Good T-5 bulb combos?>>>>

[follow3]

Hey All,

I have a 40 gal. (36" x 18" x 18") breeder set up for mostly Zoas, Palys and some Montiporas.

I have 4 dual bulb T-5 lights on top. I am wondering what combination of bulbs you all would recomend. All my pieces seem to be doing O.K. but after looking at everyone elses photos, I think I must have a bad combo of bulbs.
My tank almost seems too bright or too white.

I currently have:

2 blue plus
4 actinic
1 10 k
1 burnout .....LOL

What do y'all recomend?
What amounts of time?

Thanks as allways,
Steve

 

[dc_909]

More than likely it is you camera and not the lights.

 

[follow3]

P.S. Where is a good place to buy T-5 bulbs and what is a good brand?

 

[fishes2889]

Local LFS or some online vendor.....i have bought from diyreef.com, reefgeek and had good experiences.

Giesmann & ATI are equally great.

 

[Ike]

ATI are still the bulbs to get an outperform the Giesmann bulbs. The only exception is the ATI actinic isn't as good as the UVL actinic. If you want more blue I'd suggest 3x Blue+, 3x aquablue, 1x GE 6500K or Aquasun, and 1x UVL actinic. Reefgeek.com is a good place to purchase the bulbs.

 

[d.grcich]

I agree with IKE except the 6500K bulb. Zoanthids "may" bleach under such a high spectrum.

 

[BigBadZoaDaddy]

ATI are still the bulbs to get an outperform the Giesmann bulbs. The only exception is the ATI actinic isn't as good as the UVL actinic. If you want more blue I'd suggest 3x Blue+, 3x aquablue, 1x GE 6500K or Aquasun, and 1x UVL actinic. Reefgeek.com is a good place to purchase the bulbs.

I was told that the Geaisman and the ATI are made at the same factory and have a differant stamp on them? I have both and the Geisman Blues look just like the Ati Aqua Blues or the Aqua Blue PLus whaty ever one is Blue!


I run my light 8 hours you maybe 10 Hrs

2 blue plus 8-9 HRs
4 actinic 10 HRS
1 10 k 7-8 Hrs
1 burnout .....LOL Make it a 10K 0r an 11 K Geisman

IMO!!

 

[dieselab]

36X18X24. Front to Back
Ati Blue Plus
Ati Aquablue
URI actinic
Aquascience 15K
Ati Aquablue.

 

[Ike]

I was told that the Geaisman and the ATI are made at the same factory and have a differant stamp on them? I have both and the Geisman Blues look just like the Ati Aqua Blues or the Aqua Blue PLus whaty ever one is Blue!


I run my light 8 hours you maybe 10 Hrs

2 blue plus 8-9 HRs
4 actinic 10 HRS
1 10 k 7-8 Hrs
1 burnout .....LOL Make it a 10K 0r an 11 K Geisman

IMO!!

I believe they are made in the same factory, but I've also seen the reports of the ATI bulbs having consistently higher par in comparison. Perhaps that was a result of the Geismann's being an older batch, but I haven't been following the T5 threads much recently.

 

[Pazazz]

I have and 8 bulb setup and I run on my 90 gallon. I just changed ALL my bulbs after 14 months and am very happy with the T-5 lighting.

2 Aquablues Plus (11k I believe)
3 Atinics
3 Pure Atinics

I run 2 Atinics and 2 Pure Atincs on the outside and they come on 1 hour before and stay on 1 hour after the rest come on. I run my lights 11 hours a day.... Nice color and decent growth.

 

[Raptor]

I believe they are made in the same factory, but I've also seen the reports of the ATI bulbs having consistently higher par in comparison. Perhaps that was a result of the Geismann's being an older batch, but I haven't been following the T5 threads much recently.

Thats what i read as well, ATI's are diff. I believe you can find this in online. Just ask in reefgeeks forum. Oliver from ATI i am sure could answer your question.
Ok heres my choice.
ATI blue plus
URI super actinic
URI aquasun 10k
ATI aquablue special
URI Super actinic
ATI blue plus
ATI aquablue special
URI aquasun
That would be my ultimate t-5 config. IMO

 

[patedship]

Hey man the dimensions you gave; 36x18x18 is for a 50 gallon tank not a 40.

 

[delsol650]

3 ATI Blue +
1 ATI Aqua Sun
1 UVA Aqua Sun
2 GE 3000K ( Red )
2 SFIGLI?? Atinic

will be getting Fiji Purple as well... going to mix and match these guys till I get the best look. My system is a TEK 8bulb 432watt. (54x8)

 

[newtozoos]

So Zooanthids do not like spectrums in the 6.5K range? This is good information because I have a coule 80 watt 6.5K bulbs that I was going to use.

I have purchased with confidence from Reefgeek and DIYreef and found that they both are excellent shippers with competative prices. Reefgeek packs their bulbs for War!!! Either is a good choice IMO for online lighting purchases.

 

[follow3]

I ended up going with 2 Aquablue specials and 2 blue+.
I also got 4 quality parabolic reflectors.
I hooked the whole thing up and got them running today...
All I can say is WOW, what a difference.

I was running 8 cheapo bulbs and the light was poor and the color was off.
Now I am running 4 bulbs and the light and color are awesome!!!

Thanks for the advice you guys!~!!

I will try to get soe pics tomorrow.

 

[THE BEAUT]

I personally think that is to much light. I have a 6 bulb tek om my 75 and think its to bright.
Anyways my bulbs are -
ATI - Blue+
ATI - Aquablue special
UVL- Super actinic
GE - 6500 daylight
ATI - Aquablue special
ATI - Blue+

 

[shred5]

This is what I use front to back.

Front
ati Blue Plus
UVL Super Actinic
ati Aquasun
ati Blue Plus

I really like the blue plus they really make the coral fluoresce along with the uvl super actinic.

The aquasun has a little red in it and really helps bring out some of the colors...

Honestly my tank is a little Blue and I might try a ati aquablue special 14k in place of the blue plus.

Allot of the time the colors you see in the pics are from the coral fluorescing not the actual colors of the coral... I have one set of zoas which is red under daylight and when I kick on the blue pluses they become flame orange.

Dave