Advice? T5 Bulb Selection

I'm planning on adding some t5's to my 20g reef that is mainly SPS. Im running an AI Sol over it right now but want to supplement with a couple t5's to see if I can boost color and growth. What do people recommend for bulb selection that'll help kick things up a notch? I'm thinking ATI bulbs but I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks.

 

@jeremy

 

Blue plus and coral plus or blue plus and purple plus. If you go with geisemann bulbs go actinic blue and super purple. If you go kz bulbs go super blue and Fiji purple. I use ATI Bulbs.

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Put blue in front.

 

That's what I was leaning towards was a blue plus and a purple plus. I see a lot of people run the coral plus though so I wasn't sure.

 

I was always a fan of blue plus and kz Fiji purple together.

 

Coral plus is a good bulb. But I have found better coloration especially reds and pinks with purple plus.
The Fiji purple is like $6 more or something like that. Looks almost the same as purple plus. I like the Fiji but when I was replacing 8 bulbs and 2 of them are $30 a piece I go with the ati.

 

@Armydog i know he is doing a combo of ai's an t5s i personaly like them all lol. they all work good its all on your prospective man im going to try the link two the vidio of all ati bulbs for you

 

http://www.advancedreefaquarium.com check them out on youtube shows all bulbs and gives in depth details about each bulb.

 

Excellent guys, thanks. This is the well rounded and informative feedback I was hoping for. Out of all the different forms of lighting I've had over the years, t5's are the only style I never tried.

 

I personally have 2 blue plus, 2 coral plus and 4 hydra 26s now but I plan to change out the coral plus with either actinic or 2 more blue plus since the hydra 26s have the red spectrum

 

I cant find ATI bulbs anywhere in iowa city is there a store that has them in iowa city or cedar rapids or do you have to order them online?

 

I was just planning on ordering them from BRS. They're so good with shipping so I'm hoping for no broken bulbs upon delivery.

 

That's where I get my bulbs at. I have bought a lot of bulbs and only 1 time I had a delivery and all the bulbs were broke. I call brs next day and they said throw in trash and the shipped right away. I had tracking number in 15 minutes after my call. That is only time I have ever had a problem and was fixed in minutes.

 

Ok thanks @jeremy and @blackx-runner just was trying to see if there was a local source for them but that's cool brs has some other toys i could probably buy lol

 

Thought I would post an update on this. I decided to add four t5's as supplement light and I went with 2 blue plus, a purple plus, and an actinic. I must say I'm rather shocked by how much light these provide. I thought it would be much more blue than what it is. I've only had them up and running for a little over a week but everything seems to be responding well.
My only grip is I'm surprised by the heat generated by the t5's! Just put two cooling fans in the canopy so hopefully they can disapate this. I guess I've just gotten used to my LEDs that don't really generate heat.

@MadManMadrid, I ordered the ati bulbs from BRS on a Monday morning and had them Tuesday using just their free shipping! Bulbs were packed great too, no issues as always with them.

 

How long are you running your t5? Any way to run 2 bulbs like actinic and blue for a couple hours then all 4 for a couple then down to blue and a ctinic then off. That should help with heat. And maybe some vent holes some where in canopy with computer type fans on a timer when t5 are on.

 

I've been running them for 8 hrs to match the Sol when its ramped up for the daylight cycle. Im running a Workorse ballast so unfortunately I can only run all 4 at once. My canopy is almost 10" high and the back is mostly open. I added two fans today, one in each side so I'm hoping it helps. So far today it seems to be doing the trick.

 

Cool. You can also run the t5 for 5 or 6 hours that should help to. I run halides for 5 hours and t5 for 10. Found that if I run them too long corals will get pale.