View RSS Feed

cruelle

Bulb Question? Which to use...

Rate this Entry
Hello everyone,

Looking to replace my 4 T5 HO coral life bulbs. Just don't like the look of them tank just doesn't pop . I was thinking of either using giesemann powercrome bulbs or ATI bulbs. My tank has mainly softies and LPS and a couple SPS. Right now kind of thinking of use the giesemann bulbs but unsure what combo of bulbs was thinking of something like this 2-aquablue + bulbs and 1-actinic + and 1-pure actinic. thoughts??

Thanks for the info

Chris

Submit "Bulb Question? Which to use..." to Digg Submit "Bulb Question? Which to use..." to del.icio.us Submit "Bulb Question? Which to use..." to StumbleUpon Submit "Bulb Question? Which to use..." to Google

Categories
Lighting , ‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. Robb in Austin's Avatar
    Either the Gmann or the ATI lamps will work.

    What kind of fixture do you have?

    See here for some recommended lamp combinations:

    http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarsen00/site/?/home/
  2. jlemoine2's Avatar
    I'm a fan of the ATI bulbs, but I don't think you can really go wrong if you use either of those brands. KZ also makes a good bulb.

    The link "Robb in Austin" provided is a great source to get some bulb combination ideas. The link won't recommend actinic at all because of it's low-par... but it will give you extra pop.

    I'd recommend something like (front to back)

    ATI Blue Plus / Giesemann Actinic Plus (not a true actinic)
    Aquablue
    ATI Blue Plus / Giesemann Actinic Plus
    Aquablue

    If you really want the extra actinic, replace that first bulb with a pure actinic. You may have to do a bit of experimenting to get the combination you like, some of it depends on the spacing of the bulbs and how high you have them above the tank.

    If you still want a shade bluer than that combination, I found the KZ New Generation bulb is a smidgen bluer than the Aquablue bulbs, but I'm guessing it does not have the same amount of PAR either.

    Hope that helps, please let us know what you ended up going with.
  3. Blake's Avatar
    ATI bulbs are the top of the line as far as T5's go. i just recently installed them in a tank that i maintenance and it dropped my jaw. will be using ATI from now on. They arent cheap but they are worth every penny
  4. cruelle's Avatar
    thanks for the info everyone have had the flu for a few days ! So a will have to look into things tonight now that a feel better!

    Chris
  5. Hat39406's Avatar
    Hey Chris, glad to hear ya getting over the flu.
  6. cruelle's Avatar
    thanks Hat it has been a rough couple of days!
    Well going to go with the ATI bulbs for my Coral life HO light fixture thinking something like this front to back....let me know what you think chris

    1---blue plus
    2--ATI purple plus
    3--aquablue
    4--blue plus
  7. jlemoine2's Avatar
    I had a purple plus bulb in my 4 light retrofit. That combo only lasted a few months before I got tired of it. The purple hue was noticeable, the other 3 bulbs are not be enough to even out the spectrum, in my opinion. I replaced it with an aquablue, so my bulbs alternated between blue plus and aquablue. The combo was fine, but I wanted a tinge bluer. I replaced that aquablue with a KZ New Generation, which seemed to be slightly more violet than than the aquablue, so I like the color combo.

    Either way, I think that is the advantage of T5 lighting. There are a number of spectrums at our disposal, allowing us to customize the look to our specific tastes.
  8. cruelle's Avatar
    thanks for the info...I can try it to start out with and just order a extra aquable just in case it's not what I want