ATI purchase decision, bulb selection

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Ok so I'm getting ready to purchase an ATI T5 fixture but I'm uncertain on if I should go 6x24 or 8x24... it will go over my nuvo fusion 20 to start until I upgrade to the reefer 170 later in the year.

I feel like the 8 bulb will be overkill on the nuvo. What do you think? Also, if you're running an ATI fixture what kind of bulb mixture are you utilizing? If you have pictures that would be cool to see how the tank looks with your bulb selection. Appreciate the info, TIA.

 

[BryanS4]

A six bulb is more than enough.

The bulb combo depends on how you like the look of you tank. Do you like blue tank, crisp white ect?

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

six bulb will be enough for the reefer as well?

I like whatever look my sps like lol... more towards the blue spectrum

 

[BryanS4]

I'm not a fan of blue, so can't comment. My sps love coral plus and blue plus combo. Below is from ATI website.

16K - 20K - Bluish white with a noticable blue and red under-tone

4-Bulb combination

• 3 ATI Blue Plus
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

6-Bulb combination

• 4 ATI Blue Plus
• 1 ATI Coral Plus
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

8-Bulb combination

• 5 ATI Blue Plus
• 2 ATI Coral Plus
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

10-Bulb combination

• 6 ATI Blue Plus
• 3 ATI Coral Plus
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

12K - 16K - Cool white with a noticable blue and red under-tone

4-Bulb combination

• 2 ATI Blue Plus
• 2 ATI Coral Plus

6-Bulb combination

• 3 ATI Blue Plus
• 2 ATI Coral Plus
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

8-Bulb combination

• 4 ATI Blue Plus
• 3 ATI Coral Plus
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

10-Bulb combination

• 5 ATI Blue Plus
• 4 ATI Coral Plus
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

10K - 14K - Crisp white with just a hint of blue

4-Bulb combination

• 2 ATI Blue Plus
• 1 ATI Aquablue Special
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

6-Bulb combination

• 3 ATI Blue Plus
• 2 ATI Aquablue Special
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

8-Bulb combination

• 4 ATI Blue Plus
• 2 ATI Aquablue Special
• 2 ATI Purple Plus

 

[kschweer]

On my 6 bulb fixture I run 4 blue+, a coral+ and a purple+. In my opinion it's not as blue as it sounds.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

nice tank! thank you for the picture

 

[Marquiseo]

8 bulb gives you the most possible combinations. A lot of people say its overkill but to me, it isn't. The bluest possible spectrum will consist of Blue + with actinics. I personally liked (5) Blue plus with (3) Actinics.

 

[BryanS4]

I run just a little different than the above, a little more white for me, I sub one blue plus for another coral plus.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

very nice, thank you for the pic and other info as well

 

[Diesel]

All good info already don't have much to add on above comments as these are the T5 Bulb guru's

This might be helpful too,



http://www.atinorthamerica.com/bulbs.php

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

thank you for videos

 

[mfinn]

I'm probably way different than everybody.
I have a 6 x 24 watt Sunpower over a tank I use to use mh lighting on.
The tank is mainly zoanthids, with a little lps. I use to use 250 Radium bulbs with 454 vho actinic.
I like the bluer color. Brings out the color in my zoanthids.
So when I put the T5's on the tank, I tried combinations of 5 blue plus and a aquablue special, 5 blue plus and a purple plus, 5 blue plus and a coral plus.
I ended up with all blue plus.
FWIW, I'm getting great growth and I love the look of my tank.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Thank you for the pic and your setup. Great looking tank!

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Ok so i went with the 6 x 24w dimmable sunpower fixture... couple new questions for the t5 guru's.
I went with the popular 4 blue plus, 1 coral plus, 1 purple plus to start.

I'm swapping from a Kessil 160we that's running at about 90%. How far off the water surface should I keep the ATI fixture? 8-12 inches is what I've read.

Do I move my corals down and slowly move them back up the tank? I've kept most everything on plugs because of this reason and the reason I'm going to get a bigger tank hopefully later in the year.

Anyone tell me what they run for times on their ATI fixture? I have a few zoas, but the rest is SPS.

Almost forgot... Nuvo Fusion 20 incase i didn't mention that(13in deep)

Appreciate any and all info please and thank you!