I always do my research. I don't believe its fair to buy a piece of life that one cannot handle. BTW, I thank every one for their input. I think I'm going to go with one the ATI blue as I read it combines actinic lighting with blue to create high PAR, and promote good color/growth at a 15000K rating. And a 10000K "daylight white". Any one have any ideas of a quality brand 10000K "daylight white" bulb? ATI doesn't seem to make one..? I could be wrong though.
-
******* To read about the changes to the marketplace click here
10000k or 12000k for better coral growth?
- Thread starter pyro
- Start date
nicks387
Non-member
Its not a myth, but saying 10k is better than 6.5k or 15k is a matter of opinion. As I stated earlier, if your talking high intensity lighting, such as Metal Halides, when the entire lighting on the tank is 10k or 20k then yes, 10k will give you better growth. When your talking about just one 24w T5 bulb, like in your case, then NO, you will not see any difference in growth between a 10k or a 12k bulb.
If you want a nice light combo for your particular lighting, that will provide your corals with nice color and growth, then the ATI combo of 1 blue plus, and one aquablue special is probably the best you are going to find with that fixture. If you think you will do better with one ATI Blue plus and one 10k then by all means go for it. My experience in these lights is that you will not see any difference in growth by doing so and the 12k ATI blue plus puts out as much if not more par than other brands 10 k bulbs.
Just to add -
The idea that lower K temp lamps equal faster growth / higher PAR comes from MH and older florescent technology. With older lighting systems you basically either got blue OR Intensity. For example with MH lamps the old iwaski 6.5K lamps were unbelievable in terms of intensity, but they looked pee yellow. On the other hand, most 20K MH lamps were extremely weak (relatively speaking) in intensity but they would have a lot of blue.
With these newer T5 lamps, for whatever reasons they have been able to acheive blue color AND very good intensity. Hence, the old thinking that you needed to go lower in K temp to get good intensity/growth kind of goes out the window. So with good T5 lamps it ends up being a decision about what you like to look at and what shows your corals the best, insted of a compromise between having enough intensity for good growth vs having enough blue to look nice.
The idea that lower K temp lamps equal faster growth / higher PAR comes from MH and older florescent technology. With older lighting systems you basically either got blue OR Intensity. For example with MH lamps the old iwaski 6.5K lamps were unbelievable in terms of intensity, but they looked pee yellow. On the other hand, most 20K MH lamps were extremely weak (relatively speaking) in intensity but they would have a lot of blue.
With these newer T5 lamps, for whatever reasons they have been able to acheive blue color AND very good intensity. Hence, the old thinking that you needed to go lower in K temp to get good intensity/growth kind of goes out the window. So with good T5 lamps it ends up being a decision about what you like to look at and what shows your corals the best, insted of a compromise between having enough intensity for good growth vs having enough blue to look nice.
STiTCH87
Saltwater OCD Victim
What I personally do (I have LEDs though so I know it doesn't completely apply here) is that I turn up my white channel to the brightness that is a good level to me, and that puts out around 10k roughly, and then I turn on my blue channel to a slightly higher intensity than my white channel. Now yes, this brings my mixture up to likely 16,000k roughly, and is pretty blue and technically won't grow corals as quick as if I ran more white than blue, BUT I still have those whites beaming down onto the tank, and I may be wrong, but regardless of how much blue I put in there, there's still the same amount of white going to the corals whether my eyes can see it or not.
This is all just my theory though, and is probably completely wrong. Hah. But hey, works for me. Grows less algae too.
Another thing I feel is important to mention, is that many people say "it's been proven that blue light does not increase coral growth", in fact Marc L. said it at this past meeting.
That is NOT TRUE. While many parts of the blue spectrum may not affect growth much, the 410nm/420nm actinic spectrum is VERY HEALTHY for coral growth, and is actually considered necessary by many.
The 410nm/420nm spectrum is crucial for the success of any reef and water plant aquariums, as it is required by Chlorophyll A for photosynthesis, where absorption peaks at 412nm.
This is all just my theory though, and is probably completely wrong. Hah. But hey, works for me. Grows less algae too.
Another thing I feel is important to mention, is that many people say "it's been proven that blue light does not increase coral growth", in fact Marc L. said it at this past meeting.
That is NOT TRUE. While many parts of the blue spectrum may not affect growth much, the 410nm/420nm actinic spectrum is VERY HEALTHY for coral growth, and is actually considered necessary by many.
The 410nm/420nm spectrum is crucial for the success of any reef and water plant aquariums, as it is required by Chlorophyll A for photosynthesis, where absorption peaks at 412nm.
Very interesting about the actinic lighting being healthy/necessary for coral growth. I've heard both ways on this topic. Either way, I think I might go with a ATI blue plus, and POSSIBLY an ATI actinic, as everyone seems to swear by ATI bulbs. I haven't decided 100% if I want so much blue light. So am I wrong to assume that the more blue light there is, the slower the rate of growth will be?
Lighting can get soo confusing.
I could have been a bit more clear in my last post. When talking about MH lighting, the white and yellow lamps typically have lots of blue as well, it's just that the blue is drowned out because the yellow red and green are so much stronger. For example that 6.5K iwaski lamp has tons of light across the spectrum, but all the human eye sees is yellow. Corals on the other hand are getting the blue as well as a ton of energy across the rest of the spectrum.
Blue doesn't cause slow growth, but with older technology blue was just about synonomous with weak overall intensity. Due to whatever is different about today's T5 lamps you can get blue or white bulbs and they all potentially have that important blue light, it's just a question of what else they are putting out. A blue + puts out a ton of blue and some light in other parts of the spectrum, but the overall output on a blue + completely blows away any "actinic" bulb. An aquablue plus also puts out a ton of blue light but that's in addition to stronger output in other parts of the spectrum so it LOOKS white to the human eye. Because actnic blubs so focused on such a narrow part of the spectrum, they don't get the overall high intensity that you get with other T5 blubs.
If you pair up an actinic with a blue +, you will have a massively blue looking tank and less intensity than you would get with a blue + and an aquablue combo, or even two blue + lamps. All three combos would have the blue light that your corals need, but either combo without the actinic would have more intensity overall and thus you could expect better growth.
I could have been a bit more clear in my last post. When talking about MH lighting, the white and yellow lamps typically have lots of blue as well, it's just that the blue is drowned out because the yellow red and green are so much stronger. For example that 6.5K iwaski lamp has tons of light across the spectrum, but all the human eye sees is yellow. Corals on the other hand are getting the blue as well as a ton of energy across the rest of the spectrum.
Blue doesn't cause slow growth, but with older technology blue was just about synonomous with weak overall intensity. Due to whatever is different about today's T5 lamps you can get blue or white bulbs and they all potentially have that important blue light, it's just a question of what else they are putting out. A blue + puts out a ton of blue and some light in other parts of the spectrum, but the overall output on a blue + completely blows away any "actinic" bulb. An aquablue plus also puts out a ton of blue light but that's in addition to stronger output in other parts of the spectrum so it LOOKS white to the human eye. Because actnic blubs so focused on such a narrow part of the spectrum, they don't get the overall high intensity that you get with other T5 blubs.
If you pair up an actinic with a blue +, you will have a massively blue looking tank and less intensity than you would get with a blue + and an aquablue combo, or even two blue + lamps. All three combos would have the blue light that your corals need, but either combo without the actinic would have more intensity overall and thus you could expect better growth.
STiTCH87
Saltwater OCD Victim
Absolutely correct. No one answer is right. It's the collection of answers that makes a "correct" opinion. Lol.
If I were you i'd go to as many LFS as possible and other ppls tanks to see the bulbs in person to get your own ideas of what you want to buy before buying.
If I were you i'd go to as many LFS as possible and other ppls tanks to see the bulbs in person to get your own ideas of what you want to buy before buying.
You can get ATIs, just need to visit the right LFS or mailorder them.
I'm pretty sure unique aquaira has the whole ATI line in stock and what a great excuse to visit another store (sat and sun hours only though). Also Aqua addicts usually has them and they are only a few minutes from jays.
If I had to suggest a second choice I, giesman comes to mind but I wouldn't know which bulbs to suggest from their lineup.
For mail order, bulkreefsupply.com and reefgeek.com usually have most or all of the ATI blubs in stock.
I'm pretty sure unique aquaira has the whole ATI line in stock and what a great excuse to visit another store (sat and sun hours only though). Also Aqua addicts usually has them and they are only a few minutes from jays.
If I had to suggest a second choice I, giesman comes to mind but I wouldn't know which bulbs to suggest from their lineup.
For mail order, bulkreefsupply.com and reefgeek.com usually have most or all of the ATI blubs in stock.
As for T5 bulbs, I would only use ATI, they have 20% or more PAR than any other brand T5. the only other I would use if I absolutely had to, would be Giesemann, but still not as good as ATI...
And at the end of the day it really is and does not need to be such a diffiicult desicion (we tend to over complicate most things in this hobby, for no need)...As long as you have enough light over the tank for the animals you are keeping in the tank, the color temperature is completely up to your personal preference...I run (2) ATI Blue Plus and (2) ATI Coral Plus....growth and color is amazing, but I also don't keep much for Acropora...tons of Chalice, Acans, and Montipora...
And at the end of the day it really is and does not need to be such a diffiicult desicion (we tend to over complicate most things in this hobby, for no need)...As long as you have enough light over the tank for the animals you are keeping in the tank, the color temperature is completely up to your personal preference...I run (2) ATI Blue Plus and (2) ATI Coral Plus....growth and color is amazing, but I also don't keep much for Acropora...tons of Chalice, Acans, and Montipora...
Frankyrivera
Non-member
If you want that 10k with the ATI just get the aqua blue special. It should be called the aqua white special cuz it's really white and crisp with a hint just a hint of blue. Blue+ is very blue. How many bulbs can you put on your fixture. Bulb color combo alone won't grow coral while it will play on color and promote growth really stable parameters matter a little heavier than light alone.
Similar threads
