T5 HO Bulb preference

[russp]

I am needing to replace my t5 54watt bulbs and I am unsure of what to buy , all I have right now are softies . what are a good brand of bulb , currently have Marine Glo 2 x Actinic & Power Glo 2x 18k are these ok or are there better bulbs . Any help would be much appreciated

[dnpbryan]

I would like to hear the answer as well I have a custum 6 lighter with the same questions.

[outacontrol]

I really like the ATI blue plus and aquablue special, nice blue color and seems like good bulbs for the price.
See Reef Central forum for alot of info: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1706461

[Doug]

A search on here will also bring up lots of bulb info not to mention advice from many of our very successful T-5 users.

Some gorgeous T-5 tanks in our journal forum with already mentioned bulbs as a favotite and a couple others.

[fishytime]

any of the big three will do(or a combination there of) .....ATI, KZ or Aquascience......Aquascience being my personal favorite....

[TRS]

Although the ATI T5 HO bulbs are one of my favorite, the UVL T5 HO bulbs are sweet too..and also in combination with the ATI's. You should also look at the UVL bulbs within internal reflectors. The 454 bulbs are great for the 420 - 470nm range, but the Super Actinic are great too. A couple of other UVL worth checking out are the Aquasun and 75/25.

[Myka]

My personal favourite are UVL bulbs. The optional internal built-in reflectors are really cool. I think you can get each bulb with or without reflector, so look closely.

The Hagen 18,000K that you are currently using is a good bulb too, but usually over-priced. KZ are really good bulbs, but the priciest of the lot. Many people rave over AquaScience, but I have not been a happy customer (see below).

Aquascience being my personal favorite....

Really Doug? I have been very disappointed with the AS 22,000K and the 15,000K with really bad color fade in only a few months.

[chris88]

4 bulb:

ati blue plus or KZ super blue
ati aqua blue or KZ new gen
UVL Actinic white or Kz fiji purple
Ati Blue plus or KZ super blue

6 Bulb:

ati blue plus or KZ super blue
ati aqua blue or KZ new gen
UVL Actinic white or Kz fiji purple
Ati Blue plus or KZ super blue
KZ new gen or KZ coral light
ati blue plus or KZ super blue

[The Grizz]

I agree with chris88, he does know his bulbs!!

[trilinearmipmap]

Here is my current combo that I am happy with, most of the tips on bulb selection I got from the long T5 thread on RC.

4 ATI Blue Plus
2 ATI Aquablue Special
1 Giesemann MidDay
1 UVL Actinic White

The color looks realistic to me and I am happy with growth under these lights.

My new bulb combo I am ordering is the same except instead of Actinic white I am getting KZ Fiji purple.

[chris88]

Thanks griz! trill has a good combo as well, you really can't go wrong as long as you pick high PAR bulbs and blend them to cover the full spectrum. Thats the benifit of t5's, you can cover a wide spectrum and mix various bulbs to come up with exaclty what your looking for.