pop. You won't get much growth with lots of actinic.

Could always use actinic instead of purple+ but keep in mind actinic have lowest PAR of any bulb.

 

[Bill Nye]

I ran multiple light combos on my last tank that had a 4 bulb fixture.

My favorite was 3 blue + 1 coral +. To my eye coral plus and purple plus are very overpowering in a 4 bulb fixture and make a tank very white/pink so you need to balance with 3 blue plus. I ran 2 blue + 1 purple + 1 coral + for a while and it was very pink to my eye. I also ran 3 blue + 1 purple + and it was ok but still too pink for my taste. I tried an aquablue special and wow did that bulb wash everything out. I personally hate the flat white/yellow light this bulb puts out though so maybe I'm biased.

I now run 4 blue plus, 1 coral plus and 1 purple plus in a 6 bulb sunpower and I still think purple + bulbs are a little much! Thinking of going 2 coral plus next time i buy bulbs instead of the purple +.

 

[BigJohnny]

I ran multiple light combos on my last tank that had a 4 bulb fixture.

My favorite was 3 blue + 1 coral +. To my eye coral plus and purple plus are very overpowering in a 4 bulb fixture and make a tank very white/pink so you need to balance with 3 blue plus. I ran 2 blue + 1 purple + 1 coral + for a while and it was very pink to my eye. I also ran 3 blue + 1 purple + and it was ok but still too pink for my taste. I tried an aquablue special and wow did that bulb wash everything out. I personally hate the flat white/yellow light this bulb puts out though so maybe I'm biased.

I now run 4 blue plus, 1 coral plus and 1 purple plus in a 6 bulb sunpower and I still think purple + bulbs are a little much! Thinking of going 2 coral plus next time i buy bulbs instead of the purple +.

Cool, I am curious to see what your lighting looks like now versus my 3blue+ 2 coral+ 1 purple+. I know it's hard to capture in photos but do you have any of your tank that you believe are fairly accurate representations? Also what size tank do you have and how high are your lights off the water?

 

[Bill Nye]

I have a 36" 6 bulb sunpower over a 50b. Its about 7 inches over the top but I have very minimal rockwork.

I feel I am very biased towards blue lighting so to me the combo I have is a little white for my taste but still is appealing to the eye. I think by removing the purple plus and adding another coral plus it will be a more crisp color vs the pink added by the purple plus.

The combo you are running must be pretty white probably ~12-14k I would say. I consider my combo maybe 16k.

 

[BigJohnny]

I have a 36" 6 bulb sunpower over a 50b. Its about 7 inches over the top but I have very minimal rockwork.

I feel I am very biased towards blue lighting so to me the combo I have is a little white for my taste but still is appealing to the eye. I think by removing the purple plus and adding another coral plus it will be a more crisp color vs the pink added by the purple plus.

The combo you are running must be pretty white probably ~12-14k I would say. I consider my combo maybe 16k.

Kind of, mine is considered 16k and yours closer to 18k actually (according to ATI). I used their bulb recommendation for 16k. Mine is pretty blue with a slight purple/white tinge. Too blue just doesn't look real to me. Having said that, I have never seen your combo and it might be just right. Any pics?