T5 Lighting Type on Hybrid LED T5HO Unit for SPS Growth.

[Jeremy Chatham]

I am getting an aquatic life t5ho / led hybrid fixture. 48" long.

I will be running two XR30s and it has places for (4) t5ho bulbs.
(2) on each side of the LEDs
What combination of T5HOs should I run????
Preferably 2 in the front of unit are the same as the 2 in the rear of the unit.
This will hopefully supplement the Radion 30s Gen 3s so I can grow SPS in my 120 gallon.
(24"x48" footprint)

My options are all from BulkReefSupply.
Names and Color spectrums are below:
T5 ATI BluePlus

T5 ATI Coral Plus

T5 ATI Purple Plus

True Actinic 03

T5 ATI Aquablue Special

 

[EricGRIT09]

Good timing for me here - I just recently started my 180g recovery and I have a setup with 6x RapidLED pucks (comparable to 3x xr30 Radions, essentially). I just installed 2x Giesemann 60" 2x80w retrofit fixtures for a total of the 6 LED pucks and 4x80w T5. I like a whiter look to my tank, but not quite yellow, just 'crisp'. I REALLY want to have some shimmer during the day, which the T5's make difficult when they are on. So my idea has been to run very actinic/blue/purple lights (so not white/ab special) and use the LED's for most of the white and a little blue to preference. This way I will get the PAR/PUR in the less visually-perceptible ranges so the T5's appear darker and the whites/blues from the LED's create the contrasting shimmer effects.

On to the question at hand - I'm going to be using 2x Coral Plus and 2x True Actinic for the T5 side of things. Then I use the LED's to fill in the rest - I can add whites to warm it up significantly (and increases shimmer) and blues are still there if I need to further even it out to increase PAR but not get too warm. I'm probably not even going to use the red/green channels, assuming all is healthy, to eliminate all of the disco effect.

I'd show a pic today but due to a shipping mix-up I received 2x Aquablue Special instead of the 2x Coral Plus, so I only have 2x Actinic until tomorrow when the replacement Coral Plus bulbs arrive. Based on the look with the 2x Aquablue Specials (just too white) I think the Coral Plus/Actinic Combo is going to be really nice (again, because you can warm it up a ton with the LED's and get the byproduct of shimmer).

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I like the look of, and get good results with, the Blue+ & Aquablue Special combo. One of each in the front and one of each in the back. But I don’t like an overly blue tank. If you like the blue look, plenty of people use just Blue+.

 

[Jeremy Chatham]

Good timing for me here - I just recently started my 180g recovery and I have a setup with 6x RapidLED pucks (comparable to 3x xr30 Radions, essentially). I just installed 2x Giesemann 60" 2x80w retrofit fixtures for a total of the 6 LED pucks and 4x80w T5. I like a whiter look to my tank, but not quite yellow, just 'crisp'. I REALLY want to have some shimmer during the day, which the T5's make difficult when they are on. So my idea has been to run very actinic/blue/purple lights (so not white/ab special) and use the LED's for most of the white and a little blue to preference. This way I will get the PAR/PUR in the less visually-perceptible ranges so the T5's appear darker and the whites/blues from the LED's create the contrasting shimmer effects.

On to the question at hand - I'm going to be using 2x Coral Plus and 2x True Actinic for the T5 side of things. Then I use the LED's to fill in the rest - I can add whites to warm it up significantly (and increases shimmer) and blues are still there if I need to further even it out to increase PAR but not get too warm. I'm probably not even going to use the red/green channels, assuming all is healthy, to eliminate all of the disco effect.

I'd show a pic today but due to a shipping mix-up I received 2x Aquablue Special instead of the 2x Coral Plus, so I only have 2x Actinic until tomorrow when the replacement Coral Plus bulbs arrive. Based on the look with the 2x Aquablue Specials (just too white) I think the Coral Plus/Actinic Combo is going to be really nice (again, because you can warm it up a ton with the LED's and get the byproduct of shimmer).

So all that said... Which 2 bulbs are you recommending for me?

 

[EricGRIT09]

So all that said... Which 2 bulbs are you recommending for me?

I think ultimately you will need to make your own choice based on preference but if my stated preferences align with yours then you can use the bulbs I mentioned in my post and the poll - 2x Coral Plus and 2x Actinic.

For me I already have a very strong blue channel on the LED's and adding any Blue Plus to the T5's was very overpowering on the "Windex" factor.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I just hung my hybrid 2 weeks ago. I like it. I have the 60. I put my AI 52hd in. I put a coral plus on the outsides, 1 purple and one blue plus. I have an actinic bulb also but not tried it yet. I am using my hydra for the deeper blues and violet.

Still new so have no opinion on growth yet. I do like the white-color of the coral bulbs. Not a fan of the windex look.