LED Blue/ actinic supplement for metal halides

[djf91]

Hi guys,

I have a tank running 4x400 watt radium 20k metal halides and everything looks great but I wanted to add some actinic/blue supplementation to get the corals to pop more. Could you all recommend some LED strips that would be enough to not be overpowered by the metal halides? The tank is 72”x54”x30”

Thanks

 

[Zach B]

The orphek or3 bars and reefbrite xho led bars both look really nice! Best of luck

 

[X-37B]

4 400 watt halides will drown out any blue supplementaion.
I run 2 250 14K's on my 120 with 2 OR3 bars. 1 blue plus and 1 blue sky.
You will get brighter colors with them but will only see the so called pop when the halides are off.

 

[djf91]

4 400 watt halides will drown out any blue supplementaion.
I run 2 250 14K's on my 120 with 2 OR3 bars. 1 blue plus and 1 blue sky.
You will get brighter colors with them but will only see the so called pop when the halides are off.

Got it, yea that’s what I was afraid of. Oh well, all good. I think I’ll still add some of them to run across the front and sides. Are the Orphek bars the brightest (highest par) strips out there?

 

[X-37B]

Got it, yea that’s what I was afraid of. Oh well, all good. I think I’ll still add some of them to run across the front and sides. Are the Orphek bars the brightest (highest par) strips out there?

The blue sky is brighter than the blue plus. With 400 MH I dont think the par will matter on the OR3, imo.

 

[djf91]

The blue sky is brighter than the blue plus. With 400 MH I dont think the par will matter on the OR3, imo.

Do you think VHOs might be more in line with what I’m looking for? I remember those were always paired with the Radiums back in the day

 

[X-37B]

I

Do you think VHOs might be more in line with what I’m looking for? I remember those were always paired with the Radiums back in the day

Will never go back to T5 or vho after running OR3's. 1 equals 2 t5's and they are that good, imo.

 

[jda]

You could see VHO super actincs when the Halides are on, so they offer more than most LEDs. However, I don't use anything anymore. I would just get some XHOs or something and use them when the MH goes off.

 

[djf91]

You could see VHO super actincs when the Halides are on, so they offer more than most LEDs. However, I don't use anything anymore. I would just get some XHOs or something and use them when the MH goes off.

You don’t think like 4 orphek bars could create a little actinic glow even with the halides on?

 

[Seneca]

I have a bunch of the AliExpress bars with my halides and they work somewhat. I have only the alie bars on for an hour in the morning and evening for a window of the black light poster experience non halide users crave.

 

[jda]

I don't know. I don't use them. ...just going off of what others are saying.

 

[Bpb]

I don’t imagine there’s a supplement out there that can compete with the visual brightness of 400 watt metal halides. Especially 4 of them. 20,000k bulbs will give you some fluorescence but I wouldn’t expect any blue LEDs to enhance it further by any amount. A pair of reef brite xho would be visually pleasing to run alone when the halides are off though