t5 bulb combos

[bangaiicard]

what woud you reccomend for a bulb combo? i have a 36" current 4 bulb t5 fixture and want a set of new bulbs, on the new ones, looking to start corals, so anyhelp and suggestions would be greatly appreaciated.

thanks.

[lakshwadeep]

Have you checked the T5HO information thread in the lighting forum?

[bangaiicard]

yea, but theres so many, its kind of confusing, and most of them are baised on pesonal prefrence.

[Gatotsu77]

And asking which bulbs to use in said fixture will also generate results based on personal preference. There are a LOT of combos in the T5HO thread, and a fair number of photos. Now, some of the photos are misleading, given that not everyone would be using the same white balance, (nor the same ballast) but the comments might give you an idea of what to expect.

 

Are you looking for a heavily blue, icy blue, lightly purple, etc. setup? The most frequently suggested bulb combo is 2x ATI Blue+, 1x ATI Aquablue Special, 1x KZ Fiji Purple, generally w/ the Fiji in front, and the Aquablue in the 2nd from rear. I personally run KZ Fiji Purple, ATI Blue+, Wave Point Coral Wave, ATI Blue+, front to back. This gives a nice purpley blue look. I used to run the above config, but I found it a bit too icy blue, when compared to my gf's KZ Fiji Purple, AquaticLife 420/460, UVL 75/25, AquaticLife 420/460, which had a great purple tone. For reference, my bulbs are in a 24" AquaticLife fixture, hers are in a 36" AquaticLife fixture.

[nibor]

+1 to Gatotsu77. Order of bulbs makes a big difference as well, if Gatotsu77 swapped the order of his bulbs to Blue+, Fiji Purple, Coral Wave, Blue+ (front to back) the tank would look more blue.

[anemone fan]

What would 3 20K and a UV look like? I was also thinking about switching, but flipping through all those pages are dizzying. Need to put something on the x-mas list.

[Dasani]

What would 3 20K and a UV look like? I was also thinking about switching, but flipping through all those pages are dizzying. Need to put something on the x-mas list.

3 20k's and a uv....well we can't tell you this. What kind of 20k's? Which UV bulb?

 

I know a lot of people like 2x ati blue +, 1 ati purple plus or kz fiji purple, and 1 ati aquablue special.

[nibor]

Read this, it's from The Grim Reefer's home page. Should give you an idea.

http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarsen00/sit...40e57ff438762b0

[danthenewreefman]

ATI Blue+ are sexy, just plain sexy.

 

I'm using 4 blue+, a purple & an old current blue bulb.

 

my idea setup I think'll be 4 blue+ and 2 puirple+ bulbs.

 

it's VERY blue and some of my (once ugliest coral) looks 100% differnt and are my now favorites.

[halloween82]

Masterbulder's t5ho comparisons on t5ho's was a good thread to look at. same tank different bulb placement/bulbs.

 

right now sps mixed reef: i have frnt to back ATI bluespecial, Blue+, GE 6,500k, KZ Fijipurp, Blue+, Bluespecial

 

great color on acro's sps lps clams etc.. without a over bearing blue color. with 3 different cycles so i still get to enjoy that real hard blue/purple glow.

 

frag tank: side to side blue+, Purple+, 6,500K, Blue+

 

zoanthids in paticular are amazingly colored. in this tank.

[anemone fan]

I was thinking in this order from front to back:

 

ATI Blue +

GE 6500k

ATI Special Blue

ATI Blue +