Crappy bulb choice in the fixture imo. Your old setup with the Phoenix and then those four 454 VHOs...wow, that's a lot of pop! Really...VHOs fluoresce corals better than any other bulb. Anyone who has seen them in action can attest to that, but you will have T5-heads that think their poop don't stink...and well...
Anyway, what I'm saying is you're used to seeing SUPER fluoresce and quite a blue look. You're not going to get that look out of a 6-bulb T5 fixture without losing
a lot of PAR. I think you would need an 8-bulb with good bulb choice (less blue) to even come close to the PAR of your previous setup.
I'm not a fan of Giesemann T5s. They make great halides, but their T5s aren't that great imo. They always have dark ends, and the output isn't impressive. I also find the actinics aren't powerful, the blues don't hold their color, and the middays are pukey looking.
To get a similar look you will have to try something like:
UVL Super Actinic or UVL 454 or ATI BluePlus
KZ Coral Light II 15,000K
AquaScience 22,000K
AquaScience 22,000K
KZ Coral Light II
UVL Super Actinic or UVL 454 or ATI BluePlus
I'm not a fan of the AquaScience bulbs as I find they fade fairly quickly, but I really haven't found a high Kelvin non-actinic (not "blueplus") bulb I like better. The AS does have good PAR though, the KZ bulbs have good PAR, and the ATI would be the choice of the three actinics for PAR. I'm going to venture a guess and say the PAR of this combo (with the ATIs) would be about 50% the PAR of your previous halide setup at the sand assuming a 24" deep tank. Is the tank 24" deep?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gobytron
It came with
2 X Giesemann AquaBlue+ (15K)
2 X KZ Fiji Purple
2 X Giesemann Actinic+
I am switching over from
2 X 250W HQI Hamilton Reefstars (phoenix 14K)
4 X 110W VHO URI 454 Actinics
I immediately went out and picked up a Giesemann Midday bulb and swithced one of the Fiji Pinks out for it.
So far, I'm not liking the color in comparison to the old set up.
|