So I'm looking for color with best growth possible still. Should I go with: 2x Actinic Plus 2x Aqua Blue 2x Aqua Pink Or 4x Actinic Plus 1x Aquablue 1x Aquapink Or 3x Actinic+ 2x Aquablue+ 1x Aquapink Raffle grabber
501scionxb, I'm not going to tell you the combination you should do with the bulbs. It depends on what you are trying to do. Just to get you to thinking you may be trying to grow corals(SPS or LPS) you my have nice colonies already and want nice color or both and it could depend on what colors you are trying to bring out.Â
I'm trying for best growth without sacrificing color. There's nothing more that I hate more than browned out corals. Raffle grabber
We put these on my roommate 75 reef and it looks amazing!!! Actinic Blue coralife 10k coralife AquaPink wavepoint 12k wavepoint In that order
This is why I stick with Metal Halides... 10k 14k or 20k with T5 supplements.. So much easier to configure.. LOL
Re: Re: T-5 lighting A lil off topic but What's your light bill since your new tank has been lit with metal halides and what's your wattage per bulb? I have thought of going 150 mh down the road. Raffle grabber
150 watt MH aren't bad at all. I have two 150 watts MH and four 54 watt T5 and as you know I have nice growth and color. If you do go to MH it will cost you more money, paying a higher bill, more for the bulbs, buying chillers etc. When I do change my light setup I'm going to all T5s. Why have all the heat when you can do the same with T5s?
Re: Re: T-5 lighting I have been running three 250s for about 2 and a half years now... We really dont see it on the electric bill. We saw it right off the bat within the first month or two and then they put us on the levelized billing and it went back down to where it was normaly. With us and three kids our bill is a little pricey anyways but its not bad at all. Now if we were not on the levelized billing I am sure it would be a lot more.
Heat used to be an issue. Once we got a chiller that went out the door though. Its basically a window unit that has been modified and uses almost no electricity so we really dont notice it either per say. Bulbs do add up though but considering, I change bulbs out and its about 75 dollars a piece. $225 for the halides and maybe 50 for the t5s every two years. For 6 T5s you are looking at about 25 to 30 dollars a pop.. a six bulb fixture would run you about $180 so the difference in that isnt all that much either. You can go either way with it... I like halides, the look the growth the color, T5s are great too and lets face it.. LEDS are not any cheaper so.... all in all it comes down to personal preference IMO. On another note.. My aquarium is not IN my house either and I look forward to the halides heating the water during the day so that my heaters do not run as much...lol
