T5 Light bulb combination for for softies and LPS dominated tank

[tsdpurdue]

I have a 55 gallon reef with softies and LPS. I only have a few corals at the moment, but the ones i have seem to be surviving, but I would defiantly say not thriving. Some of my corals are barely opening (GSP, zoos) and my leather opens up at night and closes once the lights come on (tried moving it around, reducing light, reducing flow). I don't know what else to try. All of my parameters check out fine and have been stable for some time.

Ca= 410-420
Alk 8-9
Mg 1300

My light fixture is the nova extreme t5 6 bulb fixture. Started a thread a while asking if this was to much light for a 55. I tried only running 4 bulbs for a few weeks and corals showed no change. So I am at a loss for why my corals are not growing and the next thing I want to try is buying new bulbs. The bulbs i have now are 7 months old. They are the stock bulbs so I am wondering if they are part of my problem. They are truelumen brand.

Combo I currently have (came with the fixture)

(Truelumen brand)
Front
12k power white
460 actinic blue
12k power white
460 actinic blue
12k power white
460 actinic blue

Could this be my problem??

I am thinking that I want to use ATI brand because I have seen good reviews. So I am wanting to know what combinations of bulbs would work in my tank. I like the color that I am getting from these bulbs, however I want to get optimum growth. So any combos that would work or thoughts on what I should use.

Corals I currently have:

Branching hammer
Leather toadstool
Misc zooanthids
Red mushroom
Green star polyp
Pulsing Xenia

 

[greech]

Yes this could very well be part of the problem. The Current brand bulbs are not all that great and 7 months is about all I would expect to get out of them. ATI and Geisemann are good choices. If it were me , I would run 3 ATI Blue+, 1 ATI Aquablue Special and 2 ATI Actinics or UVL Superactinics. If you don;t like bluer tanks, then don;t go with this combo . The Blue+'s and Aquablue Special will be your higher PAR bulbs while the actinics will not produce much at all.

Here is (part of) the thread of all threads in terms of T5 combos...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1706461

I would'nt gauge your success by observing GSP and zoas unless those are the corals that you plan on having the most of. Lots of people have no luck with those corals in mixed reefs. How is the hammer doing?

 

[tsdpurdue]

The hammer coral is not as dark as it once was ( starting to fade). I have tried moving it to spots where there is more light and less and nothing has seemed to help it. I have been target feeding 2-3x a week and color has started to come back.

 

[greech]

That does lead me to think its time to replace bulbs. When you change them, do not cahnge them all at once. I would change one bulb every two weeks. Actinics should be able to be replaced/added all at once.

 

[tsdpurdue]

This is what I have come up with after doing some research and looking through a few pages of that thread. I do want some blue in the water, but I don't want it entirely blue.

2 ATI Blue +
2 ATI Aquablue specials
2 ATI Actinics


Will this give me the look i am going for and provide my corals the light they need to grow? Is there a better combo i could use?

 

[greech]

I think you will be happy with that combo.