T5 Actinic blue bulbs only.

[Yuki Rihwa]

My tank is 36 inches long and my I wonder if I running 8x T5 Bulbs of Acitnic Blue (21W each) is OK or NOT OK and Will Blue Bulb only would kill my Torch Coral and Crocea/Maxima Clams in long term? I just don't like the white color bulb, thanks.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

No that should all be fine.

 

[A. grandis]

Would you be happy running all ATI Blue Plus?
That would be better for a all blue tank.

Grandis.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Would you be happy running all ATI Blue Plus?
That would be better for a all blue tank.

Grandis.

I would do that too but my fixture are old school T5, it doesn't have enough power to make use of HO T5 Blue plus (39W).

 

[A. grandis]

I would do that too but my fixture are old school T5, it doesn't have enough power to make use of HO T5 Blue plus (39W).

What?
What fixture do you have then?
All T5s we find in the market today are HO.
What type exactly do you have? The old style T12 VHOs?

Grandis.

 

[Dana Riddle]

My experience using only actinic fluorescent lamps resulted in poor results. Unfortunately, my data from the tank was lost when moving and I can't recall PAR measurements (this was in the mid-90s), so the issues could have been related to intensity and not spectral quality. On the other hand, I've seen some spectacular reef tanks using mostly blue LEDs (red and white channels were at minimum levels.) If you decide to go this route, watch your livestock closely.

 

[Tariq]

My tank is 36 inches long and my I wonder if I running 8x T5 Bulbs of Acitnic Blue (21W each) is OK or NOT OK and Will Blue Bulb only would kill my Torch Coral and Crocea/Maxima Clams in long term? I just don't like the white color bulb, thanks.

Sometimes it is tricky to make a decision between what "looks good to us" Vs. what corals prefer.
If you don't like white, go with the option of T5 with 14K spectrum. KZ makes them under the "New Generation Lamps".
I use these in addition to the Super Blue by KZ and love the overall icy-blue output. Corals are perking up really nicely under these lights.

 

[azreeftank]

In the past I have done all 7- Blue + and 1 actinic and got good results. 21w t5?? Can you even find new bulbs that are not HO?

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

What?
What fixture do you have then?
All T5s we find in the market today are HO.
What type exactly do you have? The old style T12 VHOs?

Grandis.

Yeah, my fixture is old school Coralife T5 fixture that use T5 10k Daylight and T5 True Actinic Blue Light @ 21 Watts each bulb, I replaced all the 10K with True Actinic Blue Bulbs, some local folks told me these bulbs only good for fish only tank that's why I came here and double check with experiences reefers in this forum

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

In the past I have done all 7- Blue + and 1 actinic and got good results. 21w t5?? Can you even find new bulbs that are not HO?

Yes, oddly I find plenty of these bulbs t5 21w in all my LFS hehehe

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

My experience using only actinic fluorescent lamps resulted in poor results. Unfortunately, my data from the tank was lost when moving and I can't recall PAR measurements (this was in the mid-90s), so the issues could have been related to intensity and not spectral quality. On the other hand, I've seen some spectacular reef tanks using mostly blue LEDs (red and white channels were at minimum levels.) If you decide to go this route, watch your livestock closely.

For now, I have only Xenia and Torch coral in my tank and they doing fine with the current light and actually have some grow progress on them.
I just want to double check if my light can support a Crocea Clam before I'm getting it because I knew Clams required ton of light to thrive and grow, I don't want new addition suffer then die on me.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Thank you all for all the insights and suggestions. I will move forward and ordering 2x Kessil A360WE + Controller (purely because of the compact stylist model light) before I get my hand on the clams and I might be into some SPS down the road, thanks again!