Your opinion on light combo please......

Well I'm back form my deployment and it's time to upgrade my lighting, I am getting the Sunlight Supply 48" Tek Light T5 Fixture - 4-Bulb, 4 x 54W (which is enough wattage I think for my 55), But I don't know what combo of lights would be best for corals and stuff. I like the bluish glow to my tank and the popping of blues and reds. Here is the list of lights I have readily available to me, please give me suggestions on what 4 bulb combo would give me what I want.

These are all Giesemann bulbs:
48" Powerchrome T5 Fluorescent Bulb - Pure Actinic
48" Powerchrome T5 Fluorescent Bulb - Actinic +
48" Powerchrome T5 Fluorescent Bulb - AquaBlue +
48" Powerchrome T5 Fluorescent Bulb - Aquaflora
48" Powerchrome T5 Fluorescent Bulb - Midday

Any Suggestions would be awesome and definently appreciated.

 

if it where me having just purchased 2 of the Aquablue plus lamps of that brand
they are 14 or 15K (cant recall which ) and they are the best I have used yet in terms of light output (but I have not tried ATI )

I would get 2 x aquablue and 2 x Actinic or maybe 2 x actinic plus ( unsure on the difference

but 2 daylights and 2 blues , would be my prefference
others will probably have different thoughts

Steve

 

I use this combo, recently modified it so its

420nm Actinic
10k daylight
14k daylight
420nm Actinic

Im more then happy with this combo and will stick with it for the forseeable future!

 

Thanks a lot. Karma to Both.....

 

Anyone else?

 

I think generally for 4 bulb fixtures 2 actinic+ and 2 aquablue+ will give you a reasonably balanced blue look. You might try it with 3 actinic+ as well if you like a really blue look. The pure actinic bulbs will not give you very much light output as far as PAR goes so I would avoid them personally since you only have 4 bulbs to work with.

 

I have an 8x54W Tek and have this same set up with UVL bulbs. I also took some pics of different bulb combinations using what I had on hand. Here is a link to the post on my thread.....

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/pharmrjohns-90g-thread-52614-47.html#post618142

 

I would go with ATI before using Giesemann but Giesemann is the second runner up.
For a beginner T5 user, I would go with a 1:1 of Aquablue+ to Blue+.
I feel that is a pretty good place to start, since some like REALLY blue tanks, others just a hint. This combo will have power and some nice blue to it.
You can then cater to your tastes and go more white or blue if you choose.

If you want more power I would go with 2 Blue+, 1 aquablue+ and either a 6000k, or similar daylight lamp, or a FijiPurple to get some color and power.

Good luck!