6 bulb T5 bulb combo choices

[madweazl]

Blue+, Aquablue Special, Blue+, Purple+, Aquablue Special, and Blue+.

Crisp white with a hint of blue/aqua. Purple+ does wonders for bringing out the visible colors of the fish and corals and is a must in my opinion.

 

[dragon99]

Here's pics my last tank with a couple different bulb combos, I like the Coral + bulb, any mix of that with Blue+ to suit your taste would work well.

All 3 pictures with the same develop settings in Lightroom (roughly)
3 Blue+, 2 Coral +, 1 Tropic 6500k

3 Blue +, 3 Coral +

2 Blue +, 4 Coral +

4 C+ seems to push a little red in the picture, but in person is appears whiter and brighter than 3 C+

 

[rc1626]

So many choices. As stated it comes down to personal preference. Also as stated if you can afford it get a couple extra bulbs to play around with. I currently have an 8 bulb fixture but only run 6 bulbs as my main lighting. My combo is 3 B+, 2 C+, and 1 AB Special. This gives me a whiter tank with a hint of blue. I find it similar to that of a Radium halide.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[Bpb]

Here's pics my last tank with a couple different bulb combos, I like the Coral + bulb, any mix of that with Blue+ to suit your taste would work well.

All 3 pictures with the same develop settings in Lightroom (roughly)
3 Blue+, 2 Coral +, 1 Tropic 6500k

3 Blue +, 3 Coral +

2 Blue +, 4 Coral +

4 C+ seems to push a little red in the picture, but in person is appears whiter and brighter than 3 C+

You got me wondering what all 6 coral+ would look like

 

[rc1626]

Here's pics my last tank with a couple different bulb combos, I like the Coral + bulb, any mix of that with Blue+ to suit your taste would work well.

All 3 pictures with the same develop settings in Lightroom (roughly)
3 Blue+, 2 Coral +, 1 Tropic 6500k

3 Blue +, 3 Coral +

2 Blue +, 4 Coral +

4 C+ seems to push a little red in the picture, but in person is appears whiter and brighter than 3 C+

Those are some great pics to compare the color changes with change in bulb combos. Well done!
My combo would fall between the 6500k and the even B+ and C+ split. The AB special is not near as warm/yellow as the 6500k but definitely not as blue as a B+. I ran the even B+ and C+ split for a short time to try it out and although I did like it I still found it to be a little too blue. Wish I had a decent camera to take a pic.

 

[Charley75]

Thanks for the options and pics.....just curious what you use for dawn/ dusk....assuming 2 Blue +

 

[Potatohead]

I think we've all been down this road. You'll never find accurate pics online. Buy four blue, two coral, a purple and an actinic, and experiment.

I have an eight bulb and run six blue, one actinic, and one purple.

 

[X-37B]

Started with 3b+ 3c+. Added 2 actinics for 8 total. Did not like the look but its all a mater of what you like visually.
Now run 4b+ 4c+.
Here is a pic I just took from the couch.

This is better with the pro setting on my phone. Very realistic representation of 4b+&4c+.

 

[rc1626]

Thanks for the options and pics.....just curious what you use for dawn/ dusk....assuming 2 Blue +

If you're asking me I use 2 true actinics.

 

[dragon99]

I was using 1 C+/1B+ for dusk dawn, but 2 B+ would give a nice blue period

 

[SDboatguy]

It’s all about what you see, for a non Acro tank , you really can’t “hurt” anything with ATI lamps In any combo. I used an actinic or P+ and a B+ for dawn/dusk before I ran a hybrid. Now with the hydras I run a Tropic 6500k,C+, B+ and actinic, if I ditched the hydras I’d probably go with 2 more B+. I’m not really a fan of the AB special, I like the 6500k or a second C+ in my combos.

 

[Bpb]

It’s all about what you see, for a non Acro tank , you really can’t “hurt” anything with ATI lamps In any combo. I used an actinic or P+ and a B+ for dawn/dusk before I ran a hybrid. Now with the hydras I run a Tropic 6500k,C+, B+ and actinic, if I ditched the hydras I’d probably go with 2 more B+. I’m not really a fan of the AB special, I like the 6500k or a second C+ in my combos.

Agree. That giesemann 6500k has such a pleasant color to it. I know people hate yellow. But it has a nice deep yellow/orange hue to it which offsets the greenish tint to blue+ bulbs. In a 6 bulb array I would ABSOLUTELY use 2 6500k and 4 blue+ if speaking of an sps dominant tank.

For LPS which almost all have more fluorescence than they do reflective color, no....I’d go with my above stated combo of 4 blue+, 1 purple, 1 actinic.