T-5 Actinic Lighting

[jeffmuse]

I am currently using two 250 Watt Metal Halides on my setup, and decided to add some antinic lighting to the tank. I am buying four T-5 lights to add color to the system and create a "dusk/ dawn" effect.

I am COMPLETELY new to T-5 lighting and wanted to get some feedback on what kind of bulbs I should go with for the best look. I have been trying to sort through bulb cominations, and it is a little bit overwhelming :huh:

Obviously this is a very subjective thread, but for those of you that have experience with T-5 lights, what bulb comination (4 bulbs) would be best for actinic lighting?

 

[dine]

are you trying to run 4 actinics just for the "look", are you trying to add some actinic + some other colors for the "look", or are you trying to replace the mh?

i have a 6bulb fixture and only use one kz actinic because i didnt want to give up a lot of useable par. if i find that i could still use some more par i have an actinic+ set aside thats park 10k and part actinic. for what its worth just 1 kz actinic looks pretty cool over my 90

 

[jeffmuse]

Dine;754658 wrote: are you trying to run 4 actinics just for the "look", are you trying to add some actinic + some other colors for the "look", or are you trying to replace the mh?

i have a 6bulb fixture and only use one kz actinic because i didnt want to give up a lot of useable par. if i find that i could still use some more par i have an actinic+ set aside thats park 10k and part actinic. for what its worth just 1 kz actinic looks pretty cool over my 90

Thanks for the reply. I am not trying to replace the metal halides, I just want to add more color to the tank via t-5 lighting. Looking for suggestions on a four bulb combination that will make the corals look great and add more blue to the tank.

What is a kz actinic? Sorry, I am totally new to T-5's and I am still learning all of the options that are out there.

 

[dine]

well hopefully others chime in as i dont have any experience mixing the various lighting styles. my questions would be will the mh wash out the actinic lights so that they really are useless unless only the actinics were on?

kz is Korallen-Zucht(brand) kz is the common abbreviation as Korallen-Zuch is too much to type:doh:

 

[sterling]

I talked to Jason Fox today and he runs 2 Giesemann Actinic+ on either side of his 250W SE 20k Radiums. You can see full tank shots in his gallery,

 

[ff337]

Kz superblue+ along with my 20k radiums. Colors are pretty dialed in. I only run 2 t5s though.

 

[snowmansnow]

for LOOKS..
2 ati actinic blue
2 ati blue plus

IMO