T5 Hybrid Bulb Combo

[Scott chilton]

Im Purchasing the Aquatic Life 24" T5 Hybrid to go with my 2 AI Prime HDs to go over my 35" x 19" x 21" mixed reef (90% sps,lps). What bulbs should i get? all Blue+? or should i mix it up a bit?

 

[Pete Paschall]

I just got the same fixture to go with my AI Prime, and went with 2 Blue +, 1 actinic, and 1 Coral +. I really like the combo so far. It's only been about a week and I am still slowly increasing the time I run the t5's, but so far everything seems really happy.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Im Purchasing the Aquatic Life 24" T5 Hybrid to go with my 2 AI Prime HDs to go over my 35" x 19" x 21" mixed reef (90% sps,lps). What bulbs should i get? all Blue+? or should i mix it up a bit?

You can do all blue+. I went with 2 Blue+, a Coral+ and a Purple+ per Matt at Boom Corals. That is the combo he puts over his frag tanks and his growth and coloration is amazing.

 

[rtparty]

Do you want the T5s to be the heavy lifters or the fill in for what the LEDs will "lack"? If you want to fill in the holes in spectrum then something like 2 Blue Plus and 2 Coral Plus.

I've always been an ATI user but my new bulbs will be mostly Giesemann. Their actinic blue seems to be a little more blue and a little less green compared to ATI. A pure actinic can be nice to fill in the low end but for total coverage you would need 2 of them and I feel that is a waste with only 4 bulbs.

 

[Scott chilton]

Do you want the T5s to be the heavy lifters or the fill in for what the LEDs will "lack"? If you want to fill in the holes in spectrum then something like 2 Blue Plus and 2 Coral Plus.

I've always been an ATI user but my new bulbs will be mostly Giesemann. Their actinic blue seems to be a little more blue and a little less green compared to ATI. A pure actinic can be nice to fill in the low end but for total coverage you would need 2 of them and I fill that is a waste with only 4 bulbs.

i was thinking the same with the 2 B+ and 2 P+. i was wondering about the Giesemann bulbs? thats all my LFS carries

 

[rtparty]

i was thinking the same with the 2 B+ and 2 P+. i was wondering about the Giesemann bulbs? thats all my LFS carries

I wouldn't go with 2 Blue and 2 Purple. That's a lot of red light.

I would look at 2 Actinic Blue and 2 Aquablue from Gmann. If your store uses Gmann bulbs over tanks, see which Aquablue you like more. They have the Azure and Coral. From what I can find online, the Coral is the better of the two but the Azure supposedly had some changes in the last couple years. I tried one of the original Azure bulbs and it wasn't what Gmann claimed at all. It was supposed to be a turquoise look but it was pure yellow and made things look terrible. Again, the new one is supposed to be very different so see if your store is running it anywhere

 

[Scott chilton]

I wouldn't go with 2 Blue and 2 Purple. That's a lot of red light.

I would look at 2 Actinic Blue and 2 Aquablue from Gmann. If your store uses Gmann bulbs over tanks, see which Aquablue you like more. They have the Azure and Coral. From what I can find online, the Coral is the better of the two but the Azure supposedly had some changes in the last couple years. I tried one of the original Azure bulbs and it wasn't what Gmann claimed at all. It was supposed to be a turquoise look but it was pure yellow and made things look terrible. Again, the new one is supposed to be very different so see if your store is running it anywhere

my bad rtparty... i meant 2b+ and 2 C+

 

[Mal11224]

I have the same fixture and was running similar to @crabs_mcjones but now use 3 B+ and one coral+. I believe the corals responded well to this setup. I believe the BRS team is using 4 B+ on their ULM SPS tank with a hybrid setup. I'm interested in seeing how the corals do.

 

[HairyGary]

I have the same fixture on my 93 cube with a G4Pro and am running 2 B+ and 2 C+ per recommendation from @bige See thread and his SPS

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/big-e-rimless-80g-sps.206607/page-7

I've had very good growth.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I have the same fixture and was running similar to @crabs_mcjones but now use 3 B+ and one coral+. I believe the corals responded well to this setup. I believe the BRS team is using 4 B+ on their ULM SPS tank with a hybrid setup. I'm interested in seeing how the corals do.

BRS is using 4 blue+ on the ulm tanks I believe. On the BRS 160 they're running Two blue+ and Two Actinic+, considering switching to this and letting the AP700 take the lighter colors.

 

[Kyl]

I still haven't gotten the fixture mounted yet, but I will be running two B+ and two Actinic with my Kessil A160WE's. I have two B+ on my frag tank with a blackbox and it looks decent, but not really happy with the blackbox colouring in the first place.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I still haven't gotten the fixture mounted yet, but I will be running two B+ and two Actinic with my Kessil A160WE's. I have two B+ on my frag tank with a blackbox and it looks decent, but not really happy with the blackbox colouring in the first place.

Let me know how you like the Blue+ and Actinic with the kessils. Been contemplating doing this ever since I saw it over the BRS160

 

[pelphrey]

I’m doing from back to front blue+ coral + actinic blue+ with two kessil 160’s on the 36” Fixture

 

[Ferrell]

I just got the same fixture to go with my AI Prime, and went with 2 Blue +, 1 actinic, and 1 Coral +. I really like the combo so far. It's only been about a week and I am still slowly increasing the time I run the t5's, but so far everything seems really happy.

I have the same combo and seems to work well with my LPS