My lighting fixture is 3-250 watt MH bulbs and 4-80 watt T5 HO bulbs. I think it’s time to replace my T5 80 watt bulbs. I have a mixed reef with softies, lps, and sps and i would like to get bulbs that are bluer in spectrum as well as providing lighting suitable for growing corals. I was thinking of getting bulbs from the Giesemann line and looking at the Actinic Plus, Aquablue, or Pure Actinic. I remember correctly Kapt Ken saying something about needing lighting in the 420, 460 and 600 nano meter ranges? I’m thinking maybe the pure actinic which would be around 420. I also have some supplemental royal blue leds soon to be added that peak at 453 and I’m thinking the halides cover the 600 range of the spectrum. Let me know your thoughts.
Matt i’d say put 4 pure actinics in there… the halides and leds don’t do any/ or much 420 spectrum…
but the
'blue-est" look i’ve seen are the blue plus bulbs… they’re in the 450-460 range i think…
btw…what do you have in there now? (the t5’s) you are getting good growth from what i’ve seen…
I have played with combinations of bulbs mostly 420 & 453 to supplement the halides. I like the 420 best (all 4) with the led supplying the 453 and MH does the rest. When I tried 2 of each 420 & 453, the 453 just washes out the look of the 420. So i tried 3 X 420nm and 1 453nm It is better but it still overpowers the 420 too much. I would say do all the t-5’s in 420 and use your led to hit the 453. It makes it easier to control also. Thats my :TWOCENTS
I have 3 - 420nm and 1 - 10,000k. The T5s are over a year old and the halides are going on 6-9 months. I am having some problems with a few corals and am just wondering if it’s time to replace the lights. I used the par meter a few weeks ago and was getting readings from 100-200 from the bottom of the tank towards the top and i think that’s probably low. Without going into much detail i haven’t really changed much as far as tank husbandry so I’m trying to figure out what is going on as to why these corals have grown so well doubled/tripled in size and now have started to decline. I have a pokerstar monti that I’ve had for about 2 years that has grown 10x the size since i got it and it’s almost all bleached out. My ORA green tipped orange birdsnest is starting to bleach from the base of the coral but the tips are continuing to grow like crazy. I also have frags attached to plugs of the ORA birdsnest that are doing fine and growing well. Some of my other sps, lps, and sofites seem to be doing fine and growing well. Just don’t know why corals act the way they do sometimes.
What MH bulbs are you using? most 14K and up are heavy in 453 nm blue, like John was saying. so 420 actinics are a perfect balance.
The last time I went through this same decision making process :
: I decided on Bridgelux 12,000k and 455nm LED’s, and will not go back. I had better coral growth and PE, cut my electric bill in half, and removed the chiller. :
: