T5/LED Combo Bulb Selection

[Ross B Reef'n]

Hi everyone! After a few years of moving around the country for work, I've finally planted some roots and can finally have an aquarium again (so excited!!).

For lighting, I've chosen Aquatic Life's 4x39w hybrid system that will house two AI Fifty-two's.

As always, my priority is keeping my corals alive, healthy, and growing. Could anyone help/suggest the best T5 bulbs/bulb combo for my fixture to support this? Thank you in advance!

 

[bmbpka]

Hi everyone! After a few years of moving around the country for work, I've finally planted some roots and can finally have an aquarium again (so excited!!).

For lighting, I've chosen Aquatic Life's 4x39w hybrid system that will house two AI Fifty-two's.

As always, my priority is keeping my corals alive, healthy, and growing. Could anyone help/suggest the best T5 bulbs/bulb combo for my fixture to support this? Thank you in advance!

I run the same setup except I have a prime hd. Bulb list for me is

2x Blue Plus
1x Purple Plus
1x Antinic

And I run the pirates light schedule which is pretty blue. I find the T5 bulbs add more white than I like and I plan on going to 2 x blue plus and 2x antinic when I swap bulbs in a few weeks.

My current setup grows coral well, but now that I have a Kessil on my frag tank, is really like more blues in my display. Like the look better.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

I'd run 2 Blue plus, 1 purple plus and 1 coral plus.

I believe actinic is more an eye pleaser.

 

[xiaoxiy]

I run 2 blue plus and 2 actinics

 

[Ross B Reef'n]

Thank you everyone for the responses!

 

[MikeyA]

I run 3 kessil 160s and 2 B+ and 2 actinic. I ran several combos and found that this combo looks the best to me with greater color flexibility.

 

[dadnjesse]

I run 4 Blue Plus

 

[Scorpius]

Blue plus and coral plus. These two bulbs will cover most of the spectrum corals need.

 

[Daniel Waters]

Run whatever combination you prefer visually. In general, it's easier to whiten a tank up with your LEDs (as most people have unused intensity in their white channels and a little bit of white led seems to have more visual impact than trying to increase blue led color on a T5 bulb combination that is too white). When you add T5s for the first time (if you've not been using them) and you think a bulb combination is too white, I'd recommend giving it a week or two and you'll find you will adjust and possibly really like it.

In general, most people use at least 50% blue bulbs like ATI blue plus or pure actinic and the rest with whatever bulb you prefer to get the visual appeal you like. For some people, this might be 2 blue plus and 2 coral plus, others may be two blus and two actinics and increasing their white LED channel. My 4 bulb preference is 2 blue plus, 1 pure actinic, and 1 coral plus bulb.