Replacing 2 white bulbs in 6 bulb combo

[sweat90lx]

I am replacing the coral plus and purple plus in my 6 bulb ATI sunpower. The other 4 bulbs are blue plus and I have an Orphek OR120 with a mix of royal blues and UV.
This combo works great at growing coral but I would like it to be a little more blue. My other tank has 2 kessils and I really like the color of it.
Can I use one white bulb and an actinic, or will that be too blue? Replace them and change one of the blue plus to an actinic?
Should I just leave it as it is?

 

[Hitman]

Personally I would remove the Purple plus or Coral Plus and add a Actinic. I tried your set up on mine and it was to white for my liking as well. I like all Blue Plus or 4 Blue Plus 1 Purple Plus and 1 Actinic. The all Blue Plus looked to much like looking through a bottle of windex for me but my corals liked it. With the Purple Plus and Actinic I feel it’s less windexy and the reds, pinks, greens really pop.
I guess the short answer is get a Actinic and switch one or the other out stand back and take a look to see which you you like best both will give you the spectrum the corals need.

 

[Bpb]

Just remove the coral+ and replace with an actinic

 

[sweat90lx]

I think that's what I'll do. I'm seeing a lot of people like the giesmann purple and actinic better than ATI. So I'll try them.

 

[Dana Riddle]

This is a classic case of fashion over function... If your corals are doing OK - and they seem to be - that's a beautiful tank! Additional blue light will showcase some fluorescent proteins while 'hiding' some of the reflective chromoproteins. Do what suits you, give additional blue a try if you want. It's easy enough to change back.

 

[A. grandis]

If you want to go crazy blue would have 4 Blue Plus bulbs, a True Actinic and a "white" bulb.
The white is needed to balance aesthetically and to help produce some of the natural pigments, as Dana riddle pointed out. The production of those pigments is more important than your visual preferences IMO. I also notice better growth when we have more "whites". Maybe Dana could talk more about that...
That would be the max of blue I would go. And you have that LED too...
I normally use 3 Blue Plus, a True Actinic and at least 2 "white" bulbs in a 6 combo. Have 3 Blue Plus / 3 10K bulbs and you will start to see some great colors... Not to mention 65K bulbs.., so many different approaches!
They all work, but you need to chase the results YOU really want even when you're using all T5s alone. Try remove that LED and see what you think. Those T5s are all you need to tell you the truth. Those LEDs will give you the "pop" that many talk about though. So many options... you need to try out.
I'm also under the impression that your priorities are more about aesthetics than anything else.

 

[sweat90lx]

Coral health is the top priority which is why it's making any change difficult to decide.
The two of you have way more knowledge on this than I do, so I should probably just stay with what is working.
Thanks for the help.

 

[A. grandis]

Coral health is the top priority which is why it's making any change difficult to decide.
The two of you have way more knowledge on this than I do, so I should probably just stay with what is working.
Thanks for the help.

I don't use and don't recommend purple bulbs. To me they are a waste of space. I would change the purple for True Actinic. Your Coral Plus already get some red ("purple"). Just me...
You can lower your fixture too. Keep it up to 8-10" max., but you can drop it more, maybe half way there. You will be surprised how much you get out of your fixture when you lower it even couple of inches. Go slow doing that...

 

[homer1475]

In my 6 bulb setup I like the combo of 4 blue+, 1 true actinic, and 1 coral plus.

I place the coral plus bulb in the front so the tank doesn't have that "windex" look to it. If you play around with bulb placement, you can really alter the way the light looks to our eyes. When I first started with T5's(always had LEDS prior), I was really impressed with how you can effect the way the tank looks by just changing the location of certain bulbs.

 

[Anxur]

If you want to go crazy blue would have 4 Blue Plus bulbs, a True Actinic and a "white" bulb.
The white is needed to balance aesthetically and to help produce some of the natural pigments, as Dana riddle pointed out. The production of those pigments is more important than your visual preferences IMO. I also notice better growth when we have more "whites". Maybe Dana could talk more about that...
That would be the max of blue I would go. And you have that LED too...
I normally use 3 Blue Plus, a True Actinic and at least 2 "white" bulbs in a 6 combo. Have 3 Blue Plus / 3 10K bulbs and you will start to see some great colors... Not to mention 65K bulbs.., so many different approaches!
They all work, but you need to chase the results YOU really want even when you're using all T5s alone. Try remove that LED and see what you think. Those T5s are all you need to tell you the truth. Those LEDs will give you the "pop" that many talk about though. So many options... you need to try out.
I'm also under the impression that your priorities are more about aesthetics than anything else.

Hello Grandis..
I love no to much Blu light..I've 6x80 watt t5..

For you what's the best combo? 95% sps corals.. Front to Back

1)
Coral
Blu
Special
Special
Blu
Coral

2)
Blu
Coral
Special
Special
Coral
Blu


3)
Blu
Special
Blu
Special
Blu
Special

4)
Coral
Special
Coral
Coral
Special
Coral

5)
Special
Blu
Special
Special
Blu
Special

6)
Coral
Blu
Coral
Coral
Blu
Coral

7)
Special
Coral
Special
Special
Coral
Special