T-5 Bulb Question

Hey all, thanks for taking a look at my post. I have had a current usa set up for about 3 months now, its the 4x54 48". I really didnt care for the way the tank looked with the regular bulbs and my corraline alage growth has stoped since i put them in. So right now im rocking the 2 actinic bulbs the thing came with and 1 10K bulb and a super actinic UVL brand. I really liked the blue look but I was wondering if this is going to be a good combo? I have a few corals in the tank such as a torch, xenia, Gsp and a birds nest, is this is decent combo?

 

There is so much trial and error in this hobby. Lamps is a good example. Yeah, good bulbs but time will tell if the combination you have chosen best suites what you want to accomplish.

 

It all depends on what you want, and what you want your tank to look like. IMO, there's no wrong combo, it's all about personal preference.

 

Your birdsnest may brown out on you. Actinics have very little photosynthetic light. I would replace them with ATI blue plus. They are blue not purple like the actinic. Your tank will be brighter. They will most likely be brighter than the UVL.

 

Sorry to jump on this thread but I have a Nova Extreme 48" fixture and its 3 10k bulbs and 3 Actinics. Do I really need 3 Actinics or should I replace them with something else?

 

It really depends on what you want. If you don't know but want to be able to get anything you want then replace the actinics in 6 months with ATI Blue Plus.

 

The ATI blue + will be a lot brighter than the UVL SA. The ATI B+ has the most PAR of any blue or actinic t5hho bulb.

Lighting is a serious science, but a lot of it coes down to personal preference. Now if the corals are browning out or not happy, then obviously you would need to make a change despite what you thought the tank looked like.

The current brand bulbs are pretty low quality, and from tests I have seen, low PAR as well.

ATI and Geisseman have the best bulbs, but some others like KZ and GE and UVL are OK, if you want that desired look those bulbs make.

 

Well thanks for all your responces, I did a little more reasearching today, all day acctually because of this damn cold I cant do anything else. I ended up ordering 2 ATI aquablue special and 2 ATI blue plus, from what I read all over the web thats most likely the best combo for a 4 bulb set up? what do you guys think?

 

check this out http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-lighting/t5s-q-54866.html

 

That's gonna look pretty good. I myself run

Blue+
Fiji Purple
UVL Aquasun (12K)
Blue+

... and I'm SO happy with it. BTW do I know you from Gainesvillereefclub?

Oh, and Grim Reefer's new site is awesome: http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarsen00/site/?/home/