The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[tegee]

Originally Posted by rtparty

Skip the Aquablue and Actinic. You won't even know the actinic is on when all bulbs come on. The Aquablue is what washes things out as well.

I would try one of two combos.

6 ATI Blue Plus and 2 ATI Purple Plus. Put a purple bulb on the dusk/dawn and see what you think. It brings out colors that the blues miss.

5 ATI Blue Plus, 2 Purple Plus and 1 KZ New Generation.

Hello Grim and Ryan,

I have a new 24" ATI PM (6 bulb) T5 fixture that I just installed over my 60gl Cube. What bulb combination would you recommend for a mixed reef (70 lps/30 sps) tank?

Many thanks for any help and guidence............

[tegee]

Originally Posted by rtparty

Skip the Aquablue and Actinic. You won't even know the actinic is on when all bulbs come on. The Aquablue is what washes things out as well.

I would try one of two combos.

6 ATI Blue Plus and 2 ATI Purple Plus. Put a purple bulb on the dusk/dawn and see what you think. It brings out colors that the blues miss.

5 ATI Blue Plus, 2 Purple Plus and 1 KZ New Generation.

Hello Grim and Ryan,

I have a new 24" ATI PM (6 bulb) T5 fixture that I just installed over my 60gl Cube. What bulb combination would you recommend for a mixed reef (70 lps/30 sps) tank?

Many thanks for any help and guidance............

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by rtparty

Skip the Aquablue and Actinic. You won't even know the actinic is on when all bulbs come on. The Aquablue is what washes things out as well.

You do need a balance if light in the entire spectrum if you want your corals to grow and keep there color. Yes the Blue + is an inportant bulb, and the purple plus does add some red. The combination works great in the dawn dusk lighting.

But your mid day light realy needs to fill in the gaps of the color spectrum. yes you can increase the blues here but you also need to add some green and yellows. With one Aqua Blue your fill in those gaps without over doing it. Other options are 10,000K or 6,500K bulbs but they will either whitten things up more than the Aqua Blue would, or in the case of the 6,500K even add a touch of a yellow hue.

As far as Atinics go I do agree that 420nm is baerely visable by most human eyes. But corals do need light at 420nm to grow. The Aqua Blues do provide some of this 420nm light but it is debatable if they furnish enough on there own. With 4 or 6 Aqua Blues there probably is enough 420nm light provided but with only 2 there probably is not.

On the purple bulbs remember purple is a combination of red and blue. Red light is needed however in excewss it can be more detrimental than benificial. Adding multiple bulbs that produce red light is realy walking a thin line tword bleaching out your corals.

It appears someone has an 8 bulb fixture and 4 on dawn to dusk and 4 on midday. I can recommend one purple and the rest of the dawn to dusk bulbs as blues. For the Mid Day do not add another purple but one or two full spectrum bulb of your liking either 6,500K, 10,000K or Aqua Blue, and the rest again plue plus bulbs.

Now if you want to suplement atinics than use one to replace a blue plus in your dawn to dusk but remember it will make the tank look slightly darker than a blue plus snce it does not give off as much visable light.

[The Grim Reefer]

OK, lets review. ATI has the Blue PLUS. Giesemann has the actinic PLUS. Anyone wanna guess what the PLUS means?

In the case of the Blue Plus it's Blue PLUS Actinic. In the case of the Giesemann lamp it's Actinic Plus Blue. There is no benefit to using an actinic lamp other than aesthetic value as long as you are running premium blue lamps. Blue Pluses have output beyond 420. Don't believe me hold a pair of transition lens glasses near one. They act on UV.

As far as other spectrum goes the Purple lamps are both basically an aquablue with the green and yellow output reduced but it's still there. Not saying that it wouldn't be better to have a true daylight lamp in your mix but I've seen some remarkable tanks with nothing but Fiji Purple and Blue Lamps.

[rtparty]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

You do need a balance if light in the entire spectrum if you want your corals to grow and keep there color. Yes the Blue + is an inportant bulb, and the purple plus does add some red. The combination works great in the dawn dusk lighting.

But your mid day light realy needs to fill in the gaps of the color spectrum. yes you can increase the blues here but you also need to add some green and yellows. With one Aqua Blue your fill in those gaps without over doing it. Other options are 10,000K or 6,500K bulbs but they will either whitten things up more than the Aqua Blue would, or in the case of the 6,500K even add a touch of a yellow hue.

As far as Atinics go I do agree that 420nm is baerely visable by most human eyes. But corals do need light at 420nm to grow. The Aqua Blues do provide some of this 420nm light but it is debatable if they furnish enough on there own. With 4 or 6 Aqua Blues there probably is enough 420nm light provided but with only 2 there probably is not.

On the purple bulbs remember purple is a combination of red and blue. Red light is needed however in excewss it can be more detrimental than benificial. Adding multiple bulbs that produce red light is realy walking a thin line tword bleaching out your corals.

It appears someone has an 8 bulb fixture and 4 on dawn to dusk and 4 on midday. I can recommend one purple and the rest of the dawn to dusk bulbs as blues. For the Mid Day do not add another purple but one or two full spectrum bulb of your liking either 6,500K, 10,000K or Aqua Blue, and the rest again plue plus bulbs.

Now if you want to suplement atinics than use one to replace a blue plus in your dawn to dusk but remember it will make the tank look slightly darker than a blue plus snce it does not give off as much visable light.

Please see above. Grim hit the nail right on the head!

Your response was a major fail. I am sorry to be so rash and bold but I have been running T5s for 6 years at this point.

I have more posts in this thread than you do all together. I have been helping people in THIS thread for over 3 years now.

I KNOW what combos work and what doesn't. A mix of Blue Plus and Purple Plus lamps will keep colors better than adding in a day light bulb. Multiple local reefers all run 4 blue and 2 purple on their T5 setup because that is what I recommended. ALL of them love it!

I value your expertise and your help on this thread. Your points and opinions are valid. I can tell you know what you are doing in keeping tanks.

I just question your knowledge on bulbs and different setups.

Off my soapbox now....

[iluvclowns]

Hello Mr. G.Reefer
would you be able to tell me the 8 bulb equivalent to this 10 bulb combo.
front to the back there are: ATI blue plus, KZ NG coral light, KZ fiji purple, ATI aquablue spezial, KZ NG coral light, ATI blue plus, ATI aquablue spezial, ATI actinic blue, KZ NG coral light, ATI blue plus.

thanks a bunch!!!

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by iluvclowns

Hello Mr. G.Reefer
would you be able to tell me the 8 bulb equivalent to this 10 bulb combo.
front to the back there are: ATI blue plus, KZ NG coral light, KZ fiji purple, ATI aquablue spezial, KZ NG coral light, ATI blue plus, ATI aquablue spezial, ATI actinic blue, KZ NG coral light, ATI blue plus.

thanks a bunch!!!

Take out 1 Aquablue special and the Actinic Blue

[iluvclowns]

Originally Posted by The Grim Reefer

Take out 1 Aquablue special and the Actinic Blue

Awesome! thanks again.

[Shiroi Kitsune]

Is there a massive difference between the KZ new generation and the ATI aqua blue? I thought they were both 14k bulbs.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by Shiroi Kitsune

Is there a massive difference between the KZ new generation and the ATI aqua blue? I thought they were both 14k bulbs.

New Gen is a little more blue.

[Ucyibd1]

It is time for me to switch the bulbs on my T5 fixture. I bought the fixture used and have been using the bulbs that were in it, as they were new bulbs when I got it. I need some advice on what type and spectrum bulbs I should use. The fixture is a 48" Current Nova Extreme Pro and I currently have Frogspawn, Hammer coral, Red anemone, Kenya tree and some mushrooms (hitchhikers on a piece of LR.) All have been doing OK, the hammer and frogspawn have doubled in size already. I have noticed since getting the fixture that my coraline algae has been fading on the surfaces that are hit by the current lights, but the coraline is growing fine on the surfaces not exposed to the lights. Can you help me get the optimal bulb and specturm for my current setup. My tank is a 120 gal 4x2x2 and the fixture is a 8x54w T5. Thanks for any help you can provide.

[TropTrea]

I'm sorry to disapoint you but I have been studying lighting for well over 20 years. With reef tanks it was for roughly 12 years only. Initialy I experimented with various metal hides then when the HO T-5's came out I switched to them which was roughly 8 or 10 years ago.

Initialy I wnet with the standard of the day mainly pure Atinic bulbs and 10,000K bulbs. Since then I have tried many other bulbs with probably 30 different ones now sitting in my basement some that I only used a couple weeks because I hated what they did to my tank.

When I experimented with lights I also researched the photosynthesis and florescence in corals trying to find the bulbs that created the best growth as well as provided the light that the corals absorb in order to bring out there florescense.

I will admit one of the bulbs I never used was the Fuji purple. However after working in the lighting industry and looking at the mfg plots for the ATI Purple Plus I will say that that bulb produces an absolute mininium of green and yellow light not enough to be noticable to the naked eye.

Corals in general need light in all wave lenghts with some requiring more light in some wave lenghts than others do. Generaly the shorter the wave lenght the more it is needed which is why I agree that a light combination with a heavy dependency on blues is not a bad thing at all.

However I do believe that a balance should be maintained. Some corals will not show there beauty of florescence unless they receive enough light at the frequencies there chemicals absorb to create there florescense. I have a table that lists various of these wave lenghts and they pretty much cover the entire spectrum.

I will agree that for growth there are only a few important wave lenghts namely 417 nm, 436nm, 447nm, 452 nm, 475 nm 485 nm (visualy blues and aqua's.) 625nm and 655 nm (reds). But if you had a tank light with stricly light between 417nm and 485nm it would look extremy monocrome with the exception of the corals that will absorb these frequencies and give off there florescense and much longer wave lenghts.

On the other end of the spectrum while light at 625 nm is benificial to the growth of some corals BUT if it is in excess it will bleach out many corals and it is the primary frequency that is photosynthesized by Cyan Bacteria.

A lot of light bulb selection is a combination of what is good for the corals and what is pleasing to the eye. You also add the enviromental lighting around the aquarium in to the factor and you will find that what one person likes another does not.

I personaly will not use a 6,500K in a reef tank because I think that even when mixed with all other Blue Plus bulbs it makes the tank look yellow, and washed out the florescent colors of the corals. I know some people that swear by them and love there effect. But that is personal taste.

I will agree with you that ATI's Blue PLus should be the main bulb in any arangment or its equivelent. I also like the idea of 1 purple plus in the mix. But I aslo like the idea of having one additional bulb to fill in those gaps. That additional bulb is mainly personal choice and can be an ATI Aqua Blue Special, G Man Aqua Blue Plus, UL's 14,000K, 12,000K, 10,000K KZ's 14,000K New Generation, 10,000K or the GE 6,500K. This is a matter of personal taste.

Presently I'm running 3 ATI Blue Plus and 1 ATI Purple Plus on my dawn to dusk lights. The blues and greens in the tank look fantastic but my corals that floresce in the yellows look gray. When my mid day lights mainly 14,000K come on I agree that it does make the florsesnce of the blue and greens less visable but it does turn those gray corals to bright florescent yellow tones. With my next bulb change I'll be adding more ATI Blue Plus bulbs but I will still keep at least one 14,000K so I do not loose that completly.

Originally Posted by rtparty

Please see above. Grim hit the nail right on the head!

Your response was a major fail. I am sorry to be so rash and bold but I have been running T5s for 6 years at this point.

I have more posts in this thread than you do all together. I have been helping people in THIS thread for over 3 years now.

I KNOW what combos work and what doesn't. A mix of Blue Plus and Purple Plus lamps will keep colors better than adding in a day light bulb. Multiple local reefers all run 4 blue and 2 purple on their T5 setup because that is what I recommended. ALL of them love it!

I value your expertise and your help on this thread. Your points and opinions are valid. I can tell you know what you are doing in keeping tanks.

I just question your knowledge on bulbs and different setups.

Off my soapbox now....

[rtparty]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

I'm sorry to disapoint you but I have been studying lighting for well over 20 years. With reef tanks it was for roughly 12 years only. Initialy I experimented with various metal hides then when the HO T-5's came out I switched to them which was roughly 8 or 10 years ago.

Initialy I wnet with the standard of the day mainly pure Atinic bulbs and 10,000K bulbs. Since then I have tried many other bulbs with probably 30 different ones now sitting in my basement some that I only used a couple weeks because I hated what they did to my tank.

When I experimented with lights I also researched the photosynthesis and florescence in corals trying to find the bulbs that created the best growth as well as provided the light that the corals absorb in order to bring out there florescense.

I will admit one of the bulbs I never used was the Fuji purple. However after working in the lighting industry and looking at the mfg plots for the ATI Purple Plus I will say that that bulb produces an absolute mininium of green and yellow light not enough to be noticable to the naked eye.

Corals in general need light in all wave lenghts with some requiring more light in some wave lenghts than others do. Generaly the shorter the wave lenght the more it is needed which is why I agree that a light combination with a heavy dependency on blues is not a bad thing at all.

However I do believe that a balance should be maintained. Some corals will not show there beauty of florescence unless they receive enough light at the frequencies there chemicals absorb to create there florescense. I have a table that lists various of these wave lenghts and they pretty much cover the entire spectrum.

I will agree that for growth there are only a few important wave lenghts namely 417 nm, 436nm, 447nm, 452 nm, 475 nm 485 nm (visualy blues and aqua's.) 625nm and 655 nm (reds). But if you had a tank light with stricly light between 417nm and 485nm it would look extremy monocrome with the exception of the corals that will absorb these frequencies and give off there florescense and much longer wave lenghts.

On the other end of the spectrum while light at 625 nm is benificial to the growth of some corals BUT if it is in excess it will bleach out many corals and it is the primary frequency that is photosynthesized by Cyan Bacteria.

A lot of light bulb selection is a combination of what is good for the corals and what is pleasing to the eye. You also add the enviromental lighting around the aquarium in to the factor and you will find that what one person likes another does not.

I personaly will not use a 6,500K in a reef tank because I think that even when mixed with all other Blue Plus bulbs it makes the tank look yellow, and washed out the florescent colors of the corals. I know some people that swear by them and love there effect. But that is personal taste.

I will agree with you that ATI's Blue PLus should be the main bulb in any arangment or its equivelent. I also like the idea of 1 purple plus in the mix. But I aslo like the idea of having one additional bulb to fill in those gaps. That additional bulb is mainly personal choice and can be an ATI Aqua Blue Special, G Man Aqua Blue Plus, UL's 14,000K, 12,000K, 10,000K KZ's 14,000K New Generation, 10,000K or the GE 6,500K. This is a matter of personal taste.

Presently I'm running 3 ATI Blue Plus and 1 ATI Purple Plus on my dawn to dusk lights. The blues and greens in the tank look fantastic but my corals that floresce in the yellows look gray. When my mid day lights mainly 14,000K come on I agree that it does make the florsesnce of the blue and greens less visable but it does turn those gray corals to bright florescent yellow tones. With my next bulb change I'll be adding more ATI Blue Plus bulbs but I will still keep at least one 14,000K so I do not loose that completly.

I love the kz new gen bulb but the aquablue from ati and gmann aren't my favorite. They dull out colors in almost every aspect. I never saw anything good come from using them.

You do realize that 99% of the corals in nature never receive anything but blue light, right? The reds we use are for personal preference. Green and yellow are totally wasted in our tanks. I suggest the GE 6500k because it looks better than the aquablue bulbs if someone doesn't want a totally blued out tank.

If someone wants to add a little daylight then any of the pink bulbs will be just fine for this. They provide enough green, yellow and oranges. Also look at an ati blue plus, it even has some green in it.

[m1nh0h]

grim, what would be better for a sps/lps tank with a 4x24 aquaticlife fixture? Im aiming for a 20k look

2 ati blue plus, 1 ati purple plus, 1 geismann midday
or
3 ati blue plus, 1 ati purple plus
or
2 ati blue plus 2 ati purple plus

can you suggest the order of the bulbs too? thanks!

[tegee]

Originally Posted by rtparty

I love the kz new gen bulb but the aquablue from ati and gmann aren't my favorite. They dull out colors in almost every aspect. I never saw anything good come from using them.

You do realize that 99% of the corals in nature never receive anything but blue light, right? The reds we use are for personal preference. Green and yellow are totally wasted in our tanks. I suggest the GE 6500k because it looks better than the aquablue bulbs if someone doesn't want a totally blued out tank.

If someone wants to add a little daylight then any of the pink bulbs will be just fine for this. They provide enough green, yellow and oranges. Also look at an ati blue plus, it even has some green in it.

Great threads recently and nice discussions.....

Just setup a 60gl Cube and bought a 24" ATI PM.

These are my observations or three choice. Can everyone chime in and give me their insight? It will be for a mixed reef setup.

Choice #1:

Blue+
Blue+
Aquablue Special
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


Choice #2

Blue+
Blue+
KZ New Generation
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


Choice #3

Blue+
Blue+
GE6500k
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


I would greatly appreciate any help and welcome any suggestions on the above configurations.

**note: I am looking for the best color for my corals and not overall concerned about the look of the light.

Many thanks again for all that contribute to this great thread..............

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by m1nh0h

grim, what would be better for a sps/lps tank with a 4x24 aquaticlife fixture? Im aiming for a 20k look

2 ati blue plus, 1 ati purple plus, 1 geismann midday
or
3 ati blue plus, 1 ati purple plus
or
2 ati blue plus 2 ati purple plus

can you suggest the order of the bulbs too? thanks!

Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by tegee

Great threads recently and nice discussions.....

Just setup a 60gl Cube and bought a 24" ATI PM.

These are my observations or three choice. Can everyone chime in and give me their insight? It will be for a mixed reef setup.

Choice #1:

Blue+
Blue+
Aquablue Special
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


Choice #2

Blue+
Blue+
KZ New Generation
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


Choice #3

Blue+
Blue+
GE6500k
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


I would greatly appreciate any help and welcome any suggestions on the above configurations.

**note: I am looking for the best color for my corals and not overall concerned about the look of the light.

Many thanks again for all that contribute to this great thread..............

Number 3 will give you the most accurate color. That doesn't mean the best, only you can make that decision.

[rtparty]

Originally Posted by tegee

Great threads recently and nice discussions.....

Just setup a 60gl Cube and bought a 24" ATI PM.

These are my observations or three choice. Can everyone chime in and give me their insight? It will be for a mixed reef setup.

Choice #1:

Blue+
Blue+
Aquablue Special
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


Choice #2

Blue+
Blue+
KZ New Generation
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


Choice #3

Blue+
Blue+
GE6500k
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+


I would greatly appreciate any help and welcome any suggestions on the above configurations.

**note: I am looking for the best color for my corals and not overall concerned about the look of the light.

Many thanks again for all that contribute to this great thread..............

Number 2 or 3. It will depend on how blue you want it. I will reply to your PM shortly.

[Ucyibd1]

Originally Posted by Ucyibd1

It is time for me to switch the bulbs on my T5 fixture. I bought the fixture used and have been using the bulbs that were in it, as they were new bulbs when I got it. I need some advice on what type and spectrum bulbs I should use. The fixture is a 48" Current Nova Extreme Pro and I currently have Frogspawn, Hammer coral, Red anemone, Kenya tree and some mushrooms (hitchhikers on a piece of LR.) All have been doing OK, the hammer and frogspawn have doubled in size already. I have noticed since getting the fixture that my coraline algae has been fading on the surfaces that are hit by the current lights, but the coraline is growing fine on the surfaces not exposed to the lights. Can you help me get the optimal bulb and specturm for my current setup. My tank is a 120 gal 4x2x2 and the fixture is a 8x54w T5. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Grim...you have any suggestions?


~Mike~

[jacob.morgan78]

Where is a good place to purchase GE's 6500K HO bulb that I hear a lot of good things about? I would need a 36" bulb.

Thanks for any feedback!!

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by rtparty

I love the kz new gen bulb but the aquablue from ati and gmann aren't my favorite. They dull out colors in almost every aspect. I never saw anything good come from using them.
.

I had first experimented with GE bulbs some of which never even made it to the market. All of the UL bulbs, Current, and now I'm playing with the ATI bulbs. To date I have not tried any of the KZ bulbs as I like the direction things are going with my present bulbs. Just need to up the blues spightly in my mid day lights for daytime viewing.

Originally Posted by rtparty

You do realize that 99% of the corals in nature never receive anything but blue light, right? The reds we use are for personal preference. Green and yellow are totally wasted in our tanks. I suggest the GE 6500k because it looks better than the aquablue bulbs if someone doesn't want a totally blued out tank..

Yes many corals only see blue. but a doubt it is as high as 99%. The depper they are in the ocean the less they see of the other colors. But actualy it is a factor where you can take the 685nm on the surface and every time you increase multiply the distance you actualy cut the amount of light at that frequency in half where the light at 417 nm might only be reduced by 25% at that same distance. You never get complatly to zero even though it can be inmeasurable small aa you get deeper.

ATI's aqua blue plus primarly hits the blue and green spectrum with very little in the red and yellows. The GE 6,500K has a lot more yellow in it. and there 3,000K bulb has tons of red. In a fresh water tank I strongly recommend them but NOT in a salt water tank. I believe that you need some red and yellow but not nearly as much as these bulbs create. Pollibly in a 10 bulb fixture with 9 other bulbs balancing the blue but when you get to 6 bulb fixture the yellows and red to too powerful.

Originally Posted by rtparty

If someone wants to add a little daylight then any of the pink bulbs will be just fine for this. They provide enough green, yellow and oranges. Also look at an ati blue plus, it even has some green in it.

The pink bulbs are primaryly different balances between red and blue. Im not real found of adding too much red only enough to be pleasing to ones eye. The ATI Blue Plus is presently one of my favorate bulbs and I do believe if you have enough of them they will cover the 417nm range corals love adequately that a 420nm atinic is not needed. But with only one or two Blue Plus bulbs the 420 nm atinics will be helpful to the corals.

The big factor few people consider that hit me hard is the natural light around an aquarium. Initialy I used all incadescent bulbs in the enviromental lighting. With those it appeared that 10,000K bulbs were even blue. But now we switched to the compact florescent daylight bulbs for room lights and the 10,000K bulbs started to even make the tank look yellow. At that point I switched from 10,000K bulbs to UL's 14,000K bulbs.

Yes running 50% of your lights as fuller spectrum bulbs I don't think anyone realy loves. But a ratio of 1 of 4 to 1 in 8 simply brightens the tank up and adds color to the none florescent elements in the tank. How much full spectrum lighting and how it is balances comes out a lot to personal choice. Obviously you like a so called 20,000K lighting effect or even bluer than that compared to the so called 16,000K effect I prefer.

[banzai75x]

Currently running

4 ATI Blue +
1 Aquablue Special
1 Purple +

I thought this was a nice combo, but reading here, it seems like if I replaced the Aquablue Special with another Purple +, that might be the better route?

If I remove the full spectrum bulb, does that affect my growth?

[shred5]

Originally Posted by rtparty

You do realize that 99% of the corals in nature never receive anything but blue light, right? The reds we use are for personal preference. Green and yellow are totally wasted in our tanks. I suggest the GE 6500k because it looks better than the aquablue bulbs if someone doesn't want a totally blued out tank.

Not for sps.

Most good t-5 bulbs have enough par already to grow corals. But t-5 lighting is a narrower spectrum of lighting than halides. Reds, green and yellow are also needed for best growth and color in sps versus softies. Also par is not just in the blue spectrum. Running just blue and white bulbs does not cut it for sps. I have found red to be supper important. Most Sps corals come from shallower water and are exposed to a more broad spectrum of light compared to deeper water corals which get mainly blue. See Dana Riddles articles on coral pigmentation and colors for more info.

The 6500 bulb is a good to add parts of the other spectrum missing.

[jacob.morgan78]

Originally Posted by jacob.morgan78

Where is a good place to purchase GE's 6500K HO bulb that I hear a lot of good things about? I would need a 36" bulb.

Thanks for any feedback!!

Originally Posted by shred5

Not for sps.

Most good t-5 bulbs have enough par already to grow corals. But t-5 lighting is a narrower spectrum of lighting than halides. Reds, green and yellow are also needed for best growth and color in sps versus softies. Also par is not just in the blue spectrum. Running just blue and white bulbs does not cut it for sps. I have found red to be supper important. Most Sps corals come from shallower water and are exposed to a more broad spectrum of light compared to deeper water corals which get mainly blue. See Dana Riddles articles on coral pigmentation and colors for more info.

The 6500 bulb is a good to add parts of the other spectrum missing.

I'm having a hard time finding this bulb for sale. Can anyone pass along where they purchase this bulb from online?

Thanks

[shred5]

Originally Posted by jacob.morgan78

I'm having a hard time finding this bulb for sale. Can anyone pass along where they purchase this bulb from online?

Thanks

Premium aquatics or Reefgeek sells them. They are the general electric bulbs.