Switching T5 Bulbs

[kiMxD]

Hello all,

So my T5's have been used for 14 months now and I am getting ready to replace them, I ran 4 blue plus and 2 coral plus on an ATI Sunpower 6x80w. However, I am looking to get a little more bluer look, so I wonder if I could switch the coral plus's for actinic without impacting coral health? I am not sure if all T5 bulbs are the same and just their colors are different, or if each color provides a different spectrum and intensity?

Please help

Thanks!

 

[Hemmdog]

I didn’t like the actinic nearly as much as the coral +, much better growth from coral +. If you want more blue get a reef brite strip or something for some extra pop. Your current set up is the best, although I would of replaced the bulbs after 8 months... lol.

 

[kiMxD]

I didn’t like the actinic nearly as much as the coral +, much better growth from coral +. If you want more blue get a reef brite strip or something for some extra pop. Your current set up is the best, although I would of replaced the bulbs after 8 months... lol.

Thanks for your 2 cents. I do have two LED Orphek Bars. Now, when it comes to replacing the bulbs, I actually am probably one of the few that rents a par meter every 2 months to test PAR. 14 months passed by and I still have the same PAR from when I installed the fixture and bulbs, so I don't think they degrade this much. But then again, thanks for your 2 cents.

 

[TX_Punisher]

Won’t get much blue “look” from t5 actinics imo. I added led bars for that. I have 4 bp and they appear to have a green coloration when they’re on alone. I suppose bp would help. The actinics will have far less par than the cp but will take away that pink look you get from the cp.

 

[kiMxD]

I am thinking to actually stick to my current combo of 4bp + 2cp because of par. I might add two more orphek led bars...

 

[bar|none]

Comparison of the bulb combinations plus lots of data. Definitely worth bookmarking.

Giesemann/ATI T5 lamp comparison - pics, PAR, and a whole mess of data

(For viewing this document as a single post, please click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WHuol0uRn2W7Jk-rxYWmtNgUF-lkY_VlUpAiNsMwME4/pub ) So I am relatively new to the T5 scene. I’m more an LED guy myself, but the same principles apply (it’s all physics anyway). My first T5...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I am using four or2 bars and like them a lot. They give the blue look pretty well but I have one uv in with them. I like mixing my brands of blue t5 to get different colors mixed in. The kz bulbs are great and if you do this you avoid the windex look from using too many blue plus.