I’m going to try some 6500K T5

[minus9]

If you love acropora, clams and leathers, 6500k is your best friend. Also, anyone who loves softies would benefit from that light.

 

[Doctorgori]

gheez I’ve gone on rampages about this myth/ BS …
THANK YOU

That’s non sense! I’d really like to know who came to that conclusion or termed the phrase “white lighting grows algae” We grew everything with halides which were yellow and white! I left for awhile and came back to the windex hobby haha!

 

[Doctorgori]

@Miami Reef …I think we agree


Post in thread 'Whiter light, higher par tolerance?'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/led-lighting-color-percentage-help.1002372/post-11656820

Post in thread 'My very green tank. Lighting too strong?? Help please.'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/m...-too-strong-help-please.1000081/post-11617091

Post in thread 'Do you have to have blue light?'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/do-you-have-to-have-blue-light.967731/post-11095444

Post in thread 'The Optimal Light Spectrum in a Reef Aquarium'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-optimal-light-spectrum-in-a-reef-aquarium.848925/post-10083866

Post in thread 'What, blue versus white, lighting combo gives the best coral growth?'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...ves-the-best-coral-growth.836859/post-9060922

Post in thread 'A glimpse of where Reefing came from! The hobby's past and future!'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a...he-hobbys-past-and-future.772563/post-8157653

 

[Dburr1014]

I was a fan of blue lighting.

However, I recently challenged my beliefs. I did some reading from people I respect in this hobby.

I’ll give some quotes on what changed my opinion.








I’ve always felt standard reef T5 bulbs were
lacking in the red (660nm) for photosynthetic shallow water animals. I also currently believe the lack for yellow/amber light cause corals to lose their chromoprotein pigments overtime, like the “battle coral” phenomenon.





I did some searching on 6500K full spectrum T5, and I’ve settled on the Giessmann Super Flora bulbs because I really that spectrum, specifically because of that red peak at 660nm. The high amber/yellow also helps a lot.

Edit: I’m actually going to try the Tropics because too much red might cause bleaching in corals. The tropics is what most people use for 6500K, including Adam from Battlecorals in his T5 tank.

I’m going to mix in a few in my fixtures to see if there are any noticeable changes in my aquarium.

Interesting experiment. I'm going to have to follow.

How many bulbs does your fixture hold?
What other bulbs with the 6500k?

I have been thinking about adding (4) t5's to my Reefbreeders light.
I have 2 types in my cart at Amazon.

Wave point 12000k and the ATI blue plus.
Not sure if it would be better to run (4) 12000k or have the blue+ mixed in.

 

[Minifoot77]

Which bulb are you referring to? The one in the OP or the all red light someone suggested for an experiment?

The all red one

 

[Miami Reef]

Interesting experiment. I'm going to have to follow.

How many bulbs does your fixture hold?
What other bulbs with the 6500k?

I have been thinking about adding (4) t5's to my Reefbreeders light.
I have 2 types in my cart at Amazon.

Wave point 12000k and the ATI blue plus.
Not sure if it would be better to run (4) 12000k or have the blue+ mixed in.

My 260 gallon tank uses 2 fixtures of ATI 8 bulb 54watts.

I’m going to be using this bulb combo in both fixtures:

3 blue plus
3 tropic 6500K
2 Actinic

 

[Acroporaguy]

I love all the posts of reefers deciding to use more white light in their tank. I see it time and time again, it's well known that full spectrum supports growth and colour far differently than windex tanks. Plus the fish actually look proper.

 

[Bpb]

You’ll be fine. I used to use 3-4 6500k giesemann tropics in my 8 bulb sunpower and my sps loved it. Algae was never an issue. Solid blue light grows algae just as well, you just can’t see it. If you have algae, your intensity is too high, combined with too high nutrients and too few herbivores. Not because the lights are too white

 

[Miami Reef]

My 260 gallon tank uses 2 fixtures of ATI 8 bulb 54watts.

I’m going to be using this bulb combo in both fixtures:

3 blue plus
3 tropic 6500K
2 Actinic

The tropics came today.

Pic with only the tropics

Pic with all bulbs using the combo in the quote above

 

[Dburr1014]

The tropics came today.

Pic with only the tropics

Pic with all bulbs using the combo in the quote above

Oh, that looks pretty good!

 

[Goubli]

I am about to replace my 4 bulbs in my t5 led hybrid. The par is really low for t5 and I think I want to increase the white light.

My leds have two blue channels that I could probably use to balance the look more blue, so I am mostly looking for increased par.

Right now I have a kz super purple, kz new generation, kz super blue and ati true actinic.

I was considering doing a blue plus, one true actinic/super actinic and either two coral plus or new generations. But now maybe I should consider two of these 6500 tropics. What would you suggest?

 

[adamg77]

@Miami Reef what would you recommend to get a similar spectrum with the 6 bulb?

blue+
Actinic
6500k
6500k
Actinic
Blue+

I am concerned it might be slightly too "white" in overall spectrum

 

[Reefering1]

My 260 gallon tank uses 2 fixtures of ATI 8 bulb 54watts.

I’m going to be using this bulb combo in both fixtures:

3 blue plus
3 tropic 6500K
2 Actinic

 

[Miami Reef]

@Miami Reef what would you recommend to get a similar spectrum with the 6 bulb?

blue+
Actinic
6500k
6500k
Actinic
Blue+

I am concerned it might be slightly too "white" in overall spectrum

Can I suggest this:

Blue Plus
Actinic
6500K
Blue plus
Actinic
Blue Plus

 

[spsick]

@Miami Reef I always run one Purple Plus bulb and been happy with it. Has more red and makes my pink tables pop nicely.

 

[adamg77]

@Miami Reef thank you for your quick response! Out in my order as I’m finally about to get my tank cycled!

 

[Gobi1canobi]

Oh geez. That’s a lot of red. I think that’s too much red.



Here’s the T5 spectrum for one of the bulbs you mentioned:

I don’t know if I’d want to experiment with that much red.

I can confirm that from personal experience! Then I seen a video from reef builders with jake Adam’s also explaining it perfectly,just 1 week late for me ! He talks about little amounts of soft warm light having a great benefit on bright red /orange and pink corals like Monti, acro ,scoli, and acan. Only in low amounts during high photo periods,. He saw crazy benefits to the rare pink red orange coral. Again low amounts he said I believe his reds maxed at 15% but he cautioned not to spring it on your fluorescent coral in any quick fashion if they have bin on a mostly blue schedule! Right after I did literally 2 days prior watched my teal hammer my most unique hammer that was thriving! Barf brown zozantheli after only a couple hours of soft white (minor red- green) with white led at only 15% ! It never recovered and my gold hammer did the same just took a day longer because it went from golden to dark yellow to maroon then barf brown zozen deflate and rip! But it’s because I had the blue fever! And didn’t transist slowly ! I am now looking at going more natural sun scedual mixed in with my blues at very low intestines. Like Jake# TheLateJakeAdams!Rip! Tried to teach me!

 

[jda]

I am a huge believer in red spectrum for many reason. Why would you use just a red bulb instead of one with just a much red, but also the other colors as well?

I see this as the same thing as using a 6500k bulb when it has as much blue as a Blue Plus, also with the other colors.