T5 bulb combos

Dirtyshoez · Mar 25, 2026

Curious what people run in combination with their t5/led setups. I have an aquatic life t5 60" on a peninsula and I guess my question and I keep getting different reviews from different stuff I read. Will running something like a coral plus, super blue, purple plus, coral plus give the same spectrum or will it not blend well since it's a peninsula and you have the different angles of viewing the tank? I see these combinations on a standard tank where you have a long back wall and read that it works due to reflection from that wall plus how you view the tank, but I'm wondering if in my case the best idea would be to choose what 2 and stick to 50/50 with my led's down the center.

mcarroll · Mar 25, 2026

I would think your LED color setup would dictate what you'd use in the florescent spots.

At least back in the day folks didn't use those extra lights for anything but MORE BLUE, MORE BLUE! :) But sometimes that was because the main lights were yellow-white.

Dirtyshoez · Mar 25, 2026

mcarroll said:
I would think your LED color setup would dictate what you'd use in the florescent spots.

At least back in the day folks didn't use those extra lights for anything but MORE BLUE, MORE BLUE! :) But sometimes that was because the main lights were yellow-white.

I am wanting to see if I can get the par im wanting out of the t5 and the look out of the led's. I don't seem to accomplish more than 260ish out of the led and so im wondering if im doing something wrong here.

Spot On · Mar 25, 2026

Dirtyshoez said:
Curious what people run in combination with their t5/led setups. I have an aquatic life t5 60" on a peninsula and I guess my question and I keep getting different reviews from different stuff I read. Will running something like a coral plus, super blue, purple plus, coral plus give the same spectrum or will it not blend well since it's a peninsula and you have the different angles of viewing the tank? I see these combinations on a standard tank where you have a long back wall and read that it works due to reflection from that wall plus how you view the tank, but I'm wondering if in my case the best idea would be to choose what 2 and stick to 50/50 with my led's down the center.

I have the t5's with all super blues. Just got the navareef 135's to supplement them. Im super impressed with the nicrews.