T5 Lighting options

Reab · Oct 4, 2015

Currently looking into purchasing some replacement bulbs for my T5/MH fixture.
As of now it has 4 UV Lighting Company 454 (http://www.marinedepot.com/UVL_T5_V...hting_Company_(UVL)-UF4229-FILTBUT5VH-vi.html)

I want to run 2 blue and 2 purple in the future. Curious on input between UV Lighting Company and ATI. Different variations of bulbs I could run. Really any information is helpful.
Thanks

smh254 · Oct 4, 2015

ATI
Blue+
Aquablue special
Blue+
Purple+

Reab · Oct 4, 2015

Any reason why you would choose that setup?

smh254 · Oct 4, 2015

I've only used ATI bulbs and have tried a lot of different combinations. This is what I've ended up with.

eea60 · Oct 4, 2015

I run 3 ati blue plus and 1 coral plus. I have 2 blues come on first and go off last. When the coral plus is on it is less blue. If you like blue tanks then swap out the coral plus for a purple. I've run 2 aquablues with 2 blue plus but didn't like it. I'm not sure I would run 2 purples as ati says that you have to run it with another color spectrum bulb. I don't know but I assumed this was because the spectrum was a higher amount of colors that the others are lower on and not that significant or that it was a lower par bulb. It all depends on what type of corals you plan on keeping and your taste. What works for me may not work for you and keep in mind coral placement and flow are key.

nanoman28g · Oct 4, 2015

Reab said:
Currently looking into purchasing some replacement bulbs for my T5/MH fixture.
As of now it has 4 UV Lighting Company 454 (http://www.marinedepot.com/UVL_T5_V...hting_Company_(UVL)-UF4229-FILTBUT5VH-vi.html)

I want to run 2 blue and 2 purple in the future. Curious on input between UV Lighting Company and ATI. Different variations of bulbs I could run. Really any information is helpful.
Thanks

I have seen a tank running this combination in pictures and it looked great :
ATI BULBS :
BLUE +
CORAL +
BLUE +
CORAL +

I recently bought a 4 light ATI fixture that came with the following, but I'm not liking it too much,since it seems too "white" for me :
ATI bulbs :
BLUE +
CORAL +
BLUE +
PURPLE +

You have to experiment a little to see what you like. Good luck.

Pete polyp · Oct 4, 2015

2 blue plus and 2 purple plus would look good. 2 blue plus and 2 pure actinic would look even better.

Fin · Oct 4, 2015

Some suggestions from the ATI web site...

Pete polyp · Oct 4, 2015

We have to remember this is a mh with t5 supplement

nanoman28g · Oct 4, 2015

Pete polyp said:
We have to remember this is a mh with t5 supplement

Oh, sorry I missed that fact for some reason. Duh.

LILBUDDHA · Oct 5, 2015

454's r great bulbs . It's the only bulb I know of that has that actnic sparkle that messes with your eyes .
Sorry a blue plus or 460 type bulb does not have this trait even though some actinic may be in the blend .
I just recently found a vendor selling them again.2 454's n 2 super actnic's would look great .If u can't find the ulv sa bulb try a pair of hexarc true actinics with the 454's. they keep screwing with the uv name ..
these...

http://www.aquacave.com/aquarium-li.../uvl-t5-high-output-aquarium-light-bulbs.html

Pete polyp · Oct 5, 2015

LILBUDDHA said:
454's r great bulbs . It's the only bulb I know of that has that actnic sparkle that messes with your eyes .
Sorry a blue plus or 460 type bulb does not have this trait even though some actinic may be in the blend .
I just recently found a vendor selling them again.2 454's n 2 super actnic's would look great .If u can't find the ulv sa bulb try a pair of hexarc true actinics with the 454's. they keep screwing with the uv name ..
these...

http://www.aquacave.com/aquarium-li.../uvl-t5-high-output-aquarium-light-bulbs.html

If you look into a tank lit with ati pure actinic for a while you will see red for a couple minutes.

bct15 · Oct 5, 2015

Personally, I wouldn't mix two purple plus with mh, you will get a lot of algae growth. You really don't need to supplement anymore red light with a mh. If you really want to add some more red then add a coral plus, it had a little but of the purple plus mixed in it.

bct15 · Oct 5, 2015

If you're trying to enhance the blue or pop of your halides, I would recommend something like this

3x blue+ 1 coral+

Or

3 blue plus 1 actinic

Or just 4 blue +

It really depends on what halides you're using and personal preference.

joeyhatch11 · Oct 5, 2015

My 4 bulb fixture:
Blue +
Coral +
Blue +
Purple +

My 6 bulb fixture:
Coral +
Purple +
Blue+
Blue +
Purple +
Coral +

Love each setup. Both look great

bct15 · Oct 5, 2015

It seems like 95% of the people in this threa have ignored the fact that he is looking to add SUPPLEMENTAL t5 to his mh. Everybody is giving advice for a stand alone t5 fixture.

You do not add supplemental lighting following the same bulb combinations as stand alone t5s. The bulk of your full spectrum light comes from the mh, you only add t5s to fill in the spectrum gaps or to enhance areas of need.

LILBUDDHA · Oct 5, 2015

bct15 said:
It seems like 95% of the people in this threa have ignored the fact that he is looking to add SUPPLEMENTAL t5 to his mh. Everybody is giving advice for a stand alone t5 fixture.

You do not add supplemental lighting following the same bulb combinations as stand alone t5s. The bulk of your full spectrum light comes from the mh, you only add t5s to fill in the spectrum gaps or to enhance areas of need.

Agreed .. I keep seeing those all t5 fixture bulb post and was like

Pete polyp · Oct 5, 2015

LILBUDDHA said:
Agreed .. I keep seeing those all t5 fixture bulb post and was like

Me too. ... that's why I tried to remind folks it was supplement for mh. I stand behind my suggested combo. 2 blue + and 2 purple + or 2 blue + and 2 pure actinic for more actinic pop.

Pete polyp · Oct 5, 2015

Pete polyp said:
Me too. ... that's why I tried to remind folks it was supplement for mh. I stand behind my suggested combo. 2 blue + and 2 purple + or 2 blue + and 2 pure actinic for more actinic pop.

Maybe I should explain why. The blue plus it's supposed to be 20k. To me there's quite a bit of actinic pop in the blue plus. The purple plus would definitely pull lots of color out of your coral. The end result would be a bit of actinic pop while pulling lots of color out of the corals. With that combo you should also see accelerated growth. The color it would produce would be somewhere around 16k or so. The purple will wash out much of the blue and appear quite white compared to actinic alone.

With the second combo you will get lots of actinic pop. The pure actinic will give you added pop to the blue plus. Being such a dark color in the pure actinic will drive the blue plus to be even more blue and purple. It's kind of a strange mix because you can definitely see the purple added to the blue. It will not pull out the colors as well as combo 1, but would provide much more actinic pop.

dh350twin · Oct 6, 2015

I think it would help tremendously if we knew what fixture your running and how long you run the halides? I personally run a six foot sfiligoi with 400watt radium 20ks for 4 hours and supplement with reefbrites and the fixture has two rows of T5,s on each side I run ATI blue plus and a coral plus and the same on the other side. I do this because I don't run the halides for more then 4 hours and need some T5 growth help.