How to get 14k MH look with T5s?

[titoav15]

I always admired the 14k look because all the corals look so beautiful. Is there a way to get the 14k MH look with a 4 bulb T5HO fixture? Also should the bulbs be in a particular order? P.S. I only have 1 switch to activate 4 bulbs unfortunately I don't have the option to turn just the atinics on.
In my 55g tank I have couple of zoas, mushrooms, favias, acan, rics, and a bubble coral (I think, I should post a pic sometime to verify).
Thanks for all the help!

 

[titoav15]

PS I got some bulbs to play around with: 2 atinics 460, 3 (coral wave bulbs: they are pink/purple looking onse) and 2 white (12k)

 

[Johnny C]

Try two 460nm blues, one 12k "white" bulb and one of the "pink/purple" bulbs.

 

[titoav15]

should they be in any particular order? like:

460nm blue
12k white
pink/purple
460nm blue

should that be the order? or am I off here?

 

[Johnny C]

The order of the bulbs really only matters when you have several switches for a dusk/dawn effect- the order you listed should work fine, try it out.

 

[pascal32]

I had a nice 14K blue (adapted from my 6 fixture):

back

ATI Blue+
Giesemann Aquablue
ATI blue+
KZ Fiji

front

I like the KZ up front so you can see the effect

check out Grim Reefer's web site: http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarse...s/&PHPSESSID=1c3404786c741b79fb5a3f42baa9ada6

if you are near syracuse and want to play with bulbs, I have quite a few to play with!

 

[jacksonpt]

I run geiseman bulbs and am currently using

Pink/purple
Blue
White
pink/purple

Imo, it gives the best color/look while still maintaining decent par for coral health and growth. You could easily use 2 blues and 1 pink/purple if you wanted it a little bluer.

 

[titoav15]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I really appreciate it! I took Johnny C's advice and went and changed the bulbs to the combo of:

blue
white
pink/purple
blue

We will see how it works out tomorrow when the lights come on. Blurry, the link was very helpful, thank you! If this combo doesn’t work out, I will be sure to hit you up, I commute to Liverpool on almost weekly basis (live near golds gym), but my tank is in Oneonta NY so hopefully we can figure something out And good point on geiseman bulbs because so I hear they are worth every penny. Well I have a lot to choose from thanks to you guys and I will take it one step at a time.

P.S. Kind of off topic but I don't know if this is a natural thing for yellow tangs but I got a yellow tang at ABC day after the frag swap and he is an entertaining little fellow, while all other fish sleep and relax he is running laps (literally he found a drag strip behind rocks, he swims and turns at the end of the aquarium and swims to the other side where the opening in the rocks are and the process repeats) really amusing to watch, he seems to be enjoying it himself. Anyone else have that?

 

[jacksonpt]

If you're making the switch from cheap bulbs to geissmans, be careful... I burned a few corals when I made the switch.

 

[titoav15]

Good to know, thanks! What is the best way to switch to geissmans if i do go that route?

 

[Gravesj1s]

I use a 4 bulb T-5 fixture over my tank..
Ati blue plus
Aquablue special
KZ figi purple
Ati Blueplus

 

[Jacwil]

You may want to see a KZ Fiji Purple running on a tank first...I got one and gave it a try for a week then had to get it out lol...too pink/purple for me.

 

[titoav15]

I got a nice blue look in the tank, almost 14k after trying several ways I ended up with this combo:

Front
Purple/pink
blue
Purple/pink
blue
Back

Looks nice to me but I might try out other bulbs to see if I can get it even better
I will take a pic once I bring my camera back from my other apartment.
Thanks all for the help and Blurry, I will take you up on trying out some of the bulbs I will let you know when I get back to liverpool Should be in a couple of weeks.

 

[Christian_S]

I hear that if you use a lot of pink light in you tank will cause algae bloom,I hope this not happen to you

 

[titoav15]

I guess this will be a good test for all then!

 

[pascal32]

I'm sure you will love your combo! Greatest thing about t5s is the ability to tailor color!

Enjoy!

 

[dan10342]

I use

ATI blue plus
ATI aquablue special 15k
UVL superactinic (dark purple mainly to bring out greens in corals)
ATI blue plus.

The color temp with all 4 bulbs running is a bit warmer than a 14k halide bulb (more like a 12k). however, the corals look great.

To get the shimmer, perhaps supplementing with LED's would do the trick.

If you run a KZ fiji purple or any pinker bulb for that matter, the look will be more on the pinkish side (sort of like VHOs but not quite that dramatic).

 

[titoav15]

Thanks for all the replies, RC people rock!

 

[block head]

i've got led's on each corner of the cube. nice shimmer effect

 

[alphaferret]

yeah the led power brites add a nice halide shimmer and some nice blue color-really gets my colors poppin!