The T5 Q&a Thread - split

40 breeder..

40 breeder..

I have a 40 breeder mixed reef. I have zoas,chalices,frogspawn, and various pieces of sps. I have a 6 bulb sunlight supply TEK fixture. What would be a good bulb combination for color and growth. Don't want it to be mostly blue but also not too yellow. Helps is appreciated in advance.
 
xdannyxrocksx said:
I have a 40 breeder mixed reef. I have zoas,chalices,frogspawn, and various pieces of sps. I have a 6 bulb sunlight supply TEK fixture. What would be a good bulb combination for color and growth. Don't want it to be mostly blue but also not too yellow. Helps is appreciated in advance.
Click to expand...

With 6 bulbs over a 40 brreeder you actually have to avoid over power it. What I'm running on my 40 breeder frag tanks are:

UVL Super Atinic
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Purple Plus
UVL 75/25 AquaBlue
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Super Atinic

But I got a good prce on UVL bulbs years ago and have a stock pile of them. If I were buying everything new today I might replace the 75/25 Aquablue with something like a New Generation or a GE 6,500K.
 
andrewbram said:
Sorry to ask one more question Grim. I try and buy local when I can so are Giesemann bulbs any good. I am going to replace my 4 now and get my additional two bulbs and ballast later. If the Giesemann aren't suffiecnt I will order the ATI
Click to expand...

Giesemann will work but I don't think they have anything comparable to a Purple Plus
 
How is the par rating on the kz bulbs? I have a 4 bulb comb, (front to back) ATI blue, ATI ab special, ATI blue kz fiji, and a few of my sps seemed to die off. My red planet was very green and my plum crazy was basically green (supposed to be purple) I recently upgraded the figi from the kz new gen, which i must say was even worst that the fiji ( sps looked terrible). After a month I swapped the kz figi for another ati blue plus, my sps seemed to start recover and i really like the color of my tank. My lps haven't noticed much difference, but as you can see in my avatar that one acan REALLY pops now.

Am I going to suffer any problems running this much blue? TIA

Im also thinking of trying a purple plus (imo the ATI bulbs are better than the giessman and it seems the over priced KZ)
 
I have a standard 29 gallon with acans and other lps. Would a 2 bulb 36" LET retrofit from reefgeek be enough light to support them? They always did better in the shade in my big tank. Could I use 2 blue plus or would one blue one purple plus be necessary? For a splash shield what is better plexiglas or glass? TIA.
 
Jstn said:
How is the par rating on the kz bulbs? I have a 4 bulb comb, (front to back) ATI blue, ATI ab special, ATI blue kz fiji, and a few of my sps seemed to die off. My red planet was very green and my plum crazy was basically green (supposed to be purple) I recently upgraded the figi from the kz new gen, which i must say was even worst that the fiji ( sps looked terrible). After a month I swapped the kz figi for another ati blue plus, my sps seemed to start recover and i really like the color of my tank. My lps haven't noticed much difference, but as you can see in my avatar that one acan REALLY pops now.

Am I going to suffer any problems running this much blue? TIA

Im also thinking of trying a purple plus (imo the ATI bulbs are better than the giessman and it seems the over priced KZ)
Click to expand...


What fixture are you running? What size tank? Without that info it is hard to recommend if it is the bulbs or not.

For a 4 bulb combo I would use 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus or KZ Fiji Purple and 1 KZ New Generation.

The KZ bulbs have really good PAR. ATI and KZ are both made by Sylvania so they are very comparable. I think that KZ bulbs are extremely overpriced as well.

ATI has a new bulb called the Coral Plus out but I have no idea when it will be in the states. If ATI follows suit, we won't see it for a few months. Hopefully I am wrong though.

I would also move your Purple bulb out of the back. It isn't doing anything productive in the very back of the tank. You want it in the second or third slot.
 
Useful_Idiot said:
I have a standard 29 gallon with acans and other lps. Would a 2 bulb 36" LET retrofit from reefgeek be enough light to support them? They always did better in the shade in my big tank. Could I use 2 blue plus or would one blue one purple plus be necessary? For a splash shield what is better plexiglas or glass? TIA.
Click to expand...

2 bulbs should provide enough PAR but finding a good bulb combo is gonna suck.

If you go with 2 bulbs I would go with an ATI Blue Plus and an ATI Aquablue.
 
I also have a 29 gallon (30x12x18) mainly lps and a clam was looking at switching from 2 fixtures of 2 bulb t5 coralife to an aquatic life 4 bulb t5. Thought it would give me more options for bulbs and dimming. Now I'm wondering if I should stick with what I have and just buy bulbs. Just a pain having 2 fixtures sometimes.
 
question i have 4 build pc 96w and wanting to switch to a better lighting system im currently growing lps and some softies and wanting to get into some sps and and claims and still keep some fish what lighting would be good for doing that. thank you for the help and input
 
rtparty said:
What fixture are you running? What size tank? Without that info it is hard to recommend if it is the bulbs or not.

For a 4 bulb combo I would use 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus or KZ Fiji Purple and 1 KZ New Generation.

The KZ bulbs have really good PAR. ATI and KZ are both made by Sylvania so they are very comparable. I think that KZ bulbs are extremely overpriced as well.

ATI has a new bulb called the Coral Plus out but I have no idea when it will be in the states. If ATI follows suit, we won't see it for a few months. Hopefully I am wrong though.

I would also move your Purple bulb out of the back. It isn't doing anything productive in the very back of the tank. You want it in the second or third slot.
Click to expand...

FWIW I recently contacted reekgeek, they should have the new coral plus bulb in by the end of the week.
 
3fish said:
I also have a 29 gallon (30x12x18) mainly lps and a clam was looking at switching from 2 fixtures of 2 bulb t5 coralife to an aquatic life 4 bulb t5. Thought it would give me more options for bulbs and dimming. Now I'm wondering if I should stick with what I have and just buy bulbs. Just a pain having 2 fixtures sometimes.
Click to expand...

Aquatic life fixtures aren't dimmable. I would go with a Tek over an Aquatic Life if you look to upgrade but you will have to hang it because they don't make a 30" fixture.
 
rtparty said:
What fixture are you running? What size tank? Without that info it is hard to recommend if it is the bulbs or not.

For a 4 bulb combo I would use 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus or KZ Fiji Purple and 1 KZ New Generation.

The KZ bulbs have really good PAR. ATI and KZ are both made by Sylvania so they are very comparable. I think that KZ bulbs are extremely overpriced as well.

ATI has a new bulb called the Coral Plus out but I have no idea when it will be in the states. If ATI follows suit, we won't see it for a few months. Hopefully I am wrong though.

I would also move your Purple bulb out of the back. It isn't doing anything productive in the very back of the tank. You want it in the second or third slot.
Click to expand...

Im running a current 4x39w. Why do you think i should move that bulb forward? I had front to back;(blue, new gen, blue, figi) Which didn't really do anything for my coral so i swapped out the new gen (5 months old) for a ab special and it improved, then I got a new figi and no real change.

Now im front to back;(blue, ab special, blue, blue )
 
Jstn said:
Im running a current 4x39w. Why do you think i should move that bulb forward? I had front to back;(blue, new gen, blue, figi) Which didn't really do anything for my coral so i swapped out the new gen (5 months old) for a ab special and it improved, then I got a new figi and no real change.

Now im front to back;(blue, ab special, blue, blue )
Click to expand...

Because the red from the Purple bulb isn't striking the viewing side of the corals and the increased spectrum is limited to the very back half of your tank.

When you have 4-6 bulbs, it is best to keep the purple bulbs front of center. You see the effect much better that way.
 
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