Need help with ATI 6 bulb combo

xyzner · Jan 6, 2018

Hi everybody,

I'm getting ready to go with an ATI Sunpower 24" fixture but I'm struggling with bulb combo. I really dislike the oversaturated blue tanks and want a more natural look, like snorkeling on a bright sunny day in Cancun look. Here's a picture of a few bulb combos I've been thinking about. I'm also brainstorming with the KZ Coral Light 10K bulbs so I'm open to that as well. Let me know what you think and feel free to make any suggestions about other combos! FWIW the tank will be almost strictly SPS. 60 gallon rimless cube (24x24). I also have a 15" XHO blue Reefbrite fixture I want to incorporate. I also uploaded a picture of what I'd like it to come close to.

Bpb · Jan 7, 2018

I too like the shallow water look. For my 8 bulb combo I use 4 blue, 2 6500k, 2 Actinic. Looks like the water does at about 15 feet deep.

Your blue LEDs will be pretty powerful in that mix. If it were me I’d run 3 Blue, 2 6500k, 1 True Actinic, and the LEDs.

A. grandis · Jan 7, 2018

3 blue Plus
2 Coral Plus or 2 KZ 10Ks
1 True Actinic.
Grandis.

Daniel Waters · Jan 7, 2018

From the pictures and bulb combinations being run in those pictures, you will want to run a 1:1 ratio of blue bulbs to white bulbs. For simplicity sake, I consider a blue bulb to be something like an ATI blue plus or an actinic. White bulbs would be like an ATI coral plus or purple plus or aqua blue special, or a 10k (or lower) daylight bulb. Personally, ive never cared for the aqua blue special or daylight bulbs like a 10k or lower. I find the coral plus bulb has plenty of white in it.

Also, I have found most people who want a whiter tank look are happy with a 2:1 ratio of blue bulbs to white bulbs. Thus, I will second Grandis recommendation.

Lastly, another consideration, if you are basing your color preference on the picture you provided and have not seen the tank color in person, I would be very cautious. When I take pictures of my tank, the pictures look much bluer than how the tank appears to me in person. Thus, a 1:1 blue to white ratio like in the pictures above would most likely look much whiter to you in person and may not be the look you are really wanting. I'd go with a variation of Grandis recommendation and try 4 blue plus and 2 coral plus bulbs. If you want whiter, swap one coral plus with a 10k bulb. I'm just not sure you will need the actinic bulb with the blue xho led strip that you also plan to incorporate.

xyzner · Jan 7, 2018

Thanks for the replies everybody. I was skipping the Purple Plus and going with the True Actinic based off of reading multiple threads about the Purple + not being as beneficial to the coral as other bulbs and the True Actinic being quite beneficial for Coral despite the lack of an aesthetic impact. Thoughts?

Also PAR wise, am I ok with any of the above recommendations? Again, I plan on the tank being strictly SPS.

SDboatguy · Jan 7, 2018

Since you have the Reefbrite LED, you could try something like 2x B+, 2x C+ , AB+(or 6500k) and Actinic. I also like think the 1:1 ratio (B+:C+) will look pretty good with your LED, it will be very bright !

Daniel Waters · Jan 7, 2018

xyzner said:
Thanks for the replies everybody. I was skipping the Purple Plus and going with the True Actinic based off of reading multiple threads about the Purple + not being as beneficial to the coral as other bulbs and the True Actinic being quite beneficial for Coral despite the lack of an aesthetic impact. Thoughts?

Also PAR wise, am I ok with any of the above recommendations? Again, I plan on the tank being strictly SPS.

Saying a purple plus is not as beneficial as other bulbs is probably true, but I would say it's minimal. Would I recommend someone run 6 purple plus bulbs, no. Is one okay in a 6 bulb set up, sure it is...If you like what it does visually for your tank, then you should feel comfortable incorporating it. The purple plus can be a bit overwhelming color wise, which is why it's usually recommended as a supplement to other bulbs. In 4 bulb setups, I find it too much. In a 6 bulb set up, it might be fine for what you are wanting.

True actinic has a lot of PUR. It may look dim to you, but it will make corals fluoresce or "pop". I think a blue plus bulb would be better, as your blue xho LED bar will provide you that same "pop". But I am not familiar enough with those leds to know which spectrum nm range they are providing versus an ATI pure actinic bulb.

Par wise, it's going to depend on how wide your tank is, how deep you plan to keep your corals, mounting height of fixture, and what type of SPS (as there is a wide range of light needs even with SPS).

Personally, if I were buying a fixture and had space, I'd choose to buy an 8 bulb over a 6 bulb. You can always choose not to run some of the bulb slots. It's also easier to raise the light higher if needed to reduce par. Having 8 slots gives you more bulb customization to get exactly the color you like.

Daniel Waters · Jan 7, 2018

Here is a video that might help you gauge whether 6 bulbs will provide you enough light. If you go to the 3 minute mark, you can see the par values for 4 blue plus bulbs. You can extrapolate to what 6 bulbs of T5 may provide you at different depths. Obviously some bulbs may provide slightly more or less, but tbis should give you a good approximation. I have no idea how much par the xho strip will kick in, though.

xyzner · Jan 7, 2018

Daniel, thank you very much for your reply. I've watched that video (a few times in fact) in the past. It looks like I found a deal on an 8 bulb fixture and I'll be going with that. If the deal goes through I'll probably sell my XHO. Bpb, do you happen to have any pictures of your setup? I'm interested in seeing what it looks like.

Bpb · Jan 7, 2018

Here’s a photo dump.

Again for those concerned. The bulb combo is

ATI Blue+
ATI True Actinic
Giesemann 6500k Tropic
Ati Blue+
ATI Blue+
Giesemann 6500k Tropic
ATI True Actinic
Ati Blue+

Tank is a “young” sps dominant mixed reef. It’s been running in my care since 2014, but I didn’t start stocking acropora until about 6 months or so ago. Dealt with many tank crashes in the past. So sadly no giant acro colonies yet.

But hopefully these pictures help. The white balance and coral colors are about 99.9% accurate to the eye.

It’s an ati sunpower 8 bulb. You’ll see that the 2-bulb channel contains the whites. So my dawn dusk period is actually 6 bulbs and then the two whites come on for the main photoperiod. Kind of backwards from typical arrangements.

Bpb · Jan 7, 2018

Daniel Waters · Jan 7, 2018

xyzner said:
Daniel, thank you very much for your reply. I've watched that video (a few times in fact) in the past. It looks like I found a deal on an 8 bulb fixture and I'll be going with that. If the deal goes through I'll probably sell my XHO. Bpb, do you happen to have any pictures of your setup? I'm interested in seeing what it looks like.

You're welcome! If you are going to have 8 bulbs and going to sell the xho blue strip, I'd look at 4 blue plus, 1 actinic, 2 coral plus, and one purple plus bulb combo. If you need whiter than that, swap in an extra coral plus for a blue plus. Really you'll just have to order some bulbs and try them out, but you can get by with ordering just a few bulbs and go by ratios. For example, if you think one blue plus and one coral plus is too white (1:1 ratio of blue to white), and two blue to 1 coral plus is too blue (2:1 ratio), then you know you need some ratio in between. Make sense?

Daniel Waters · Jan 7, 2018

Bpb said:
ATI Blue+
ATI True Actinic
Giesemann 6500k Tropic
Ati Blue+
ATI Blue+
Giesemann 6500k Tropic
ATI True Actinic
Ati Blue+

Great tank #Bpb. Thanks for sharing! To use Bpb bulb combo as an example, you'll notice he is basically using a 3:1 ratio of blue to white bulbs. However, the 6500k is a very white bulb compared to the ATI coral plus bulb I recommended. Also, he is using 2 actinics which are deeper blue. I suspect this helps to subdue the white look of 6500k bulbs a little bit.

Bulb combinations can be maddening if you dwell on it too much but don't get too worried over it. You can't really screw it up with the bulbs they have nowadays. They will all grow coral. Just try different combinations till you find the mix you like. I'm very jealous and wish I had an 8 bulb ATI I could incorporate into my setup now!

xyzner · Jan 7, 2018

Fantastic pictures Bpb! Trust me Daniel, I'm much more frustrated about this than I should be, haha. Extrapolating everything everybody has recommended and still stubbornly looking back at that picture I originally posted, I'm leaning towards a 4 blue + (uggg), 1 6500 K, 1 10 K, 1 True Actinic, 1 Purple +. I cannot talk my self into going for the 15Kish coral Plus bulb for whatever reason. My first tanks in high school 15 years ago were the 250 watt 10K halide with VHO actinic supplements , so I think I'm permanently a sucker for a "yellower" look. This is obviously my first go round with t5s after a long hiatus, sooo I hope I can get somewhat close to what I'm imagining. Cincinnati isn't exactly the premier spot for Aquarium stores, so guess work and risking 20 bucks a bulb is where I'm at. I've been piecing this tank together for 18 months so I'm excited to finally get things moving. Feel free to talk me out of the above bulb combo, or for my sanity, don't

Daniel Waters · Jan 8, 2018

xyzner said:
Fantastic pictures Bpb! Trust me Daniel, I'm much more frustrated about this than I should be, haha. Extrapolating everything everybody has recommended and still stubbornly looking back at that picture I originally posted, I'm leaning towards a 4 blue + (uggg), 1 6500 K, 1 10 K, 1 True Actinic, 1 Purple +. I cannot talk my self into going for the 15Kish coral Plus bulb for whatever reason. My first tanks in high school 15 years ago were the 250 watt 10K halide with VHO actinic supplements , so I think I'm permanently a sucker for a "yellower" look. This is obviously my first go round with t5s after a long hiatus, sooo I hope I can get somewhat close to what I'm imagining. Cincinnati isn't exactly the premier spot for Aquarium stores, so guess work and risking 20 bucks a bulb is where I'm at. I've been piecing this tank together for 18 months so I'm excited to finally get things moving. Feel free to talk me out of the above bulb combo, or for my sanity, don't

I think 4 blue plus + 1 actinic is a good base of operations. Nothing wrong with those other bulbs you mentioned. They can grow coral and this is YOUR tank! I like around a 16.5K look on my tanks, but I will say this, I think whiter tanks show SPS true colors better and i am slowly adding more white into my LED supplements as i do more and more acropora. When you get really blue tanks, I think the colors get lost or they look all...blue...I'm not sure what the right term is but I think you know what I'm trying to say. Also, I think fish colors look better in whiter tanks.

Good luck and let us know when you get a final bulb combo selected....with pictures of the tank!

Bpb · Jan 8, 2018

Agree entirely on the statement that you just can’t go wrong either way. Just about any bulb combo will Work pretty close to the same. You can really choose an array that suits you visually. My array I have now is actually REALLY close to the look I had with 250 watt Radiums honestly. Spectrally it’s fairly different. I have a lot more yellow, orange, and green in the mix, and a ton more violet and deep blue, but the overall color temp is really close. I ran xm10k halides for about a year on this tank and loved that as well. You can’t really replicate that spectrum with t5ho though no bulbs I’m aware of have such complete coverage in the red portion

Tbell805 · Jan 9, 2018

I have three blue +, two coral +, and an actinic bulb and feel like its white during the day. Then for dawn and dusk I have the blue + and actinic on only. I like the look but thats my own personal taste

xyzner · Jan 25, 2018

Ok everybody, light came in. Unfortunately 3 of the reflectors were dented so I'm now waiting on ATI to send me new reflectors. While I'm waiting, what's the order I should put the bulbs in?

I went with 3 ATI Blue+, 2 KZ Coral Light I, 1 KZ Coral Light II, 1 ATI Purple+, and 1 ATI True Actinic. I found a local store that sells ATI bulbs so I may swap out one of the KZ bulbs if I find it too white/yellow. I'm confused as to what numbers are the 2nd channel as well - is it the 3rd and 6th, front to back?

Daniel Waters · Jan 25, 2018

xyzner said:
Ok everybody, light came in. Unfortunately 3 of the reflectors were dented so I'm now waiting on ATI to send me new reflectors. While I'm waiting, what's the order I should put the bulbs in?

I went with 3 ATI Blue+, 2 KZ Coral Light I, 1 KZ Coral Light II, 1 ATI Purple+, and 1 ATI True Actinic. I found a local store that sells ATI bulbs so I may swap out one of the KZ bulbs if I find it too white/yellow. I'm confused as to what numbers are the 2nd channel as well - is it the 3rd and 6th, front to back?

I believe you are correct about the 3rd and 6th slots being one channel (some people refer to this as your dawn / dusk channel). I'd recommend a blue plus and an actinic in these slots. I'm not sure if it matters if the actinic should be closer to the front of the tank or back. For some reason, I'm thinking it's better if the darker / bluer bulb is in the back, but I have no idea why I'm thinking that or the reasoning behind it. I'm sure someone with actual lighting / photography expertise could provide better guidance, and I'd love to hear it.

Typically, I'd recommend a blue plus bulb in the front and back (#1 and #8).
Not sure it matters that much how you place the others. A white type bulb would be good in between the actinic and blue plus.

I also try to space out my similar bulbs. For instance, I wouldn't place the 2 KZ Coral light 1 directly beside each other.

So my recommendation from front to back,

1. Blue plus
2. KZ Coral light I
3. Blue plus
4. KZ Coral light II or Purple Plus
5. Purple Plus or KZ Coral light II
6. Actinic
7. KZ Coral light I
8. Blue Plus

I have no experience with the KZ bulbs and your bulb combo is much whiter than I have any experience with, so I would defer to others suggestions before mine in this regards.