Need help with bulb selection

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carey

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Joined
Feb 23, 2011
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Deltona, Florida
I need new bulbs for my 12 light nova extreme pro. I want to go all ATI preferably.

I just found the ATI Blue Plus for $15!! I was thinking the following combination:

6 ATI Aqua Blue specials
4 ATI Blue plus
2 ATI Purples

Would this be a good combination? I have alot of corals and would like to have the best PAR lighting that I can get. I've been extremely pleased with my other ATI bulbs.

So without going with other brands like the KZ's would my idea be good?

sale ends tonight so I'm a bit anxious....

any input would be appreciated.

Mr X you done ripping out walls yet? Would like your input as well as you were the one who got my last bulb setup perfect!
 
carey said:
I need new bulbs for my 12 light nova extreme pro. I want to go all ATI preferably.

I just found the ATI Blue Plus for $15!! I was thinking the following combination:

6 ATI Aqua Blue specials
4 ATI Blue plus
2 ATI Purples

Would this be a good combination? I have alot of corals and would like to have the best PAR lighting that I can get. I've been extremely pleased with my other ATI bulbs.

So without going with other brands like the KZ's would my idea be good?

sale ends tonight so I'm a bit anxious....

any input would be appreciated.

Mr X you done ripping out walls yet? Would like your input as well as you were the one who got my last bulb setup perfect!

I would go 6 aqua blue and 6 blue plus, I feel the purples are a waste. I never noticed any benefit from them. Just my experience.
 
Anyone else agree that I should skip the purples? I was gonna go with 6 and 6 originally but figured with so many bulbs at my disposal i should be able to get the perfect lighting for all my corals.

Thank you!
 
some say they bring out the reds a bit more. it's entirely up to you....they all put out similar PAR numbers.
 
Thats part of the reason I wanted the purples, to bring out more colors.

So in your opinion my original thoguht would get me my desired effect without compromising PAR and my corals health?

Thanks for looking, I'm planning on getting the cheapo ati blues, $15 a pop is hard to resist. lol
 
either with or without the purples you'll be fine. i've never tried the purples. i tried a korallen zucht fiji purple years ago and thought it made my tank look too pink. this is the bulb all the others copied off of, but now i see everyone using them and i have to say i like the way the tanks look. i don't know if it's the bulb doing it or not....
 
I thinkI;ll go with 2 purples and the 4 blue pluses. Then just do the specials for the remaining 6 "whites".

Whenever I ask this question I always get responses of adding like 4 different brands and spectrums. Like a UV 75/25, a 6500k bulb, 2 kz's, and the rest ati's in multiple combinations. LOl

Just makes it so confusing.
 
to me, a UVL 75/25 looks pink or even somewhat yellowish. it's not what you would expect. the GE 6500k lamp is very yellow but very high PAR also.
 
I think I'm gonna stick with the proven ATI's. You know me and my fondness for blue hue. I'm gonna add the 2 purples though, see if that makes me happy. If not I can always get 2 more blue plus's.

If I'm gonna spend all this money on new lamps I want them to be the best i can get.

Now if I only can find the aquablue specials for $15 each I'll be set. lol Like thats gonna happen...I'm surprised they are having the special on the plus's, the ati line never seem to go on sale.
 
Sounds like a good set up to me. I am not a bit fan of a lot of blues in there I don't like then the colors pop sooo much. To me just looks fake. Bit that's my opion.
 
Yeah, I know alot of people prefer less blue, but with my black background it seems to look perfect to me! I'm going with some purples this time around though, might give it a different blue hue. :) It also willdull down all the coralline I'm hoping cause now all you see with my 10k bulbs is purple everywhere and its a bit distracting, at least to me. The first thing people notice is all the purple rock and not the coral or fish. :-(

Thanks for the input!
 
Yea I know what u mean. I just hate when I got to the Lfs and see a coral that looks healthy and nice but they have so much blues te color is over wellming
 
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