T5 bulb choice help

[TheKid]

I am switching my lights to t5, it will a four bulb fixture. I want a bulb combination that will good growth and colour ( more important), I plan on kepping softies and lps, and maybe 1 or 2 sps.

[Stones]

I'd recommend 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Aquablue Special, and 1 KZ fiji purple.

If you don't have access to ATI bulbs, 2 Aquascience 22K and 1 Aquascience 15K would work in place of the ATI bulbs.

I haven't used the new superblues from KZ yet, but you could go with all KZ bulbs too by using 2 KZ 14K new gen coral lights, 1 KZ fiji purple, and 1 KZ superblue.

All these bulb combos should result in a ~14 K colour temp which should give your tank and corals a nice colour with a decent amount of PAR.

[Reefer Rob]

Originally Posted by Stones

I'd recommend 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Aquablue Special, and 1 KZ fiji purple.

+1 Oceanic has all the bulbs you need.

[TheKid]

it is this fixture

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/sl...C+4+x+24W.html

[chris88]

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.

[Millepora_Maniac]

I would go with three Korraline Zuct bulbs and one geisemann

something like this front to back,
KZ 10, 000 k
KZ fiji Purple
KZ koralight
Geismann Actinic +

I've seen all of these bulbs in action, and there is no bulb better than the KZ's
You can get 'em from J+L, relatively inexpensive too. :-) Good luck!

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by chris88

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

[imcosmokramer]

Originally Posted by Stones

I'd recommend 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Aquablue Special, and 1 KZ fiji purple.

I like that combo
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[OceanicCorals-Ian-]

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

[TheKid]

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