Best T5 Bulbs with retro Kit

[mattfish]

Just looking for some feed back on best T5 bulbs on Aquatic Life 48in retro fixture with 3 Aqua Illuminations LEDs , i got PAR covered with LEDs , so just looking for best aesthetic blus spec look with the T5s. - ive heard two ATI Blue Plus and two Coral Plus but not sure which looks best, or maybe Atinic Special or Purple Plus , any thoughts on best combination ?

 

[TexasReefer82]

My 2 Cents:

I have a hybrid fixture like you, 2 AI 26HD's with four T5's.

I use a 50/50 mix of ATI Blue+ and ATI True Actinic.

My thinking is that the LED fixtures (all brands) are missing some intensity and wavelength coverage in the violet spectrum - an area right on top of a major Chlorophyll A absorption peak. This bulb combo by itself is actually quite white looking. I use the LED's to cover the rest of white spectrum and to provide for dusk & dawn effects. Additionally, the Kelvin Temp rating of incident sunlight on the real reefs changes over the course of the day being relatively red shifted (low K) in the morning and evening and relative blue shifted (high K) at the peak of the day. I think that this bulbs combination mimics this.

I know this: My acropora and blue maxima clam are very happy and growing and show great color!

 

[TexasReefer82]

PS:
The true actinic violet spectrum will stimulate the production of pigments and fluorescent proteins that other bulbs will not.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I have yet to replace T5 bulbs (running stock blue and full spectrum that came with ballast), however have read numerous positive things about the ATI Blue + bulb in relation to coral growth and coloration. I agree with TexasReefer about spectrum deficiencies for many LED lights. I run GalaxyHydro (black box) and since I have added blue and full spectrum bulbs, my corals have responded with significant improvement. Also I believe BRS showed that many T5 bulbs can go 1.5-2 years strong with something like 80% of original par. Because of that the cost of bulbs has become a moot point.

 

[TexasReefer82]

"...i got PAR covered with LEDs"

Honestly, if you have four t5 bulbs, I think the t5's will do most of the heavy lifting for PAR. The LED's will be mere supplements, color adjusters, and for dusk/dawn.

btw, All the t5's on the reef aquarium market will grow coral just fine. There's no wrong answer here. You could literally choose your 4 bulbs by throwing darts at your computer screen with the BRS website up and your corals would grow great. The differences would be visual appearance of the tank and perhaps pigment expression of the corals.

 

[AdamNC]

This may help