t5 bulb combo help

kitten0304 · Jan 28, 2009

hello i finally got my t5 fixture.... it is 2 weeks late but that's another story anyways i need to change out bulbs right now it has 4 actinic and 4 10k's i cant tell what brand they are it looks like CA 54w 10k?? So i need good combo for 8 bulbs mixed but mostly lps (some sps at top) 75gal tank with awesome color, i have 400w 20k'smh on a different tank and like the clean crisp look but would like more color if thats possible. If you think i could use any of the bulbs that came with the fixture let me know please

kitten0304 · Jan 29, 2009

hellooo come out come out wherever you are.....I know there's some help in there somewhere. lol

jimmybling31 · Jan 29, 2009

I don't know the brands or anything, but when i had t5's I had 6 bulbs and ran 3 10k's and 1 6.5k and one of each actinic. I didn't really like it. I think it needed more actinic (the blue part)

cparka23 · Jan 29, 2009

I don't have an 8 bulb fixture from which I can draw some suggestions, but here's a link to a T5 review page. If you're familiar with RC's GrimReefer, it's full of his testing data.

http://tfivetesting.googlepages.com/

If you click on lamps -> Combination suggestions, there should be 4, 5, and 6-bulb layouts that can give you a decent starting point.

Rychek · Jan 30, 2009

I've got 6 T5s over my 90 gal right now. I've listed them below along with my comments on each. Overall my tank doesn't look overly blue when all lights are on. I mostly like it.

2x ATI Blue Plus (high par blue bulb, highly recommended)
1x ATI Aquablue (somewhere between 10k and blue... not sure I should've used this one)
1x ATI Actinic (true actinic bulb, I like it)
1x KZ Fiji Purple (not sure how to describe this bulb, but I like it... I think)
1x UVL Aquasun (10k bulb, works great)

GrouperGenius · Jan 30, 2009

I have a Nova Extreme 8 bulb fixture I was using a couple months. I found my best bulb configuration to be:
4- Current 460nm actinics
2-KZ Coral Light
1- KZ Fiji Purple
1- Current 10K

The Fixture came with 4-10K and 4-460nm actinic. It was MAJOR bright. I tend to like a little bluer/purple color.

This was over my 75 zoanthid/ softie tank.