Hey guys need some help/suggestions choosing new light bulbs

[kickside]

like the title says time to get some new T5bulbs
anyone know any good websites to buy from
I have a 36 inch light fixture with 2 actinics and 2 daylight bulbs

should I replace all four at once or just replace 2 right now

any help would greatly appreciate
thanks

 

[IPisces]

I have gotten all my T-5s from here.
I had three of them that burned out in a couple months and they replaced them for free. They ship fast and have never had a broken bulb.
Fish & Aquarium Supplies: T-5 HO Fluorescent Tubes

 

[kickside]

So many choices, would you mind telling me which ones you usually buy?
or what I should look for?

 

[IPisces]

They have a couple on sale right now.
T-5 HO Reef Blue Actinic Fluorescent Tubes and the T-5 HO Reef White 10000°K Fluorescent Tubes
The coralife 10,000 white and the coralife actinics I have used and like them too
I use 2 white to 1 actinic. In my 6 lamp unit I use 4 whites and 2 actinic.

 

[eww]

We use a combo in our tank besides just regular blue and white. It really comes down to personal preference of what you like the look of. It took us quite a while and many purchases to finally come up with what we like. Our bulb combo is (recommended by many):

2 ATI Blue Plus (20k)
1 ATI Aquablue Special (12k)
1 KZ Fiji Purple (12-14k???)

Bulk Reef Supply carries them all as well as lots of other places. In our research and talking to a lot of people on here the ATI bulbs put out the best PAR. Geissman is close. They are virtually the same color but a little less on PAR and ATI is a little less expensive too.

Lastly if you have been running your current bulbs for a long time I would recommend only changing 2 bulbs now and do the other 2 in a month or so that way your corals don't go into shock with all the newly intense light all at once.

 

[kickside]

2 ATI Blue Plus (20k)
1 ATI Aquablue Special (12k)
1 KZ Fiji Purple (12-14k???)

Lastly if you have been running your current bulbs for a long time I would recommend only changing 2 bulbs now and do the other 2 in a month or so that way your corals don't go into shock with all the newly intense light all at once.

OK this when I star getting confuse all this names and ratings lol
which ones do you turn on first? on your tank?

 

[eww]

OK this when I star getting confuse all this names and ratings lol
which ones do you turn on first? on your tank?

We fire the two ATI Blue Plus bulbs one hour before the others because it gives a soft blue light for the transition from darkness to full brightness of all four bulbs being on. Likewise these same two bulbs stay on an extra hour after the other two turn off again giving a transition from bright light to darkness.

There are lots of brands out there and they all make decent bulbs however just like in almost everything else in the world there are a few that outperform the rest. The brands that I mentioned are very popular in the hobby but by all means not required to have success. IMO (and others might disagree) ATI and Geissman seem to be the best. ATI just puts out more PAR.

PAR = the amount of light penetration through the water. I'm no expert in this field at all but only know what I have been told and what I have read over the last year or so. Higher PAR means better growth and the more PAR penetration you can get deeper in your tank just gives you more flexibility in where you can put certain corals that require high amounts of light, like SPS.

K = Kelvin which is the color temperature of the light the bulb puts out. A 12K bulb is actually an abbreviation for 12000 Kelvin of 12000K. The lower the number the more into the yellow spectrum the light is. The higher the number the more blue it is. A typical household light bulb is 6500K. Keep in mind that all these spectrum's will grow coral but it is personal preference on what color you like to see your tank in and the more yellow light can promote unwanted algae growth. Normally the more blue the light the more color you see in your corals but some people don;t like the see an all blue tank all day. Some do though.

You are more than welcome to come down to Puyallup and see our tank any time and how we have our lighting set up. If you are a PSAS member you can come down for the meeting on Saturday as we are hosting it this month.

 

[rainydave]

I'm running something similar to eww in my 36" light. The difference is I'm running an ATI Purple Plus instead of the KZ Fiji Purple. I have used the KZ in the past in 24" length. Great bulb.

 

[trido]

Right now I have .
geissman aquablue+
Geissman Actinic+
ATI blue plus (looks identical to the actinic+ to my eye)
ATI purple plus (has the red spectrum like the KZ fiji purple)

This give me a 14-20K blue look to the tank and has just enough white to it to keep my reds red and pinks pink. If you get too much blue in your lighting the pinks start to wash out and dont pop to the eye.
NO offence to the first reply but not all bulbs are created equal. IMO I would never put a coralife bulb over my reef tanks. If so, I'd just go to my local petco and buy them. Anything that petco sells in their reef dept. IMO isnt high quality stuff. ATI and Geismman are the most popular brands used by most reefers when it comes to T-5 HO bulbs.

 

[kickside]

You are more than welcome to come down to Puyallup and see our tank any time and how we have our lighting set up. If you are a PSAS member you can come down for the meeting on Saturday as we are hosting it this month.

Oh man thats a great offer it would been a great time for me to join the PSAS
too. Unfortunately the GSAS auction is on the same day and around the same time what a bummer.
btw I've read your 70G build tread like three times now since I joined RF your tank is just amazing

 

[eww]

Oh man thats a great offer it would been a great time for me to join the PSAS
too.

The invite is for anytime you want to come down, not just for the PSAS meeting. We are home most days and evenings. That's the benefit of working from home

 

[Frankie]

We use a combo in our tank besides just regular blue and white. It really comes down to personal preference of what you like the look of. It took us quite a while and many purchases to finally come up with what we like. Our bulb combo is (recommended by many):

2 ATI Blue Plus (20k)
1 ATI Aquablue Special (12k)
1 KZ Fiji Purple (12-14k???)

Bulk Reef Supply carries them all as well as lots of other places. In our research and talking to a lot of people on here the ATI bulbs put out the best PAR. Geissman is close. They are virtually the same color but a little less on PAR and ATI is a little less expensive too.

Lastly if you have been running your current bulbs for a long time I would recommend only changing 2 bulbs now and do the other 2 in a month or so that way your corals don't go into shock with all the newly intense light all at once.

Nice selection! Same as I ran when I had T5's.

 

[buggin64]

I needed some help to going to buy new actinics soon im new to this so not sure what would be best setup.

2x250 MH 14,000k
4 actinics 2 are blue and 2 are people not sure the tech term on it

what i was thinking was getting 50/50 on all four and running MH less right now run them for 8 hours and the actinics 10, 1 hour before and after
or
getting all 4 actinics the purple/blue still and running the same time

Right now i have mostly softies