Need Help with T5 Bulb Arrangement!
 

i just received my tek 6X39W fixture and bulbs. only thing is, i cant figure out how to arrange the bulbs!!

the bulbs i have are:

2x ATI Blue Plus
1x ATI True Actinic
1x UVL 10000K Aquasun
1x ATI 12000K Aquablue Special
1x ATI Pro Color


so far i have put the actinic in the very back fixture...but i have no clue how to arrange the other ones.

my THOUGHT is to obviously have the 2 blue plus bulbs apart from one another (obviously). then after that i have no clue where to put the aquasun, aquablue special, and pro color


please help this T5 newb!!

I would look at trading out some of those bulbs... but with those choice I would myself arrange from back to front

Actinic
Blue Plus
Aquasun
Pro Color
Aqablue
Blue Plus

You could play around with it as well to see what looks best to your eye.

If your unit has separate light switches, keep the actinics on one swtich so you can do the dawn/dusk effect. You should then keep most of the white bulbs on the other switch with say one blue bulb to balance. Or something like this. I don't know what the last one (ATI Pro Color) looks like so hard to say.

You might find that your bulb selection there leaves your tank a little less blue than you had hoped. I was personally frustrated when I saw how white the blue plus bulbs are.

With what you have, I agree with Greg's order though.

I would have chosen different bulbs :D and arranged them like this:

Giesemann Pure Actinic
Giesemann Blue+
UVL Aqua Sun 10K
UVL Aqua Sun 10K
Giesemann Blue+
Giesemann Pure Actinic

This makes NICE color...quite blue, PLUS really good PAR. :biggrin:

Otherwise, I agree with Greg. :D

im thinking that the actinic would be best at the front (where a lot of corals usually are) or would it be better at the back?