digital-audiophile,
How is yours set up? How far off the water, covered tank or light itself?

I am using the TEK legs with them set on the lowest level, so they are about 8" max off the surface of the water. My tank is open top and I don't have the shield on the lights. I get a bit of splash but I clean the bulbs and the reflectors weekly to keep the corrosion away.

Thanks!

This is the bulb configuration that I am planning on going with for my Sfiligoi T5 8 bulb 54w. The fixture should be here in about a month.

Front
Blue Plus
Super Actinic
Fiji Purple
Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
Blue Plus
Super Actinic
Blue Plus

Does anyone know where I can get a GE T5 6500 bulb in the lower mainland?

I found that running Super Actinic bulbs in a T5 fixture is a bit futile. Pure actinic bulbs produce very low PAR ratings so the corals don't really benefit from using them. Basically, they are used only to generate a phosfluorescent glow from corals when they are exposed to that particular wavelength of light. If you have the ability to run only the actinic bulbs while no other bulbs are running for a dusk/dawn effect, then I could see them being useful. However, with any other type of bulb running at the same time, the pure actinic bulbs get washed out so that you can't even tell they are on. I've tried running them with Aquascience 22K's, Fiji purples, Kz 14K's, and Aquascience 15K's and all of the above bulbs made it seem like the actinic bulb wasn't even on. If you can't run just the actinics by themselves, I would suggest using 2 differerent bulbs such as the Aquascience 22K's or ATI Blue + bulbs instead. That way you still get the blue spectrum and some phosfluorescence, but you get a moderately high PAR reading as well.

+1

The T5HO actinics are so dim they almost appear to not even be on when other lamps are turned on. The ATI Blue+ and Giesemann Actinic+ (the name is misleading because it's not an actinic) are pretty blue and provide some good fluorescence while also adding to the PAR.

This is how I set up my Tek 6 bulb just to see how it looked,
Actinic +
Aqua blue +
Actinic + Had a midday originally
Aqua blue +
Actinic +
Actinic + I really like the way this looks. This is on my FOWLR

On my 72
I currently have in my 4 bulb,
Midday
Actinic +
Actinic +
Midday, I think I will try putting 1 Aqua blue + in place of 1 midday.
I love the Chick Glow alot.
Will try and get pictures. When the bulbs are switched out. Only really to prove I do
actually own an aquarium. Tee-hee! Ordering extra bulbs just so I can play around to
to see what I like best.
And as long as I do not start second guessing I am ordering them today.
Thanks everyone for your help,
Leah

This was what REALLY sold me on the Pro Color when I was ordering my bulbs. He's actually not using them anymore though. UVL 75/25 or something similar sounding I think...

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k72/jartanyon/cl.jpg

My bulbs are in transit. Hoping they arrive intact!

Not entirely sure of order (don't know yet how my light's are grouped for dawn/dusk) but thinking of:

Front
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Pro Color
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
ATI Pro Color
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus

I'm new to T5 myself so I'm not sure what to really expect.

I ended up ordering from ReefGeek. My bulbs are also 80w and it was proving to be a hassle to source the exact mix of bulbs I wanted locally or semi-locally. They carry this GE bulb as well as many others.

Leah, do you have any pictured of both tanks? to compare the blue levels?

I am starting to get stressed over this LOL. May just go MH