please help me with bulb selection.

i know this is brought up a lot, but i need some help. i am looking to replace the bulbs in my nova extreme pro. its a 6x48in fixture over my 90 gallon

i hope to start keeping more sps and possibly a clam or two. have a montipora cap. that is doing well and growing.

i like the "flourescent" look of the coral and fish with the actinics on. if im not mistaken this is from the blue end of the spectrum.

i do know that uvl, ati, giesemann seem to be the bulbs of choice for most.
the general idea i am thinking

from front to back:

some sort of daylight (10k or plus)
full actinic
full actinic
some sort of 50/50 type bulb
full actinic
some sort of daylight (10k or plus)

 

Here's how'd I go

front to back
ATI Blue+
ATI 12000k blue special
UVL 75/25 white Actinic
GE 6500k full spectrum
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+

But I don't like alot of blue tint..

 

wfb2270

the switching arrangement makes a difference
I have a 6 lamp fixture and there are 3 switches ( 1 and 6 , 2 and 5 and 3 and 4)
so naturally as I want just actinics on for 1st and last hour or so then I have actinic lamps in 1 and 6 (I could have then in 2 and 5 or 3 and 4 )

I use Geisseman lamps and like the Power chrome actinic plus 22K and the Aquablue 14K lamps

I tried a mix of 10K lamps with the 22K but the tank looked a greeny white instead of a bluey white that I prefer

Steve

 

I would go

front to back
ATI Blue+
Fiji Purple or UVL Actinic white
ATI Blue+
GE 6500K
ATI Blue+
ATI Aquablue Special

 

ok, i think i am off to a start at least.

i didnt even think about the switches, thanks steve. i have 2 bulbs on one switch 4 on the other. so i would have to have the down/dusk actinics in slots 1/5.

seems like the ATI blue plus bulbs come up as a lot of ppls "main" bulb.

 

The blue plus has about the highest PAR out there and a significant amount of actinic lighting to make your coral fluoresce.

 

awesome, thats eactly what i am looking for

 

how do the GE 6500 k, compare to the giesemann midday sun 6000k??

 

Pretty comparable the GE has a little more PAR but no large difference. The GE bulb will run you around $15 and the Geisemann around $26.

 

Take a look at this
par (tfivetesting)