Better Bulbs

[k2parkstar]

ATI or Giesemann?

I've got a 4 bulb T5 fixture. Looking at getting some new bulbs. I've got 2 giesemann blue+, 1 actinic+, and 1 pure actinic. I like the colors I get from these, but I also supplement with stunner strip actinic strips, for a little more blue.

I've read good stuff about ATI though. Anyone got a preference? If ATI any color combo suggestions? I was thinking 2 coral+, 1 blue plus, or true actinic(not sure the difference here), and one purple plus.

 

[Loki]

For how much blue you like I would go 2 blue+ and one coral plus.

I would skip the purple and actinic.

I have 4 ATI blue plus over my tank.

 

[tinctorus]

I am also curious about this because I run a 4 bulb setup and want to change my bulbs, I like a look that is somewhere between 16-20K in color temperature but that still give great coral growth and does NOT look like I only have actinics on

 

[Loki]

If you look at the spectrum that ATI blue plus puts out you can see that it covers a wide range and has a very nice blue color overall.

Last week I got two gieselman bulb one actinic plus and one aquablue plus. I would compare these to ATI's bulbs in over all color. The aquablue plus is a white light (10-12k I would say) and the actinic plus is a deep blue (20kish). This combo over a tank gives a nice overall blue hue to a tank but still makes it easy for my iPhone to take pictures (14-16k).

Both ATI and gieselman seem to produce a very similar color. The difference may be in par. I have borrowed a par meter, but have no way to accurately compare the par because they are on different tanks with different numbers of bulbs.