ATI Sunpower 8 Bulb Combo Suggestions

Jimbo · Mar 31, 2014

Time to change bulbs in my 8x24 watt ATI T5 Sunpower. SPS dominant 30"x30"x18"H tank. Currently I'm running 5 Blue plus, 2 Purple Plus and 1 coral Plus.

Any other suggestions for an 8 bulb combination ? I prefer ATI bulbs. I like a bluer look 14k-20k. Thanks

Keithcorals · Mar 31, 2014

If it was me I would do 4-5 blue plus 2 coral plus and 1-2 aquablue special

TwistedTiger · Mar 31, 2014

4 blue plus, 2 Fiji purple, 2 super actinic

Jimbo · Apr 1, 2014

Not crazy about the Aquablue Special. Thinking of going With 5 Blue+ 2 Coral+ and a Purple +

Keithcorals · Apr 1, 2014

I'm not crazy about any of the red/purple bulbs but I like a bluer look so it really just depends on what color you like. One thing that most of us ATi guys seem to always agree on is Blue Plus is a great bulb

Jimbo · Apr 1, 2014

I know what you mean about the red color in the Purple + , can be a little too much. That's why I'm changing to using 1 Purple+ instead of the 2 I have in now.

I like a bluer look too and I'd try 5 Blue + and 3 Coral+ and do away with the purple altogether, but I think that might be too white...

Rob&Gab · Apr 1, 2014

Perfect combo for Color, Growth, Visual look, and for us its Working really well.

For the 24" ATI sunPower 8 Bulb we have going

Rob&Gab · Apr 1, 2014

then for the 48" ATI 8Bulb Sunpower fixture we have

Blue+
Purple+
Reef Spec Red Sea 22k Actinic
Reef Spec Red Sea 15k Blue/White
Blue+
ATI Actinic
Purple+
Blue+

CUNAReefer · Apr 1, 2014

The ATI Bulbs are all you need. I just swapped my bulbs. 4 ATI Aquablue, 2 ATI Actinic, 1 Coral Plus, 1 Blue Plus. I'm not big on the super blue look, so I really like the aqua blue. I suggest two Actinics for dawn/dusk. If you use more than one purple plus, expect a very pink look. The Coral plus is a cross between the blue plus, aquablue, and the purple plus. Here is what I would go with

2 ATI Actinic
2 Coral Plus
3 blue plus
1 aquablue

F to B

Blue Plus
Coral Plus
Actinic
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Actinic
Coral Plus
Blue Plus

Jimbo · Apr 1, 2014

Rob&Gab Any reason why you threw the Reefspec 15K in there. Is there an ATI equivalent?

CUNAReefer Aren't I giving up quite a bit of PAR by going with 2 Actinic bulbs? Would be nice to have them for dawn/ dusk though

Thanks for your help.

Rob&Gab · Apr 2, 2014

the reefspec 15k is a bluer white. its a really nice color not too white and not too blue. The specs on it are pretty good as well. take a look into it. the combo we have is kick butt imo. the growth rate is really good as the color as well. lmk what you go with bud. if you do that is,

Rob&Gab · Apr 2, 2014

and nope there is no ATI comp for it

i would go for it if you wanna try it out. trust me its amazing.

Jimbo · Apr 2, 2014

Anybody else using ATI Actinics ? Seems like with the Blue Plus bulbs nobody bothers with actinics anymore.

TwistedTiger · Apr 2, 2014

Jimbo said:
Anybody else using ATI Actinics ? Seems like with the Blue Plus bulbs nobody bothers with actinics anymore.

IMO too many blue plus give the tank a baby blue look. Replacing a couple with true actinics give more of the old MH XM 20k look.

jeremy · Apr 2, 2014

If you add enough coral plus bulbs it takes away the baby blue look. I run 6 blue plus and 2 coral plus now but gonna change one blue out to another coral plus. And I think closest bulb ati makes to aqua blue special but I dont like it it washes out colors in my opinion. I have also tried the ge 6500k bulb also but with that you need 2 purple plus to take away some of the yellowish color. But I decided to go with the coral pluses and very happy with them.

Jimbo · Apr 3, 2014

Going out on a limb here and going to give a couple of Actinic bulbs a try. Haven't used them in years but always liked the look of them. They are low PAR but I'm hoping I can make it up with the other 6 bulbs. I wouldn't mind giving up a little coral growth if it improves color.

Thanks for your help to those who responded.

TwistedTiger · Apr 3, 2014

Eight bulb T5 only reef using 2 actinic in the combo. I'm always fraggin, I don't think my sps are suffering from low par. Crappie phone pics, no it doesn't really look that blue.