Multiple Brands
 

I am slowly making th switch back to T5HO and am going with an 8 bulb fixture over my tank. I am really interested in the KZ Bulbs and was thinking of doing a mix of the 14K bulbs and the new actinics.

During a boring day at work I was thinking would it be more beneficial to use 5 daylight bulbs of different Kelvin rating or all the same Kelvin?

Would it be better to use all the same brand of the same Kelvin Rating, use different brands of the same kelvin rating, use the same brand of different kelvin ratings, or use different brands of different kelvin ratings?

I am interesting in SPS and my thought is with multiple species needing different reuirements maybe it would be better to have a mix of everything.

As of right now on my 24" deep tank using zeovit I have a 250W HQI MH running a 12.5K bulb but am having problems keeping good color. I was sinse given a Oddyssey 20K and have that on there for the 1st time tonight. Maybe that will help. If not RC should have a PM in the inbox right now inquiring about some SPS and a Phoenix hopfully that will help. Yes my params are fine
Cal 450
Alk 10
Mag 1400
Nitrate 0
Phos 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0

But this isnt a keeping corals thread its a lighting thread.

I personally use a combination of bulbs in this ratio:

2 primary (10-17.5k):1 auxillary (fiji or some other purple/non 22k bulb):1 auxillary (22k bulb)

An example of this would look like this:

2 New Generation:1 Fiji Purple:1 Superblue

Another killer combination is 2 New Generation:1 Fiji. Yup, no blue bulbs. This is a combo I originally read about on the KZ board and it gives you a super crisp bluish daylight effect.

Regarding the individual needs of corals, I think you'll find that even using a relatively homogenous mix of bulbs, everything should grow out just fine. HOT5 bulb manufacturers put out really good products nowadays.

HTH

yes that is what i am using this year.
No blues, no actinics: two fiji pinks, two new gen 14k, two 10k all six bulbs are KZ.
SPS Color is very good and i will do same next year except i'll go with 4 x bulbs will be 14k's new generation and 2x fiji pinks

are you running "full zeo" Ryan?.........IMO aquascience is the way to go.....they out par both KZ and ATI bulbs.......I will throw out the obligatory warning about the fiji purple bulbs(algae)....you will get better growth out of a lower K bulb.......run some Giessemann middays (6700) and you will get wicked growth, both coral and algae...the flip side is they are incredibly "yellow" looking

Thanks Oceanic corals. I wanted to go with the actinics so the colors pop. Thats one complaint I have about this halide I thought I would be okay with. I get good growth but the colors are not as nice as they should be.

Doug I am not using the reactor as I dont have a sump. I am doing
PIF 1drp/day
Sponge Power 1drp/day
Amminoacids 1drp/day
coral vitalizer 1drp/day
Food7 1drp/2nd day
BAK 1drp/2nd day
Start2 0.2ml/day
Coralsnow 1ml/day

I have also started with the TA Pottassium 5ml/week

I have thought about the aquascience bulbs after reading this article
http://www.korallenriff.de/download/T5-1.pdf

Mike has a really nice look to his tank and he has 5 actinic and 3 daylight bulbs. He gets pretty good growth but i dont want to go that blue. I was thinking 4bulb/4bulb split or 5day/3actinic split.