Ok, so some of you may have been tagging along with my old thread but it got off of topic I was trying to find out, so here's the problem: my sps is bleached, my recordia and some lps are not opening up all the way, my gbta is hiding (it's crazy so this is normal for it) what I had was a 150 watt 20k mh + a 2 bulb t5 with truelumen actinic and fugi purple. So I went to my lfs and talked to my buddie and he gave me a 150 watt 14k bulb and said that was my problem so I put it in and my color pop went away as expected. So I want some of it back. So what brand of t5 (24in) has the most color pop with it? It needs to be "bright" so to speak to compete with the mh. Also what bulb pattern should I use? All actinic? All purple? All I want to pop is my greens and yellows and I want that light blue color.
Lighting help!!!
- Thread starter holley123
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1st ... IMO actinic with T5 is pointless unless you use a LOT of lamps. If you expect ANY PAR from a T5 actinic you'll be REALLY REALLY disappointed.
2nd... Keep in mind that "bright" relates to how you see the light, and doesn't, in total, relate to how much usable light the corals are receiving. I know folks on other boards who went from MH to T5 and completely nuked their tank because they kept adding lamps thinking it wasn't bright enough
Those little lamps can REALLY put out some intense light.
3rd... And to answer your question more directly. ATI makes some of the best lamps out there. The "blue plus" will add some blue to your tank AND offer some decent PAR. The "blue special" is more of a white blue, and can help brighten things up if needed..
and yes the previous post is correct.. it does take a period of hours for a lamp to burn in
IF YOUR SPS is bleached I would also make sure your other parameters are in check. It does' t have to be anything complicated at first... just check your temp.. (IMO between 75-78 although folks have success all over). ALSO make sure the frags aren't in DIRECT FLOW... too much direct flow will cause the tissue to slough off. After things like temp and flow are considered then start doing tests. I've found that PO4 will cause my colors to go funky pretty quick so thats something to consider.
Best of luck to you !
B
2nd... Keep in mind that "bright" relates to how you see the light, and doesn't, in total, relate to how much usable light the corals are receiving. I know folks on other boards who went from MH to T5 and completely nuked their tank because they kept adding lamps thinking it wasn't bright enough
Those little lamps can REALLY put out some intense light.3rd... And to answer your question more directly. ATI makes some of the best lamps out there. The "blue plus" will add some blue to your tank AND offer some decent PAR. The "blue special" is more of a white blue, and can help brighten things up if needed..
and yes the previous post is correct.. it does take a period of hours for a lamp to burn in
IF YOUR SPS is bleached I would also make sure your other parameters are in check. It does' t have to be anything complicated at first... just check your temp.. (IMO between 75-78 although folks have success all over). ALSO make sure the frags aren't in DIRECT FLOW... too much direct flow will cause the tissue to slough off. After things like temp and flow are considered then start doing tests. I've found that PO4 will cause my colors to go funky pretty quick so thats something to consider.
Best of luck to you !
B
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