Bluer light without compromising PAR

Hi, I'll try to make this short, for me. I have a T5HO fixture with 3 48" 54 watt bulbs. 2 are 10K bulbs, and 1 is a 460nm Actinic bulb. Basically, the light really seems kind of yellow-green, even with the Actinic. Is there a better combination of bulbs I could use that would appear more blue (or even purple would be grand) that wouldn't compromise the combined available PAR (and possibly overall apparent brightness) significantly? It seems like the more I read, the more confused I get. Sorry if I used a term incorrectly, I'm new at this. Thanks in advance.

 

I guessing your not willing to get a 4 bulb fixture because I have always done 2 actinics and 2 10k(well ok like 12k aqua blue special and plus)

 

maybee try 2 aqua blue special plus bulbs with an actinic .. i see its a 3 bulb 48 inch fixture that may be a hard one ... but the aqua blue special plus is about 12k temp it will be a bit more blue than what you have now i seem to get the same here out of a 10k .. im running 4 bulb vho originaly had 2 10k and 2 super actinic it looked almost green so i changed out one of the 10k for a 12 k bulb and green was gone . so maybee try 1 aquablue special first

on a side note some of the t5 i would call experts will chime in but the aquablue special but is one of manny favorites

 

Get two ATI Aquablue Specials and 1 ATI Blue Plus to keep it comparable brightness wise to what you have. That will look white with a blue tint. To get a more purple look replace one of the Aquablues with an ATI Purple plus. You will have great PAR with any of these combos. Most likely much better than you have now with stock bulbs.

 

Not when I just bought this one!

I may buy a different fixture in the future, but I chose something that would be good for getting my feet wet with corals. If I decide to specialize in something that needs further requirements, I'll look into it then.

And thanks to all three with your fast answers. I will definitely look into gt40425hp's suggestion, but my heart is already leaning more towards 2in10's suggestion since he mentioned purple... Haha.

Are there any 3reef sponsors that sell the ATI bulbs that I should look at?

 

You could also look into adding a double bulb fixture and have 2whites/3blues or any of the million other options available...and 2bulb fixtures are relatively cheap

 

I personally like good color I would step up to 14K's instead of the twelve. I run half actinics and half 14K on all my tanks. But color is a personal choice. I wouldn't worry about the PAR values too much. It's nice to have great PAR levels but switching from the 10K's to 12 or 14's isn't going to be an absolute make or break kind of change. If they are stock bulbs and you're replacing them with high quality bulbs you will probably still be getting better readings with the color change vs those stock bulbs.

 

I don't think I'd have room for a second fixture without it falling off. At least, it would be a tight squeeze, that's for sure! I haven't even put my first polyp in the tank. I'll consider upgrades when I hit a brick wall. Thanks for the suggestions, whenever I hit that I'll definitely consider adding a second fixture if I can squeeze it in.

I've ordered 2 of the Aquablue Specials and one of the ATI Purple Plus. I'm sure it will be a significant improvement. I'll let you guys know how the combination worked when I get the bulbs *fingers crossed* safely *knocks on wood* on Tuesday.

Also, PackLeader, you're right that these bulbs will probably be much better than the stock ones and that simply raising the color temperature up 2-4k isn't going to make that much of an impact except in how I perceive the light. I think I was told by someone a long time ago that 10k bulbs were automatically better for everything and that I basically needed to run them in the fixture if I ever wanted any hope of success. Either that or I dreamt that up.

 

gt40425hp and 2in10 and everyone, thanks a bunch. I wanted to say that 2in10's suggestion worked perfectly. I took pictures so you can see before and after. These are directly from the camera with no editing for color temperature done, unlike my previous pictures where I had to fix the green.

Here's the original stock bulbs, 2 10k's and 1 460nm actinic bulb:



Here's 2 ATI Aquablue Specials and 1 ATI Purple Plus (I replaced the blue plus with the purple plus because I misread what you said... but I'm very happy with the result!):



These aren't great pictures but they show the (significant) difference. Thanks a bundle for all the help.