T5 bulb selection (1 Viewer)

[itstonyyy]

Currently running 24" 4 bulb T5 from Current USA.
2 ATI Aquablue plus
2 ATI Aquablue special

I'm trying to go for a more "blue" effect.

What's the best combo?

Thanks!

My corals are mainly zoas, and lps.

 

[flexrac]

your combo looks good to me, if you want more blue, you may have to just switch brand of bulbs.
and i'm not sure whitch bulb brand combo would give you what you want. maybe leds.

 

[rxonco]

Seems like that should be pretty blue. You might try adding another blue-plus and taking out an aquablue. Only problem with doing something like this is you're not gonna be left with much "usable" light for your corals.

 

[itstonyyy]

i was thinking taking out aquablue for pure actinic.

 

[rxonco]

It largely depends on what your intentions are. Are you wanting "optimal" lighting for your corals, or a purely asthetic condition? By taking away one of your aquablues and adding a pure actinic, you're lighting wavelenght is going to be largely grouped in the 420-500nm range. For good, continued growth, you'll need to balance with some "white" light in the 450-650nm range which is achieved with those aquablues.

 

[itstonyyy]

going more for looks.

 

[Llama]

Blue+ puts out a serious amout of PAR. If you want blue lighting and still decend coral growth I'd be leaning toward those.

Question though: Why not have both spectrums and just run the blue bulbs when you want it that way? By doing this you get the blue look you want and then you're not around the coral still gets the lighting it wants. Unless you are planning for a deep water tank, then you're good to go!

 

[rxonco]

I agree. I'd get rid of one of the aquablues and throw another blue+ in there.