Time to buy T5 bulbs,,,brand???

661 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by spartyblaze, Mar 2, 2012

dpulve

Discussion Starter · Feb 21, 2012

Well my 72" Aquatic life T5 fixture has 12 36" bulbs!! So I think Im going to buy six at a time to try and save myself a little $$... The bullbs/fixture were bought Aug last year. I have been trying to seach this site and others and it appears the overwhelming majority say the ATI brand bulbs are the best? I see alot of different repsones on color combo's too, but in all honesty at this point I have no clue!! I was just going to replace in kind with what came with the fixture. I just want to try and get the best bang per bulb.

Thanks

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jakem

· #2 · Feb 21, 2012

Ati

Ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati ati.

I would run 4x blue and 2x blue special's

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M&Potisville

· #3 · Feb 21, 2012

Ati

i just went with the ATI ihave a 4 bulb system im using two blue plus,a purple plus,and a aqua blue special

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dputt88

· #4 · Feb 21, 2012

i use mostly ati but sometimes use geissman. i run one giessman Aquablue+, one ATI aqua blue special. one ati blue+ and one ati actinic.

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spartyblaze

· #5 · Feb 21, 2012

I may be ostracized for the thumbs up but I have run WavePoint bulbs that I ordered from Amazon in the fall. My first change from the name brands too - tried it expecting to replace them a couple months later, but willing to try.

I know PAR is important, but my growth is about the same - no algae issues yet.

They have blue, actinic and purple - which I run a mixture of the 3 in my 6 bulb fixture.

Good luck!

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dpulve

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 22, 2012

Thanks for the replies,, This is what I have in the fixture now

39W Aqua blue (white cylce)
39W Marine glo (??) this bulb is stright blue
39W Aqua blue (white cycle)
39W purple plus
39W Aqua blue special (white cycle)
39W Actnic (white cycle)

So from the couple responses here I would get rid of the marine glo and Actnic and just run two more aqua blues ??? With my fixture I can run two cycles the whte cycle comes on first and the blue cycle comes on an hour later.

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spartyblaze

· #7 · Mar 2, 2012

That's what I would do - a lot of it depends on what you're keep and how you want those colors to pop. IE, the purple will pop your reds differently than switching that bulb out for another 10k or actinic.

I prefer the setup you're planning because I think it does a good job with the irridescence.

Which brand did you decide to go with?

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