Need help deciding on the t5 bulbs for a reef tank.

Daddie05

New member
Hopefully I'm posting in the right place

I currently have a 3-month old 150g with 50-60g sump.

Setup includes:

Reef octopus skimmer, a media reactor (carbon), water pump (unsure of the size), 4 power heads (2 in the aquarium and 1 in sump and 1 unused) and about 90-100 lbs of LR.

I believe my tank is cycled, but I still have some diatoms in the live sand. No ammonia, or nitrites.

Livestock:
Currently have 2 OC Clowns, 1 royal gramma, a bg reef chromis, a lawnmower blenny, 1 yellow tang, and a CUC. Just sold my green carpet anemone. I have a tek light 48" t5 with 8 bulbs that I am currently trying to replace bc I want to start buying corals. Just bought 4 HO t5 Coralife bulbs (2 actinic blue 2 10k white).
Next month I'm going to get the remaining ones, but wanted to get some input on which ones I should buy (brand, wattage, color). I was thinking of getting 1 more blue, a purple, and 2 more white bulbs. With my current setup, my fish and carpet were thriving.
Because I bought my whole setup off craigslist, I am unsure of how old the bulb are. There are two ballasts and two separate switches (4 to each switch).

Even though I am not using the media reactor at the moment, I wanted to buy a second one off Amazon (2 little fishwives phosban reactor). It has good reviews. Any input is appreciated.



Links to the bulbs would be nice too!
:fish2:
 
ATI. Geisemann or KZ are the brands you'll want. I'd avoid Coralife stuff. Their bulbs are cheap and don't provide much PAR.

I'd end up with a total of 5 ATI Blue plus, 2 ATI coral plus and 1 ATI Purple plus.
 
Thanks for the quick response @rtparty. Unfortunately, I cant return the coralife bulbs. Good news is that I still have room for 4 more bulbs. There are two separate ballasts. Should the lights be on all together? Right now they all turn on at 930am and are off by 8pm. Thanks!
 
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