Ideal Kelvin and Manufacturer (250W Halide DE & 4X T5's)

92 Gallon Aquarium. Dimensions: 48WX34DX24H. Mainly Soft and LPS corals.

I'm looking to replace a few bulbs and was curious as to what others preferred. I have (1) 250W Halide that I'm seriously considering replacing with either a 14 or 20k. I prefer the 20k spectrum over the 14. What do you have and what would you suggest? Spectrum, brand, etc.

Secondly, I'm looking to replace the bulbs in a fixture with 2 T5 Actinics and 2 T5 Daylight 10k's. What do you have and what would you suggest? Spectrum, brand, etc.

EDIT: Correction. The 4 bulb T5 currently has 4 Actinics, not daylight. So a good combo to replace 4 T5 Actinics.

Thanks for your input!

 

Google the name Sanjay Josef. You will find a website somewhere with a program that will let you enter your specific ballast type and compare most common bulbs. For me I ended up going with the XM 20k but I have single ended bulbs, your options may differ. Asfar as the T5 I currently have an ATI Aquablue+ and a KZ Fiji Purple in a two bulb fixture, if I had the option of a four bulb I would prob run 2 ATI Aquablue+, either a KZ Fiji purple or the new ATI purple+, and a variation of a 10k bulb, Ive seen good things about the GE 10k bulb.

 

Are you referring to the "Blue Plus" or "Aquablue?"

 

Are the ATI "Blue plus" in replacement of Actinics?
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Blue Plus is more of a blue not actinic bulb. It would be rated as about a 22000K bulb. It has about 50% 460nm wave length and 50% 420nm wave length if I remember right

 

In my system Im running 750w of MH to like 108w of T5 so anything from my T5 is supplemental when the halides are on. Now I do put my T5 like right on the water maybe 1.5" and the MH are more like 10" so theres some effect. All I try to do is hit alot of the spectrums where the coral thrives and I feel like my setup gives me a wide range with a focus on coloration as opposed to rapid growth rates. So my current setup is T5 on at 930 off at 930 (12 hrs) and MH on at 1130 off at 8 (8.5 hrs). I would run my MH longer but this is a compromise between heat and electric consumption. The overlapping T5 schedule creates a dawn and dusk effect and the KZ purple bulb renders a nice color
Heres what Im talkin about with my setup

 

I do the same: dusk/dawn. My question is: Which are considered "daylight" and which are "dawn/dusk?"

I assume the fiji purple is "dawn/dusk."


On another note, any input on a replacement Halide? Manufacturer and Kelvin?

 

Well since Im running 20k MH which is predominantly more blue I wanted to get a little of the more "yellow part" of the spectrum. The Aquablue+ bulb is considered 60% blue and 40% white, the Fiji purple is more red and purple. So with two bulbs I can obtain a broad spectrum for 12 hrs a day. Also these two bulbs rate amongst the highest in PAR values, ,so I get the most bang for the buck. Since you are wanting to use a 4 bulb fixture, if you run all four all the time and you want achieve the same basic principle that I am then I would say either 2 aquablue+, 1 purple, 1 10k bulb, or 3 aquablue+, 1 purple. You can research it for yourself but you will findthe aquablue+ to be a great bulb. For Halide I use XM 20k bulbs but have heard good things about Phoenix also.

 

Thanks for the input. Do you have any photos of your tank during dusk/dawn?

 

knew you would ask that just snapped these




And heres one from the other day with all lights on