AquaticLife T5’s & AI Hydra 26 upgrade

Chamby112

Chamby112

Amphipod
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
#1
Hi all,

I’ve been on a two year battle with lighting and coral coloration. I just want that pop ya know?

So I have been running 4 Hydra 26’s over a 5ft 120 gallon. I just bit the bullet and bought the AquaticLife T5’s. I like the look and it seems amazing tanks I see that I want to emulate run T5/LED combos.

They are supposed to be in this week and I want to do everything right before hand to maximize success (I.e. schedule, height, acclimation, etc.) I decided to go with 2x B+, 1x C+, and 1x True Actinic. How would you set them up front to back?

Any info you reef wizards can pass along would be super helpful. All I want to be when I grow up is a true reefer!


Sent from my iPhone using MASC mobile app
 
Andrew_bram

Andrew_bram

Tiger Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
#2
In my opinion I would do 2 blue plus and 2 of whatever other bulb. With the spacing of that fixture you may not see the color blending of those t5

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#3
#3
I just received my replacement t-5's after running the first set for almost a year now. I had 2 blue plus bulbs and 2 Coral plus bulbs. I like the look, but it's not quite blue enough for me....I think the coral plus come off more white than I anticipated. So I am going with 2 blue+ and 2 true actinics this year, hopefully gaining a bluer look when just my t5's are running.

I run my t5's from 8am to 8pm, with 3x250 metal halides running for 4.5 hours in the middle.

Since you had 3 different bulbs, I'd go from front to back B+, TA, C+, B+ but I'm just thinking about mixing the spectrum as best as possible.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
#4
For best color: daylight for rendering true color in coral and then blue-it-up to pop however you want. You cannot pop corals under blue LED all the time.*

I would use 2x blue plus, 2x GE 6500k and then blue it up with your LEDs. The GE 6500k are inexpensive and have spectrum that the LED and the other T5 bulbs do not have in droves.

*blue MH or T5 bulbs look blue to our eyes, but have lots of other spectrum in them. LED are usually not like this where the blue stays very narrow in the spectrum. You cannot equate the different types of lighting... and our eyes are terrible judges of spectrum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top