I'm a strict LED person but I recently purchased 2 ATI fixtures for 2 of my tanks to see if they in fact grows corals better. I know it will be impossible for me to give up the LED completely and switch to T5 (I've tried before), so I am considering buying some T5 LED bulbs to add that "pop" in my tank. A friend told me there was a new company making them and in my research I ran into Arcadia T5 LED bulbs seemingly only sold by marine and reef online. I know about the Euroaquatics E5 blue pop bulbs because I had them before, and while they were ok, I wasn't overly impressed. I had never heard of the Arcadia bulbs before and they seem to have been out since middle of 2016, so I was wondering if anyone has any personal experience with them? They are almost half the price of the E5.
Any reviews on the T5 LED bulbs?
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You got 2 choices other than Euroquatics now. Biotek Marine makes one and the Arcadia one. Arcadia is an EU company which has been around for a very long time. Have you tried searching the EU reef forums to see if anyone has them?
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zoanutty
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Thank you gus6464. Since I have already tried the E5, I went ahead and ordered some of each of the ones you mentioned above so that I can try them. I'll report back on this forum on my experience with each.
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zoanutty
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From Biotek I ordered 2 blue and 2 blue/uv. I ordered 3 blue Arcadia. I'm thinking I'll run the following combos. Lmk your thoughts, please.
On the ATI 6-bulb (zoa/softy tank) front to back...
Arcadia blue
ATI blue+
Biotek blue/uv
ATI coral+
Arcadia blue
ATI blue+
On the ATI 8-bulb (lps/sps) front to back...
Biotek blue/uv
Blue+
Biotek blue
Coral+
Arcadia blue
ATI blue+
Biotek blue
ATI Blue+
On the ATI 6-bulb (zoa/softy tank) front to back...
Arcadia blue
ATI blue+
Biotek blue/uv
ATI coral+
Arcadia blue
ATI blue+
On the ATI 8-bulb (lps/sps) front to back...
Biotek blue/uv
Blue+
Biotek blue
Coral+
Arcadia blue
ATI blue+
Biotek blue
ATI Blue+
Ohh wow that is quite the blue tank haha. I am curious on the biotek ones as they don't list wattage so I'm wondering if they use close to regular T5 bulbs. If that's the case then they should be just as strong as a blue+.
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zoanutty
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Yes I am very partial to blue but the coral+ will lighten it up a bit, plus the blue+ isn't too blue in my opinion. If it is indeed too blueish, I can always replace one of the b+ with an ABS. The LFS near me sells them for $15 so it's not an assault on the wallet if I need to change them.
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We're they not any good?
