Help to pick T5 bulbs

[Diesel]

Left (front) to Right (back)
Tropic
Actinic blue
Super actinic
Super Purple
Actinic blue
Super actinic
Aqua blue azure
Actinic blue

Drop the azure and replace with actinic blue, the azure is history due to some fading in the Diesel tank.
The tropic you should move one row up.
And the tropic is all the day light you need, as the purple and actinic blue will give you some as well.

 

[ksfulk]

Drop the azure and replace with actinic blue, the azure is history due to some fading in the Diesel tank.
The tropic you should move one row up.
And the tropic is all the day light you need, as the purple and actinic blue will give you some as well.

Yeah the azure is only in there because I ordered it when I was fiddling with bulb combos and I couldnt return it after using it for a bit. I've already set up with my next set of bulbs for the rear for the December bulb change. :) I'll see about swapping the tropic's position as well.

 

[Staisman]

Is't a yellow in the tropic is useless for the corals?

 

[taj0930]

For sps tanks I would think they would benefit from the increased par and added spectrum Provided you give enough blue to counteract and prevent browning
I’ve seen quite a few threads of very beautiful sps with stories of sps health improving with the addition of more spectrum

 

[Staisman]

Here is a spectrum of my 20K LED

 

[Staisman]

 

[Staisman]

So if i go this setup:
Blue +
Tropic
20K LED
Super Actinic LED
Purple +
Blue +

 

[Diesel]

So if i go this setup:
Blue +
Tropic
20K LED
Super Actinic LED
Purple +
Blue +

What's you primary light source on this, the led or T5?

 

[Staisman]

What's you primary light source on this, the led or T5?

Leds gonna run most of the time and T5 will be for the mid day time.

 

[Diesel]

In that case your leds are the primary focus on your tank.
I wouldn't worry what you use for the T5 bulbs as much, no need to go with the best just ATI bkue+ and a coral+ or purple+.
Make sure you run at least 75% intensity of the white LED's for at least 5hrs per day.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Is't a yellow in the tropic is useless for the corals?

Eh. At a point , what's good for the coral isn't that fun for us.

A small well mixed amount of the warm side helps visual color rendition.
Why buy a big red coral if you don't have any red light to bounce off it and into your smiling face.

We do know it's not bad for the coral.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So if i go this setup:
Blue +
Tropic
20K LED
Super Actinic LED
Purple +
Blue +

IMO. You might not want the P.
Looks like you're led is royal blue balanced.

But mostly it's your visual color preference that counts.

 

[taj0930]

For sps where led is your primary....

Higher par / whiter additions-
-3 blue plus, 1 tropic.
-2blue, 2 coral +

supplement additions-
-All blue + (not a bad choice truthfully for your situation)
-2 blue, 2 actinic if you are already getting a ton of par. - you will see countless threads saying actinic are useless in sps because loss of par. That may b true but if your getting enough par from other bulbs and your led, it is very beneficial I promise

Once you find a combo that’s visually appealing, stick w it. Don’t keep changing it. Stability, parameters, & flow all come 1st, especially when it comes to sps. Truth is you could grow under nothing but blue+ by just keeping things stable. Most lights these days people are using all do a sufficient job hitting the key points of chlorophyll asorbtion.

We will never ever replicate the sun, not even close. Coral are adaptive. Just focus on finding what you like. & STICK with it.

 

[greg 45]

Please advise / I am running a Reefbrite quad t 5 with the blue led strips . What t 5 bulbs would you recommend. I have been using there actinic blue and blue actinic, they also make a 50 /50 bulb. One system is sps the other anemones. Also how many hours a day to run bulbs compared to the leds.
At this time my light cycle has been 8 hours long all on using two actinic and two blue actinic .