Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - T5 bulb choice help

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- - T5 bulb choice help (http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=61923)

We would be happy to match anyones prices on the bulbs should you need the KZ or ATI brand! Thanks for the props guys.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Grizz (Post 499153)

I was talking with Kevin from Red Coral in Calgary the other day, for my tank (96"L x 22"W x 18"D) with 2 - 48" 4 bulb fixture's per side and primarily LPS & Softies he suggested the following per side:

2 - ATI Aqua Blue Special
2 - 10,000K (KZ or Geisman)
2 - 15,000K (KZ or Geisman)
2 - Fiji Purple

that is extremely white

to the original poster, its up to you. imo even a 6 bulb doesn't have enough bulbs for a good enough bulb choice

if i were you i would for sure run 2 22,000k bulbs and the probably 2 14,000k bulbs. no point looking into bulbs specifically for certain colors.

i run from front to back.

kz new gen coral light 15k
kz old gen coral light 10k
giess actinic plus (thinking of switching to kz old gen coral light.)
kz new gen coral light

any other ideas or a kz equivalent to 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Aquablue Special, and 1 KZ fiji purple

and how will a clam do under this combo???

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Grizz (Post 499153)

2 - KZ superblue
2 - 10,000K (KZ or Geisman)
2 - 15,000K (KZ or Geisman)
2 - Fiji Purpl
I am not sure how we came up with the ATI AB special as they are 12k
Lorenz0 you are correct it would be white. I would go with the superblues.
Kevin

Quote:

Originally Posted by svaningen (Post 498511)

I am switching my lights to T5, it will a four bulb fixture. I want a bulb combination that will good growth and color ( more important), I plan on keeping softies and LPS, and maybe 1 or 2 sps.

If you are looking for 36" T5 bulbs to see how different combos look like in color, you can have mine for $5 each or all 6 bulbs for $20.

i keep a lot of SPS under T5's
I have 6 one year old T5 bulbs:

2 x pure actinic Giesemann (normal actinic 20k)
2 x aquablue plus Giesemann (white 14k)
1 x Fiji purple KZ (purple?)
1 x actinic plus Giesemann ("super mega" blue, makes color "pop")

Quote:

Originally Posted by svaningen (Post 501612)

and how will a clam do under this combo???

i have one blue maxima clam deep on the bottom doing just fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris88 (Post 498641)

ati or aqua science is the way to go but with only four bulbs i would be very careful especially with soft corals going with to much of just blue light like the blue plus or the 22,000k.

In a 4 bulb set up i would go with the following

ati blue plus or aqua science 22,000k x 2

ati aqua blue or aqua science 15,000k x1

ulv actinic white or aqua science 17,500k x 1

tons of PAR realistic color and growth. A tank with to much blue doesnt allow the corals to expand fully or look realistic.

I'm really confused by this comment, your saying that to much blue light is bad for a coral for what reason? You're bulb choice is very blue as it is but corals not "expanding fully" under actinics is incorrect. I'm unclear as to the dynamics of photosynthesis and the use of light energy but I do know that blue light has a shorter wave length and higher frequency than other colors which would indicate it has more energy to facilitate dinoflaggeletic photosynthesis.

The limiting factor you run into is that with just 4 bulbs you can't fine tune your fixture like an 8 bulber. With my 8 bulb I run 5 actinic plus and 3 daylight's (All being giessmann), the tank is a 6 foot 170g with a 4 foot fixture. Currently running a heavily stocked very mixed system including 60 different zoa colonies and I couldn't ask for better color. As for "Non Realistic" when I just have actinics on the color in the tank is spectacular so I would readily take "Non Realistic" over "Blah and colorless".
Levi