Radion to T5

ryeguyy84 · Jul 22, 2020

I've had my gen 2 Radions since they came out (2013?) and one puck just started to go purple on me so I'm thinking of making a switch back to t5s. I just can't justify $1700 at the moment for new Radions and I was pretty happy with t5s. I'm looking at a 6 bulb ATI sunpower, does anyone have bulb recommendations that would be similar to the AB+ visually?

Mastiffsrule · Jul 23, 2020

Hi @ryeguyy84

That is a good question. @jda or @Bpb are great with lighting and may have some thoughts

I would guess the bulbs would lean more towards the actinic, purple, and blue plus, but that is a guess since I never ran that schedule.

Bpb · Jul 23, 2020

Ab+ was developed using a spectrometer to mimic a 2:8 ratio of ati aqua blue special to blue+. That being said it is visually a pretty far departure. I’m guessing the eye is just more sensitive to minuscule differences in what shows up on the graph. To get close with 6 bulbs I’d likely run 4 blue+, a true actinic and a coral+. It’s a pretty blue template honestly. Maybe 4 blue+ and 2 coral+ if that’s too blue, but I’m speaking purely visually. Your eyes will likely have adjusted heavily to the look of blue and white leds and the turquoise look of t5’s May take some getting used to (mercury vapor spike in the green/cyan range causes this)

ryeguyy84 · Jul 24, 2020

Bpb said:
Ab+ was developed using a spectrometer to mimic a 2:8 ratio of ati aqua blue special to blue+. That being said it is visually a pretty far departure. I’m guessing the eye is just more sensitive to minuscule differences in what shows up on the graph. To get close with 6 bulbs I’d likely run 4 blue+, a true actinic and a coral+. It’s a pretty blue template honestly. Maybe 4 blue+ and 2 coral+ if that’s too blue, but I’m speaking purely visually. Your eyes will likely have adjusted heavily to the look of blue and white leds and the turquoise look of t5’s May take some getting used to (mercury vapor spike in the green/cyan range causes this)

Awesome, thank you. I'm going to order 4 blue+, 2 coral+, and an actinic. it's been a really long time since i've used T5, and i'm actually pretty excited to go back. I remember switching to MH and really liking the shimmer so i'll probably add a Reef Brite at some point. Now I just need to convince my wife to let me hang it from the ceiling