sps growth under t5's

[boodlefish]

amazing tanks guys, with growth like this who needs MH?

keep em coming

 

[ianiwane]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13518551#post13518551 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcliffy2
You guys are talking crazy stuff putting a 10x54w on a 120, I've got 12x54w on my 238g and it does nicely IMO a 6x39w ATI powermodule would be perfect, Tek retro, 8x39w. (I'm a big fan of leaving a little space not directly under the bulbs if you want anything but 100% SPS - you gotta have someplace for LPS and IME they have bleached whenever directly under T5s)

I have the same fixture over a 125 haha. But I only have all 12 bulbs on for 2 hours.

 

[Mykel Obvious]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13516304#post13516304 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kvosstra
Thanks - Ill try to get some better pictures of my large tank - Its lit by 14x54 ATI powermodule...nice and bright.
-Kyle

Holy Moly Kyle!!! 14 bulb Powermodule??? and I thought I was gonna break the bank with a 10 bulb Where did you find such a monster??

Can't wait to see the photos

 

[Mykel Obvious]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13518551#post13518551 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcliffy2
You guys are talking crazy stuff putting a 10x54w on a 120, I've got 12x54w on my 238g and it does nicely IMO a 6x39w ATI powermodule would be perfect, Tek retro, 8x39w. (I'm a big fan of leaving a little space not directly under the bulbs if you want anything but 100% SPS - you gotta have someplace for LPS and IME they have bleached whenever directly under T5s)

Part of the reason is for future upgrades... don't want to buy the lighting for a 3rd time I would love to have a 200ish gallon 48"x36"x24" tank in the future, so I want the widest Powermodule I can get... I can always put an extra actinic bulb and run a pro color or other low PAR bulb to get a nice mix of color and not bake my LPS too badly... worse comes to worst, I'll just hang the light 6" higher as all my LPS are going to be on the sandbed anyway

Very nice looking tank BTW!!

 

[Mykel Obvious]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13518384#post13518384 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shadowramy
Here is mine when I had 8 T5's on a 120. I have since switched back to MH.

Beautiful corals Shadowramy... just curious, why the switch back to MH?

 

[pancho]

Mykel Obvious... Tank dimensions are 8x2x2. I am running two rows of 8 bulbs. Currently runnning the following bulbs
Front
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Aquasun on IC 660
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Procolor on IC 660
UVL Actinic White on IC 660
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Aquasun on IC 660
ATI Blue Plus
Back

boodlefish... Thanks for the compliment!

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13518988#post13518988 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mykel Obvious
Part of the reason is for future upgrades... don't want to buy the lighting for a 3rd time I would love to have a 200ish gallon 48"x36"x24" tank in the future, so I want the widest Powermodule I can get... I can always put an extra actinic bulb and run a pro color or other low PAR bulb to get a nice mix of color and not bake my LPS too badly... worse comes to worst, I'll just hang the light 6" higher as all my LPS are going to be on the sandbed anyway

Very nice looking tank BTW!!

The 10-bulb will be awesome on a 48x36, altho you could easily light it with a 10x39w if you want to save some $$ on electric, 10x54w would allow you to grow SPS on your side wall like weeds tho

 

[boodlefish]

Shadowramy, your tank looks great... why did you switch back to MH? did you get tired of having a lower electric bill? j/k but really why the switch back?

 

[soulbereaver]

My guess might be the cost of replacing tons of $60 T5 bulbs compared to replacing a couple $60 MH in an equal time span. Kinda negates the cost of the electric bill.

JMHO

 

[boodlefish]

deklin, what size is your tank, it looks great under 6 bulbs. do you still have a prob w/ bleaching your lps under 6 bulbs?

oh and can we get a fts. please.

 

[boodlefish]

mcliffy2, awsome tank man, i love the open look. are you recomending the ati 6x 54 over the teck 8x 54. and do you have any bulb recomendations? if i go with the 8x 54 should i go with some more attinic/ lower par to prevent bleaching in lps and such? im rambeling... any advice helps.

keep the awsome pics comming t5 reefer's!

 

[boodlefish]

ok soulbereaver, i can see that, but if i am correct you need to replace mh bulbs twice as much, or so. t5 last up to 12 months, and i tink the bulbs are like 39 to 49$.

either way this hobby is always a big expenss, i wand lights that will grow sps with ease and great coloration!

oh and keep the pics coming guys.

Shadowramy, lets see some pics under you current light set up, like before and after t5.

 

[lilfish07]

I have a 29gallon what T5 light are best to used for it any idea? should I go with 4x24w or 6x24w or the 2x65w

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13519832#post13519832 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boodlefish
mcliffy2, awsome tank man, i love the open look. are you recomending the ati 6x 54 over the teck 8x 54. and do you have any bulb recomendations? if i go with the 8x 54 should i go with some more attinic/ lower par to prevent bleaching in lps and such? im rambeling... any advice helps.

keep the awsome pics comming t5 reefer's!

Thanks much. According to Grim, a 6 bulb ATI will put out about the same amount of PAR as an 8 bulb Tek.

For a 6-bulb, it depends on the look you want. If you like the blue look (similar to whats on my tank), I'd suggest 1 UVL super actinic, 3 ATI blue plus, 1 ATI Aquablue Special, and 1 Fiji Purple or UV Aquasun. If you go with an 8 bulb, add another actinic and another Aquablue or Fiji Purple/UV Aquasun (so you'd have 1 of each).

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13519710#post13519710 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by soulbereaver
My guess might be the cost of replacing tons of $60 T5 bulbs compared to replacing a couple $60 MH in an equal time span. Kinda negates the cost of the electric bill.

JMHO

What $60 T5 bulbs are you buying? T5 Bulbs are usually 20-25 each to replace vs. $70-80 for MH. replacing MH can be a touch cheaper, but not that much, especially if you run supplementals with your MH (which you also have to replace). Take the 120 for example, depending on whether you go 6 or 8 bulbs, you are talking 130-180 for bulb replacement. 2 MHs plus 2 supplemental T5 or VHO bulbs, and you are at 200 for replacement.

 

[Shadowramy]

Nice setups.....

 

[wramy]

The biggest reason I switched back was for a deeper, richer colors. On the T5s, the growth was great but a bit too "pastelly" for me. I was loosing deep greens, deep reds and deep purples (they where replaced with green/yellows, pinks and creams on acros and just couldn't seem to get them.

I replaced them with 2x 400w Reeflux on IceCap ballast with LumenMax Elite reflectors. I still keep 4 T5s (2x ATI Blue+ and 2x KZ Purple Fijis) on an icecap 660 ballast as supplimentals.

 

[jamesdawson]

Boodlefish,

Sorry to shout but,
DON'T BUY A T5 FIXTURE WITHOUT ACTIVE COOLING!

I have run both an 8 bulb Tek and an 8 bulb PowerModul on a 120. There is no comparison between the two.

The Tek is a poorly engineered fixture that makes 1/2 the PAR of a PowerModul because Sunlight Supply didn't engineer in $20 worth of active cooling (a fan). So technically a 4 bulb PowerModul makes as much PAR as an 8 bulb Tek although its really just twice as much Par over 1/2 the area.

Teks are only really bright for the first 2-3 weeks, then as the bulbs cook from not being properly vented the Par drops off dramatically and your bulb life is compromised. There are other problems also with Teks/Sunlight Supply but lack of active cooling is the most important so I wouldn't reccomend a Tek.

The PowerModul on the other hand stays bright and your bulbs are going to be really good for at least a year. I had explosive growth/great colors with mine as compared to wimpy growth/mediocre colors with a Tek.

I'm sorry but I don't have any pics as they were on a computer that died last summer.

Good luck,

James

 

[boodlefish]

james,
first off i dig your avitar.
second OK i hear you loud and clear i havent physicaly seen any actual tech or ati setups in person and was asumming they both had internal fans. now i know, thanks for the heads up.

so does this mean i should now be shopping for the ati 6x54 powermoduel? is it more $$$ i bet it is, but i'm sure its well worth it!

sorry to hear that your comp crashed but i still wanna see some pics. even a quick fts will suvice for now.

i want this thread to be pic heavy so i can wave it in devoted mh reefers facese and say see you dont need that power sucker to grow coral! come on more pics please!

 

[ianiwane]

My advice would be if you can get a fixture with more bulb (as long as it fits over the tank) get a fixture with more bulbs. The color combos in a T5 fixture under 6 bulbs are pretty limited.

In regards to the tek fixture, I never noticed a quick drop off in my light intesity. However I always ran fans over the bulbs to cool them. Now that I have a sfiligoi 12x54 I can't see a huge difference between that and the 6x54 + 4x54 tek I was running before.