t5 light cycle

[stan13ag]

After about 10 months of cheap LED and wild swings in chalice color (i've never seen some chalices get ugly so fast) I am going to t5

I am getting a 4 bulb fixture and will be running

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Purple
ATI Blue Special
ATI Blue plus

I've heard the KZ fiji purple bulb is better but I was buying from a vendor that didnt have any.

How long should I run actinic bulbs each day and how long should I run the 2 Wider spectrum bulbs.

Right Now I run abour 11 hours actinic and 5 hours daylight with the cheap leds (I cant stand the way it looks daylight)

Tank is primarily LPS 28" below light

 

[nateroten]

what types of livestock and corals are you keeping besides the chalices?

 

[stan13ag]

I have about 6 Acro and a few montipora all at the top 3rd about 12"-18" from light
lot of maxi minis and a few shrooms and softies in the lower 3rd of rock
and then lots of chalices/favia/acan on sandbed

My main concern with a shorter daylight cycle is the sps not liking it as much although I care more about the chalice health

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Well you can take out the aqua blue special and put in another blue+ and get a bluer look. my actinics come on a hour before my daylights so from the time my actinics come on to lights out is 8 hours. The problem I see with your daylights only running for 5 hours is you don't have enough light in the tank the rest of the time. You need all four bulbs running longer. If you just switch to t5's then they do need to burn in before you see there true color plus you can bleach your corals with that much par difference. So running for 5 hours may not be so bad right now but I would figure out a bulb combination that you like then work the daylight period up some.

 

[stan13ag]

Yeah but If I took out my only aquablue special and replaced it with another Blue+ I wouldnt have any daylight spectrum right? Or would the ATI Purple fill in what the blue doesnt cover?

The reason why I am getting out of LED is because I do not feel like it is giving me a wide spectrum.

The blues are a very nice blue actinic but the daylight LED are a yellow/white.. that's why they are only on 5 hours..

I definitely see what you mean by having only an 8 hour light cycle but I dont see how removing the aquablue special helps me

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Try removing the purple and see what you think. You have the right spectrum for color and some growth. Imo