Looking for suggestions... T5 bulb Combos

[Myka]

Originally Posted by chris88

The 454 has very low PAR compared to the ati blue plus and the kz superblue with almost an identical spectrum.

Please state your sources, I am genuinely interested. The PAR comparison I have seen are within 10% of ATI. I'm not familiar with the KZ SuperBlue, although I'm considering trying it out on my nano.

Originally Posted by chris88

Actinic bulbs are not going to give you enough par and the spectrum is to narrow, the new blue bulbs out there will double the par and still fluoress “pop” the corals very well.

The 454 is not an actinic bulb, it is a blueplus bulb like the ATI and the KZ, all of which are actinic and blue together. Read what I said about the UVL Super Actinic regarding PAR and PUR.

Originally Posted by chris88

6 bulb t5 on a tank deeper then 18 inches, you need to increase the PAR buy choosing better bulbs.

The bulbs I suggested were all chosen with PAR (or PUR) in mind. Of course the blue combo I suggested will have about 15% less PAR than the whitest combo I suggested.

In all honesty though, I personally don't think PAR is quite as important as many people think. Water quality, stability, and flow are the most key factors to good coloring on SPS corals imo. You can have really nice SPS under modest lighting provided the water is pristine, the parameters are stable, and the flow is optimum.