Let's See Some T5 Only Lite Tanks (remember Just T5 Lite Tanks) :-)

Simply Heart Breaking. Sorry for your loss. I'm new to the sps scene, and to think I'm worried about loosing my first Acro frag to inadequate lighting. If my frag were bigger I'd frag it again and send you a piece just out of sympathy. I too have the same question as HBtank as well as color temp.
 
I had the two blues on for 13 hours and all of the bulbs on for 11 hours.
I used a mix of three 11K and 12K bulbs and three BluePlus bulbs. ATI's and Geisemann, not sure of the exact names but easy enough to look up. I found both ATI and Geisemann to be nearly identical so I mixed and matched.
 
I really don't know what happened for sure, but I'm pretty sure it was an oxygen issue in the containers that I had the corals and fish stored in. That snowballed very quickly and before I could do a thing about it, things started dying quick. Real depressing to have a 180 set up with nothing but LR in it.

I'm going a whole different route with this tank, 3 400W MH with the mini black lumenarc reflectors, VHO Super Actinic supplements down the line. The 400's are complete overkill now that I have nothing but hopefully I'll be able to stock soon. The tank is still cycling with everything that happened.
 
Well, bummer, but FWIW, your tank looked like a tank of teh month. It was that nice, so if you ever get a 180 lookin like that it would be mightly spectacular.
 
Sorry to hear about your misfortune Pat. It always sucks to look forward to upgrading and having it go sour. Thanks again for the new setup you helped me out with. Its up and running but I am waiting to add additional livestock. Maybe I am a little to cautious but just want to make sure. Best of luck with the new setup.
 
sorry about all those beautiful specimens. very heartbreaking. i don't know how you went about upgrading but this could be one of those my mistakes to help you... i am upgrading tanks and am setting up new tank in new location and letting it cycle 3 months before moving anything... this is the only way to come close to making an upgrade worthwile for me... if not it would only be a size increase and not an upgrade.
 
Thanks jbeltmann and good luck with the tank! It's just sad to see an empty tank knowing how good it would have looked if things had gon a little differently.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9791208#post9791208 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NewSchool04
I had the two blues on for 13 hours and all of the bulbs on for 11 hours.
I used a mix of three 11K and 12K bulbs and three BluePlus bulbs. ATI's and Geisemann, not sure of the exact names but easy enough to look up. I found both ATI and Geisemann to be nearly identical so I mixed and matched.

I have basically the same bulbs. Just my dawn/dusk are 39w.

I am thinking the fact they are overdriven is my issue. I may need to cut back hours on my main 54w bulbs. I had the blues on for 14 hours and the 54W on for 8. One monti has always seemed bleached, the polyps have color but it quickly lost all it's other color.

What do you think? I really admire what you did with your t5 tank...

Good luck on the 180, I have no doubt it will be better than your other. I am quickly learning the whole "if I could do it again" thing.
 
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Sorry to say but I'm not really sure HBtank. I don't even know where to start but I doubt that it's b/c of the bulbs being over driven. People run 400W halides on tanks that don't bleach monti's so why would T5's do it to yours? Then again, it might be the lights or maybe it's a nutrient issue or lack of nutrients? I've found that my monti's are pretty sensitive to Alk changes so that could be a reason. I'm grasping at straws here and there are probably 1,000 different ?'s I could bring up. I don't get this hobby sometimes!

Thanks for the encouragement with the 180! The lights are very different, very bright! The look of the tank is totally different and I have no idea what type of success I'm going to have using the 400's. First things first I have to get over this cycle! I have 50 gallons of water brewing right now for a water change. I have to admit the biggest change I've ever done. I would say it's going to be a month before I can add my first SPS.
 
NewSchool04
Sorry about your loss. That's was an amazing tank. wish you the best with your new 180G.

I have a 8 bulb tek fixture and hope to have half of your success. Your 90G is an inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
 
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9795568#post9795568 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NewSchool04
Sorry to say but I'm not really sure HBtank. I don't even know where to start but I doubt that it's b/c of the bulbs being over driven. People run 400W halides on tanks that don't bleach monti's so why would T5's do it to yours? Then again, it might be the lights or maybe it's a nutrient issue or lack of nutrients? I've found that my monti's are pretty sensitive to Alk changes so that could be a reason. I'm grasping at straws here and there are probably 1,000 different ?'s I could bring up. I don't get this hobby sometimes!

Thanks for the encouragement with the 180! The lights are very different, very bright! The look of the tank is totally different and I have no idea what type of success I'm going to have using the 400's. First things first I have to get over this cycle! I have 50 gallons of water brewing right now for a water change. I have to admit the biggest change I've ever done. I would say it's going to be a month before I can add my first SPS.

Yeh, the 1000 questions are getting to me.., thats my problem lol. I am thinking it is just a chemistry issue at this point. And that is my focus from this point forward. Gotta narrow it down.

Thanks for the help.
 
Tek light 4x 54w ... 2 aquablue+ 2 actinic+
a>
 
This is a very good thread on T-5s,I myself have 2 tanks currently running the Tek 4 and 6 bulb.
I have had very great success in growing acros,my 75 gallon tank is a knock out,as soon as I find someone to help with the pics I will for sure post them..

Donny

OMAS Member
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9796666#post9796666 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HBtank
Yeh, the 1000 questions are getting to me.., thats my problem lol. I am thinking it is just a chemistry issue at this point. And that is my focus from this point forward. Gotta narrow it down.

Thanks for the help.

Ha, I wish I had an answer for you! I know one thing, once I got my Alk and Ca in check and balanced, I had much better success and color.
 
Here is my old 33g long tank with a tek 4bulb 4ft fixture. It had a mixture of geismann bulbs.

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I tried t5's first because of all the perks they have, especially since I live with my parents. Now I have a 75g tank with only t5's and 2x30g breeder tanks that have MH on them now but am switching back to t5's tomorrow. :)

I will post pictures of the 75g soon.

Thanks

-Matthew
 
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