ATI vs UVL

[TheKid]

How good are they as apposed to ati's

And what is the equivalent of blue+ and aqua blue +

[TheKid]

And does it that much of a difference to pay more? I planning mainly softy and lps, may one or 2 sps

[TheKid]

Bump

[TheKid]

Bump

[chris88]

the bulbs cannot be compared. The ATI Blue plus bulb is a very high par bulb. UVL 454 is the closest in color but not the same par. UVL super actinic has low par but better then ati pure actinic. The ati aqua blue is a very white bulb and all of UVL daylight bulbs have a lot of red in them which make thier color very pink instead of white. The red spectrum is a good addition but to much will make your tank look odd. UVL actinic white is thier most popular bulb and for a good reason, high par and a tint of red.

The best thing to do is to mix these bulbs. You are not going to get a great color from the UVL bulbs and you are going to be missing red with just ati bulbs. Here is my fav combo on a 6 bulb fixture.


ATI BLUE X 2
UVL SUPER ACTINIC X 1
UVL ACTINIC WHITE X 1
ATI AQUA BLUE X 2

If you want even more par drop the actinic and add another blue plus.

[TheKid]

For an lps and softy tank would the par really make a difference ? And I only have four bulbs the combo I was given was

blue plus
aqua blue plus
kz Fiji purple
blue plus

[chris88]

There isn’t any UVL bulbs in the set up you just mentioned I thought you wanted to try a few. That set up is fine but it is very blue, softies don’t do as well with that much blue. It will make your lps pop in color but the majority of softies don’t fluoresce other then zoanthids. I would switch the fiji purple for an UVL actinic white or an aqua science duo and the tank with look a little less artificial and you will still have the same par if not more and better growth.