Where to get my Blues/Whites from T5 LED

[YankeeTankee]

I like some white light and believe it helps corals grow (10-14 MHs always made for amazing growth) anyway I want to do a T5 LED combo as I just dont want to deal with MHs sooo....

G5 Blue with whiter T5 bulbs
OR
G5 Pro with blue plus and maybe an actinic

I'm trying to conceive what if any possible benefits I would get from getting my blues or whites from one or the other. In other words, can anyone think of an advantage from getting blues or whites from one of these options (T5 or LED) as opposed to the other variant. I can't think of much but always like to hear other peoples thoughts, what do you think?

 

[paal]

As far as growing corals I think the two variants would be so close it would not really matter. Gun to my head though; I would guess whiter T5s+Blue LEDs would be marginally better than vice versa

Rather than focusing on growth, I would take a look at how it can affect the overall ambient look of the tank.
All white T5 + Blue LEDs will most likely look different than all blue T5s and whiter LEDs. (EDIT: even if you'd get both overall spectrums close to each other)

But then again: my hybrid fixture has LEDs that mixes very poorly. The difference is probably not as noticeable with the G5.

Btw: How many watts of T5 and how many G5 units?

 

[bked180]

Try the ATI coral plus bulbs. From my eye they provide a more white light vs the other bulb choices.

 

[Daniel Waters]

I like some white light and believe it helps corals grow (10-14 MHs always made for amazing growth) anyway I want to do a T5 LED combo as I just dont want to deal with MHs sooo....

G5 Blue with whiter T5 bulbs
OR
G5 Pro with blue plus and maybe an actinic

I'm trying to conceive what if any possible benefits I would get from getting my blues or whites from one or the other. In other words, can anyone think of an advantage from getting blues or whites from one of these options (T5 or LED) as opposed to the other variant. I can't think of much but always like to hear other peoples thoughts, what do you think?

Most people who I know who run LEDs rarely use the white LEDs at full capacity. Even the AB+ program a lot of people like to run only had the white LEDs at 24%. Thus, in a lot of ways, having such a large number of white LEDs was a waste for many users. With the new blue model, I suspect you will see people running their whites at closer to full capacity since there are so few of those in the unit compared to the pro model. Personally, I feel like high par values from my T5s are more easily handled by corals than high par values from my LEDs (thus, I prefer to use T5s to provide more full spectrum). Lastly, I think LEDs really shine on the blue and violet ends. The deep blue color and fluorescence they can bring out just isn't matched by T5s. Even though you mentioned liking whiter tanks, it won't take much to whiten a tank up when using T5 bulbs. Thus, I'd recommend going with the Blue version of the radion and use some full spectrum T5 bulbs to give you the white color you are wanting. It will just be a matter of figuring out which bulb combination you want, which will partly depend on how many T5 bulbs you run. The ATI coral plus is a good bulb but may not be as white as you are wanting. If you need whiter, use a couple of 10k bulbs. If you're going to have 4 T5 bulbs, then you really will have a lot of options you can fine tune things down to.