ATI Aquablue Spezial Review

[Smithers]

On Friday I went off to Northlands pets, armed with a wallet and a quest to get a decent light to replace my ageing sylvania T5.
I ended up getting the ATI Spezial. From what I have heard about this light I was hoping for something good but I feel I got more.

The old saying goes never judge a book by its cover, this should apply to the ATI's. The packaging is pretty plain and boring. Brown cardboard, but the contents is what we are after.

I took out the Sylvania and added the ATI. I placed the light at the back of the tank next to a Aquamedic ocean blue actinic.
After doing some looking about on the net I found out the light has a PAR reading of 660 (not that I know what that means). The T5 is also 50/50 (white and blue)
The result. A crisp looking white with a blue tinge. The light is not bright, so do not add it expecting the tank to glow like chernobyl.
My rating 10/10 a I give it a :045:

 

[Afsal]

sorry to hijack , i added a deltec aquablue and man what a difference it made in my tank , and this is one tube only !!!

 

[Alan]

Smithers from the above i assume you happy with the light, glad to hear. i added 4 x 2ft over my refugium and man what a difference.

 

[Smithers]

I am very happy with it Alan. Thanks for the good advice. I am now looking for something with a K rating of 10-13. I need something very bright as my tank is a leeetle blue.
I actually think you could run a tank just with these ATI lights and you would have a nice balance of lighting.
When I do my nano one day I am going to have 4 of the 2ft's over it.

Afsal is your light blue or a purple colour. I have the Pure actinic Geismann and it is an awesome light as well.

 

[Rory]

Smithers a picture would be great because with the 2 T5's next to each other the camera should adjust accordingly and let you clearly see the diff in intensity.

 

[viper357]

Smithers a picture would be great because with the 2 T5's next to each other the camera should adjust accordingly and let you clearly see the diff in intensity.

Yeah, Rory's right, it will do something like this...

 

[viper357]

Those are all 10k T5's, believe it or not

 

[BlastoM]

nothing compares to the aquamedic T5 keeps its intensity for years.

 

[Mekaeel]

what did you pay for it smith?i need to change some globes in my tank

 

[Afsal]

4 FOOT SHUD BE +- r330

 

[Smithers]

Mekaeel It was 310 for a 54w (4ft) light. They are about R100 more than the other brands but I think it is worth it.

 

[Mekaeel]

yeah im sure its worth it everyone raves about it and now you too.think im gonna em

 

[Smithers]

I will attempt to take a picture tonight. Do not expect it to make your tank super bright. Expect it to make it a nice colour.
Can anyone recommend a nice bright white tube ?

 

[Mekaeel]

Expect it to make it a nice colour.

thats what im looking for

 

[irie ivan]

From someone who has been using these tubes since they became available in SA:
To say they rock is an understatement in the least. I was warned not to run these on my frag raceway without acclimatising the frags slowly. Hmmmm..... whatever, ..........salespitch! Surely they can't be much brighter than my current AM tube?? Which if I recall was only 3 months old!! ..........

Ever heard of Photoburn. Those frags went white in no time!! Ouch. Had to lift the tubes another 10cm, and still have not lowered them. Did changethe tubes back to AM in the end, as i wanted the best in my tank! Frags went from coloured to brown............

A pic of two aqua medic one white one blue as opposed to a blue and a white Ati will follow soon, if i can find it on Pbucket!

Don't know so much about the AM keeping their intensity BlastoM!! Don't have a par meter, but with my AM tubes I could still see after lifting the hood. With ati its blinding to look into my hood!

 

[irie ivan]

Can anyone recommend a nice bright white tube?

try ati aquablue spezial. hahahaha
They also make a tube called superwhite, have not tried it yet, but apparently makes reds and yellows stand out, so I would guess it has a lower K rating than the aquablue spezial.

 

[Smithers]

Irie Ivan, I did not think that they were that bright, maybe because it is right next to an actinic it affects the colour ?
I did see a massive improvement in colour. I also have the ATI Pureblue, What a light ! It is only a 3ft but it blows the AM 4ft out the water. I am going to change all my tubes to the ATI's in the next few months. I am going to give the superwhite a bash but I think I may just stick with the spezial.

 

[Mekaeel]

how about em pics gavin?

 

[Mekaeel]

oh and by the way,before and after pics

 

[irie ivan]

pics for comparison, both globes same ageTop ati aquablue spezial, bottom Aqua medic 10 oook