Convince me I dont need a 660 for my T5s
- Thread starter Horace
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Horace
New member
I hate to tell you this man but the AB bulb has very high PAR and the GE is the highest available. There are many who run only AB and B+ and get great growth. In fact Grims tests were done with only those bulbs, No GE at all.
Please do find a study that shows that 6 bulbs normally driven will give you a higher PAR reading than 4 Overdriven, because I dont think one exists. Im sorry but I just find it very hard to believe that adding a bulb in the front and back of an array is going to boost the PAR in the whole tank by 50 which is difference at the sand bed between normal and overdriven. Also you have yet to address penetration. You can have tons of lights adding to high PAR, but that PAR wont reach the bottom unless it is being emitted from an intense light source. The only way to get PAR deep is to brighten up the bulbs, so it stands to reason the only way to brighten up the tank at any point is to brighten the bulbs as well, not just add more.
Jacob D
New member
The current thinking among many T5 users (including myself) is that the "AquaBlue" bulb puts out the most par followed very closely by the "Sun" and "Blue+". Only the "actinic" falls way short on PAR. This is based on information that I *think* ATI / D&D provided a couple of years ago. This was supposedly one of the advantages of T5 - blue bulbs that actually have good PAR numbers.
T5 is still pretty new relatively speaking and it will probably by a while before multiple tests are done to establish some validity to the claims that many people repeat as fact. That goes for much of what has been said in this thread, including my own post here.
I don't know much about the physics of light, but I would think that since it is a form of energy, and so is paR ("R" for radiation) that it would be additive. So it could possibly stand to reason that PAR can and will vary at different points in the tank. Just a thought there.
T5 is still pretty new relatively speaking and it will probably by a while before multiple tests are done to establish some validity to the claims that many people repeat as fact. That goes for much of what has been said in this thread, including my own post here.
I don't know much about the physics of light, but I would think that since it is a form of energy, and so is paR ("R" for radiation) that it would be additive. So it could possibly stand to reason that PAR can and will vary at different points in the tank. Just a thought there.
perpetual98
New member
I think that Grim's tests are what showed the GE bulb to be the highest PAR. I'll see if I can dig up his words.
Horace
New member
I totally agree that it is additive to a point... but simply putting x amount of bulbs at Y PAR/ea is not going to = X * Y everywhere in the tank. That may be the total amount of Par being put off by the array, but that is not going to be the PAR measured at any one point in the tank because that PAR is spread out over the whole tank. There is no doubt the PAR will vary throughout the tank if not soley because there are different intensity bulbs in different places. Though with flourescents the PAR will be much more homgenous than it would be with halides.
spykes
New member
lux is the amount of light, par is the amount of photosynthic radiation, but mind you my friends are running their MH around 3-4 hours a day, it should show you how light is the 2nd thing you should worry about compared to water quality, there is a such thing as photosynthetic usable radiation as well, even having the highest par ratings combine, the coral can only consume at a certain spectrum.
I tested the PAR of BluePlus, AquaBlue, and GE 6500K. They were all almost the same... the GE being slightly higher than the other two. Numbers are on RC somewhere...
I don't like aquablue, IMO it makes the whole tank look washed out super bright white. I ran 2x GE, 2x BluePlus for a year, then switched to 3x BluePlus 1x GE. It doesn't look super blue like 20k, but has a slight blue tint. My SPS are still growing...
I don't like aquablue, IMO it makes the whole tank look washed out super bright white. I ran 2x GE, 2x BluePlus for a year, then switched to 3x BluePlus 1x GE. It doesn't look super blue like 20k, but has a slight blue tint. My SPS are still growing...
Horace
New member
You tested them with the Icecap 660 though right? That makes the Blue+ a bit less blue from what I hear. If I ran 3x B+ and 1xGE it would be very blue I think. Your the first that I have read that doenst like the AB bulb though. My tank with 2xAB, 3xB+, 1xGE, is mainly white with a hint of blue. I dont think the tank looks washed out.. Now it doesnt pop like the VHO but it does look pretty good IMO.
