Blue Blue! Toilet Bowl Blue (T5 HO Lighting)

[lakee911]

I upgraded my lighting this evening from two T12's to four T5's. Wow! It's bright! I've only got two of the four bulbs running right now.

One bulb was defective, but the problem is, it's way too blue. I've got the following bulbs:

2 Giesemanne 54W Actinic Plus T5 HO Flourescent
1 Giesemanne 54W 11000K Aquablue Plus T5 HO Flourescent
1 UVL 54W Super Actinic T5 HO Flourescent (this one doesn't light up properly).

I'm running the Actinic Plus and the Aquablue right now only and it's decent, but I really really liked my old Coralife 50/50 bulbs.

CORALIFE 50/50
6000K/Actinic 03
F40-T12-BP

Can someone help me choose some bulbs that will give me the look of those Coralife 50/50s?

Thanks!
Jason

[Amphiprion]

You don't have any strong daylight tubes. Try 6500K tubes or 3000K tubes for less blue.

[oct2274]

i would highly not recommend the 3000k bulb with only a 4 light unit. it will not look good at all

[chirocato]

Go with a 6500k. I agree the 3000k bulb in bad color IMO.

[lakee911]

k, so which one is the 3000K bulb?

I wish I could find all posts that recommended this atrocious bulb combo

Jason

[Paulairduck]

I would run a GE 6500 K, two of the blue plus and the actinic, it wil lighten up the blue,

If you are looking for something similar to a 50/50 would be a two 6500k with either two blue plus, more par and less color and if you want a little more blue subsitute the blue plus with the actinic's

[Mark75]

I thought the same thing when I first put my new bulbs in my T5 fixture! I was so mad, the water looked like it was dyed blue. I pulled two of my Blue plus bulbs out and put my old Slimpaq 10K's back in. Well after a week I noticed my tank was too white, I pulled one of the 10K's and put one of the Blue plus's back in. Sure enough a week later my tank was too white again! I pulled the last 10K and put my last Blue Plus back in. My point is give it a week, the blues will tone down. I am running two blue plus, an Aqua blue special, and a Slimpaq 10K and need more blue. When I first put these bulbs in it was so blue you could hardly see through it.

[lakee911]

Thanks for the info. I'll try to swap some bulbs and see what happens. Hopefully it'll be better than Mark's experience!

Jason

[Mark75]

Originally posted by lakee911
Thanks for the info. I'll try to swap some bulbs and see what happens. Hopefully it'll be better than Mark's experience!

Jason

I am not sure you got the point of my post? I had the right bulbs to begin with I just needed to let them burn in a week. I would not change bulbs until you have ran them a week, the T5's change color after burn in.

[lakee911]

Oh I see what you're saying. Maybe I'll stick with 'em for a bit

[luke33]

I think some reefers read this wrong. Your running three actinic's and an 11k? Who told you to do that? I'd swap out one of the actinic's for a blue + and the other for a 65k, then you'll have a blue+, 11k, 65k, super actinic. Also the super actinic won't hardly look like its on, you can't see alot of the light. There not par lamps like the others.

[lakee911]

What's so good about the super actinic if you can not see it?

I got the recommendation from a series of posts on here....

[luke33]

Nothing imo, there ok for making certain corals pop, but as far as par goes and growth.........nada. There purely there for supplements. With a 5 or more bulb fixture i'd throw one in, but less than that i wouldn't use them. In your case, you already have one so unless you want to buy a different bulb........

[kidchill]

Where can I find info on bulb selection? The pros vs cons on all the different types of bulbs??? Any help would be awesome!!

[scotmc]

All the info. you will ever need.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1214393

[lakee911]

Thanks for the info. I'm running the current combo and I like it (for now).

2 Giesemanne 54W Actinic Plus T5 HO Flourescent
1 Giesemanne 54W 11000K Aquablue Plus T5 HO Flourescent
1 UVL 54W 75/25 14000K AquaBlue Flourescent

Thx
Jason