Good bulbs for 'less blue' look? Is this Home Depot fixture ok?

[Frozenguy]

I have a 75 gallon 48"x18"x22.5" LxWxH
I'm thinking of doing
(2) ATI aqua blue special
(2) ATI coral plus
(1) ATI true actinic
(1) ATI blue plus

My girlfriend says it irritates her eyes when they are too purple and blue.
But I don't want to stray too much from ideal spectrum.

Is this a good starting point? Or too white?

I already have (2) 250 watt MH ballasts and fixtures. no bulbs. But I'm not sure how I'm going to set up MH on my tank and I just finished cycling my 80 gallon so I'm going to start with T5HO for the initial CuC/ fish and then add MH before I start adding corals.

This is the fixture I want to use: Can I go out of our hobby suppliers for this? I feel confident it is true T5HO
Lithonia lighting T5HO 48" (4) lamp
Reflects 95% (looks like individual)
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...put-Fluorescent-High-Bay-IBC-454-MV/202838871

Only problem is it's 12" which only leaves me about 6 inches. The 2 lamp fixture doesn't appear to have as good of a reflector.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...T5HO-MVOLT-GEB10PS/203137160#customer_reviews


Or I can use this Hamilton retro fit kit
http://www.marinedepot.com/Hamilton...ofit_Kits-Hamilton-HT01247-FILTRTRFTF-vi.html

 

[Frozenguy]

Maybe I shouldn't fill it up with t5.


Should I start off with MH/T5 combo?

Tank is 48"x18"

I've always wanted a clam.

Not sure if I would get one though.. Not sure how heavy I'm going to stock this tank..

 

[Mishri]

You can run just the 2 MH, you don't need any other lights. Only reason to add other lights would be for the crazy blue night lights, for dawn/dusk, which your GF doesn't like.

 

[Frozenguy]

I'm doing some more measurements in my canopy and I dont really have full 18" back. There is a strip of wood running the length of the canopy for the hinges.
So I have about 15".

And about 4.5" between glass top and canopy


Maybe I should take the canopy off? Or are there MH hood/reflectors under 4.5"?

 

[Frozenguy]

Is this over kill? Way overpriced?
It seems to fit my dimensions and will give me color options I want. I'm now afraid of using two MH that will be a tight fit and not many options to adjust color.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ATI_48_I..._Light_Fixtures-ATI-UZ3009-FILTFIT58U-vi.html

 

[Aslmx]

4.5 would be close for halides. I ran mine 8" off the water and had some heat issues. The Home Depot light would work but it's probably gonna rust really quick

 

[Frozenguy]

Lol not 4.5 " off the surface, but clearance for the hood.

I went with the ATI 6 bulb fixture 48"

2) blue plus
2) coral plus
1) aqua blue special
1) purple plus

Will be here tomorrow even with free standard ground shipping

 

[Cowdogz]

I think you got a pretty good mix of bulbs there. The Purple Plus might throw things a bit too much to the red side, at least it did in my 4-bulb fixture. I like 1:1 ratio of Blue/Coral. Not too blue and not too white.

 

[Frozenguy]

What might be better option? The actinic?

 

[tkeracer619]

You did the right thing. That isn't enough room for halides.

 

[stancfii]

your current combo should be a great starting point, and look perfectly fine. The purple plus is a great bulb that really offsets a greenish hue that the blue plus puts out. If I had a 6 bulb combo, I'd do the exact same thing, except replace the ab special for a ge6500k. The abs tends to wash out colors a little bit, where as the ge6500k is a really crisp white bulb that adds a great amount of color rendition to the mix. I would arrange it like this:

Front:
Coral+
Blue+
Purple+
ABS (or GE6500k)
Blue+
Coral+
Back

This will not be too blue to hurt your GFs eyes, and will still give great color and pop to your coral.