Please recommend some T5 bulbs

[csmsss]

I will be setting up a 29 gallon low hex tank for reef. I have a 4x25w T5 fixture and was interested in obtaining some recommendations for bulbs for it. Some possible plans I have for this include metallic corals and a bubble-tipped anemone (entacmaea quadricolor), and am especially interested in bulbs that will help minimize nuisance algae. Can y'all give me some ideas as to the makers and bulbs I should be looking at?

 

[BigJay]

geismann , UVL and ATI are 3 of my personal favorites. As far as color combination thats entirely up to you. There are so many choices between those 3 companies. I would avoid anything lower then 10k if trying to minimize nuisance algae and avoid overloading actinics.

 

[csmsss]

geismann , UVL and ATI are 3 of my personal favorites. As far as color combination thats entirely up to you. There are so many choices between those 3 companies. I would avoid anything lower then 10k if trying to minimize nuisance algae and avoid overloading actinics.

Thanks for your response, Jay. By "overloading actinics", are you referring to having too many actinic bulbs or to the practice of using a higher wattage ballast to make them brighter? I was thinking about something like two 460 nm actinics and two 11k or 12k daylight bulbs.

 

[Frankie]

KZ has some of the best bulb colors along with the ones BigJay mentioned. Aquarium Specialty

 

[BigJay]

I meant using too many actinic bulbs. In your situation I'd venture to say you'll get better results using 3 10-15k bulbs and 1 actinic bulb. Especially the super actinics really do the job of flourescing your corals. In my 6 bulb set up I dropped the 50/50 mix to only 2 actinics and the rest 10-12k bulbs. I know though I could easily get away with just 1 actinic.

 

[novanosis]

a good bulb combo for you would be,

1. aquablue +
2. 10k
3. aquablue+
4. 460actinic

That should be crisp.

 

[csmsss]

Thanks to all who responded. Very interesting responses! There is one other thing I neglected to mention - my lighting fixture has two separate power supplies - presumably one set for two actinics and one for two "daylight" bulbs. I've got them on separate timers and am not sure how best to set things up if I'm not running two sets of bulbs - anyone have any ideas?

 

[BigJay]

It only matters to you. If you like having the actinics on as a dawn/dusk application then you can run two actinics in those or 1 actinic and 1 14k or higher bulb. The reality is though you don't have to run actinics in the dawn/dusk application and any two bulbs will work fine and/or all 4 bulbs can come on at the same time. I personally perfer for 1 set to come on at least an hour before the second and vice versa for night time.

 

[BigJay]

I should re-state most of this is personal preference.

 

[funkpolice]

for a white light I like the ATI Aquablue Special, for showing off florescence I like the ATI Blue plus.

 

[novanosis]

find out which bulb turn off with the two power cords, and then figure out which ones you want the actinics to be and then you put timers on them.

If you are not using timers, then i would not even worry about the 2 sets.