Quote:
Originally Posted by pdiehm
just got a 6x80W for a "developing" SPS tank.
looking at 3 B+, 1 C+, 1 P+, 1 Actinic.
Not a fan of the white tank look, but will adjust to whatever is best for the corals.
Other option is 4 b+, 1 c+ and 1 p+
|
Here is the thing:
If you buy 6 bulbs and you are not happy with the look, you will change some of them. Doh!
If you buy 6 bulbs and you are “ok” with the look, you will change some of them.
If you buy 6 bulbs and LOVE the look, you eventually start wondering if it would look even better if you just changed that ONE bulb…
Unless you live super close to the "bulb store", I strongly suggest you buy more bulbs right away to start playing with. It is really hard to get it right the first time, and even if you do, you STILL probably want to tweak it. Other people’s online pictures rarely show the exact color IMO.
I suggest you buy extra B+ and C+ to play around with. B&C are bulbs that you will for sure end up using in future replacements anyway (unless in the rare case of a 4B/2P combo) As long as you can afford the initial purchase, you lose nothing in the long run.
As for P+ and Act+, just get 1 each for testing as these are bulbs that you could potentially end up not using.
This is my recommended starting list for a 6 bulb fixture. It will save you a lot of “what if…?”
4 Blue Plus
3 Coral Plus
1 Purple Plus
1 Actinic
Even with the extra bulbs available, you will still probably wonder how other brand’s bulbs will look etc... It’s the damn T5 curse!
For this reason alone, I am very glad that I went the hybrid route. It is much easier then to get the T5s “about right”, and then fine tune the overall color with the LEDs (But even then I have still played around a lot with bulb changes
)
Good luck
