T5 for nano?

[Dingodan]

I want to retrofit some t5 actinic bulbs into my 18" custom lid. I have one power compact actinic bulb in there but you hardly notice it when the metal halide is on and i really want to add a stronger blue hue. I cant find any t5s smaller than 24" except for a really small one forget how many watts it is but not much maybe 9. Is there a t5 bulb suitable for my lid? Should i try led are they as powerful as t5? Should i try to cram a few of the small t5s in there? Suggestions?

 

[mr_X]

unless you go with 1 watt, or 3 watt LEDs the halide will drown out the supplement when it's on, and those are very expensive. if that's the case, you might as well use a LED pendant and get rid of the halide completely.
what about just using a 20k lamp for the halide?

 

[Dingodan]

I thought about the 20k but those are really blue. Also do corals grow under 20k?

 

[mr_X]

of course they do. they aren't as blue as straight actinics. if you are looking for more blue, that's the way to go. try XM 20k. they are very nice lamps.

 

[Dingodan]

What is xm why are they better than the others? Are some 20k bulbs not as blue as others? All the ones ive seen are way too blue

 

[mr_X]

some have better PAR numbers than others, and yes, some are more blue. what 20k lamp have you seen? what color temp is the bulb you have now?

 

[Dingodan]

What are PAR numbers? I have 14k the 20k bulbs i saw were just in tanks at fish stores dont know what kind they were. I dont want straight blue i just want to add more so its more like half and half rather than white with a hint of blue

 

[iDream]

the higher K will give you more blue as you go higher. 20K MH looks niiiiiiiice

 

[mr_X]

PAR is "photosynthetically active radiation". it's the usable light that is emitted from our fixtures that corals need for photosynthesis. a bulb can be bright, but not have a lot of PAR. generally, the higher the kelvin, or color temp, the lower the PAR. this is why you want a bluer bulb that has good PAR numbers.
the highest PAR lamps are 6000-1000k, but many of them look quite yellow, which makes the tank appear ugly.
a happy medium is what most people strive for.

 

[Jnam]

nanotuners.com have some 18" t5-rs wich have reflectors (hence the r) built in. I use them for actinic suppliments with my halides.