actinic bulb compare

[tonysearsjr]

when new with fixture came 2x 54w sea world actinic bulbs. one went bad, went to petco to replace and they had 1 to chose from. zoomed..awesome selection. but heres where the question arises: color is totally differant than the other original bulb. im thinking that thisis due to the 420nm. i dont know what the old 1 is but 420nm is the new zoomed. seen lights online with 460nm, which do i want/need, or is 1 of each better. might need to add they are HO t-5

[MizTanks]

What is the name of this fixture? If your fixture will take them I'd look into ATI T5HO

[Chris]

Unless you are doing a FOWLR find someplace local or online that carries ATI bulbs..... throw the originals away, skip the zoomed and go with ATI!

If you are doing a FOWLR then it doesnt really matter what lights you run as long as your happy with the look of the tank..... If you are running a reef are you using any other lighting or just the 2 t5's and what size tank, because depending on what your trying to keep/grow you will probably need more light then 2 bulbs anyways.

---------- Post added at 12:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:00 AM ----------

Originally Posted by MizTanks

What is the name of this fixture? If your fixture will take them I'd look into ATI T5HO

Any HO t5 fixture will take any HO t5 bulb, "t5" is the socket type You can run ATI's in any HO t5 socket including DIY.

[tonysearsjr]

for the setup: display 40g long with 15g sump with bio balls and a piece of live rock, skimmer coralife 65g in sump, lighting is sky enterprise usa 48" 216w T5 (54w x 4) 2x 10,000/2x actinic/8x led lunar, but yeah i dont much care for zoomed either but its the ONLY one in town. going to order some soon, just got a big build going now for the next so i needed a band-aid if you will. thanks to all
1x three stripe damsel
neon green zooanthids
green mushroom
purple mushroom
3x differant kinds polyps

[Chris]

Yeah for what you have, they will "do" anyways, better then no light I guess lol. I wouldn't recommend them but as a band-aid need something now it will atleast get the job done temporarily. As far as the color difference it is just the bulbs color that makes the difference (and this will vary even when different companies rate them the same "420/460", as they all differ a little bit and the quality of the bulb will effect this as well as their par ratings, obviously better bulb gets you closer to the actual rating and gives you better #s and visual appearance as well.