T5 HO lighting question???

[speedo2wet]

My 75gallon reef with SPS corals and one or two LPS corals has been doing fine over the past year but the color has faded and just looks brown. Despite changing the lights to keep them fresh I am tired of looking at the brown. A friend has been going on and on about his T5 bulbs so I finally took the step. I just purchased and installed the TEK5 Lighting system with 4 bulbsX39 watts since that is all I can fit under the hood. I hooked everything up and man was it bright. I only put it on for two hours at first and I think the fish are now blind -LOL.
I went from this nice crisp clear white look to now a more.....almost looks pinkish red or somewhere along these lines and I can already see the corals colors come out which I have not seen before.. I am running,

1 x AquaSun 39W T5 Fluorescent Aquarium Lamps by UV Lighting
1 x Actinic White 39W T5 Fluorescent Aquarium Lamps by UV
2 x Super Actinic R 39W T5 Fluorescent Aquarium Lamps by UV

Whats your opinion of the lights and are there any suggestions on what lamps to use!


/Jay

[CeeGee]

most people prefer the ATI bulbs and basically run combos consisting of aquablue special lamps and blueplus lamps.

Be careful and acclimate your corals to these lights as you will bleach them as sure as I am sitting here typing this.

[yeldarbj]

I would replace at least 1, if not both, super actinics, with ATI blue plus bulb(s). If possible, you should consider buying several different bulbs just so you can swap them around to find a combination that you like. Perhaps buy an aquablue too.


As CeeGee mentioned, the aquablue special (white with slight blue hue) and blue plus lamps make a great combo, but there is nothing wrong with the AquaSun (white with a pink hue) or the Actinic White (also pinkish).

[nikon187]

i would pull the actinic white for an aquablue +. then i would switch out both super actinic for actinic + or blue +. Better par this way and it will be less pink.