Help me pick my bulbs, please!

[Dave3112]

I bought this light fixture a few months ago Amazon.com: Nova Extreme Pro 72 12x39Watt: Kitchen & Dining it is over my 125 mixed reef. Mostly softies and LPS. I need to change the bulbs the stock ones suck!! So please give me your suggestions to what bulbs would make it AWESOME!!! :tongue:

Thanks in advance!!

 

[-Logzor]

Wow that's a lot of bulbs!

The question is how blue do you like your tank to be? I like mine to be very blue, I run a ratio of one white for every 6 bulbs (I only have a 7 bulb fixture).

I am running 6 Blue+ and 1 Fiji Purple.

I find the Aquablue Special washes out the color on my corals.

Stick with ATI or KZ bulbs.

 

[Dave3112]

I like it pretty blue. LOL. I went with 4 aquablue special 6 blue plus and 2 purple plus! Thanks for the input. I may change out 2 of the specials for plus if it's not blue enough

 

[-Logzor]

I like it pretty blue. LOL. I went with 4 aquablue special 6 blue plus and 2 purple plus! Thanks for the input. I may change out 2 of the specials for plus if it's not blue enough

That will pretty much be a 50/50 ratio blue to white. Good thing you will have extra blue+ to add. The purple plus are basically a daylight bulbs.

Be very careful with the ab specials, they always wash out my corals and I have stopped using that particular bulb.

 

[Dave3112]

I looked at the giesseman bulbs but didn't know much about their daylight bulbs so I went with the AB specials. But the tank is mostly softies and a few acans, do you think it will still wash them out? I know I didn't like them for my sps.

 

[mobatic]

12 bulbs x 39, that's a lot of electrical power.

I'd go with the following combination;

Aqua Blue Special
Blue Plus
Fiji Purple
Aqua Sun
Super Actinic
Mid Day

2 of each would be sufficient. The combination gives you maximum growth from the 10k spectrum, and exploding color at 20k.
While the 14k that is inbetween will supplement any gaps that promote growth and coloration.

 

[Dave3112]

Thanks for the input mobatic! If I don't like the color combo with what I just bought I will give that a shot. That seems like a good balance. But will it be really blue though?

 

[mobatic]

No it won't be blue, because the only blue bulbs are the Blue Plus.

Actually, let me clarify for you. Sorry for the confusion as the names are deceiving.

Aqua Blue Special - 10k
Blue Plus - 20k
Fiji Purple - Bright Pink, same color used in freshwater tanks
Aqua Sun - 8k White
Super Actinic - Lavender
Mid Day - 9k White

I hope that's enough info, and I hope that should be more than accurate. Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone.