T5 Growth Pics

[ctreefer]

Viper,

sorry for the delay in responding. Been kinda busy at the office which is where I usually check my emails (my bad).

In regards to overdriving the t5's, you should check out the t5 official thread in this forum. But to sum it up, the Icecap ballasts (430 and 660) will push more electricity through the bulb causing it to burn brighter. By some estimates my 24" t5 24 watt bulbs perform equivalent to 50 watts when overdriven on an icecap ballast. So with my 3 bulb system I'm getting the equivalent to 6 bulbs of light. The drawbacks are it produces more heat so you need to cool them off with proper fan ventilation to help reduce early bulb failure along with the fact that with only 3 bulbs, my color selection will be more limited. I was only doing this because I had an extra icecap ballast lying around that can handle 3 24 inch t5 bulbs.

I have to say, after firing them up this past week, they really hurt my eyes.

Happy new year!!!

ctreefer

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6311125#post6311125 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by viper357
Hi ctreefer

could you please explain what you mean by overdriven T5's.

Many Thanks

 

[viper357]

That's great thanks ctreefer, but does it shorten the life of the tubes.

Happy new year to u 2.

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6386805#post6386805 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by viper357
That's great thanks ctreefer, but does it shorten the life of the tubes.

Happy new year to u 2.

yes it does...By how much is a debate. But I have heard of many who overdrive replacing bulbs every 6 months....

 

[NorthernCF]

The icecap rep suggests changing every 24 months with a 660.

 

[masterswimmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6387439#post6387439 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NorthernCF
The icecap rep suggests changing every 24 months with a 660.

The bulbs will definitely burn for that long. The problem is they lose their color sooner. I change my T-5 actinics at 12 months and I changed my other bulbs at 14 months. None were overdriven with Icecaps either. The coral all responded positively to the change too.

JMO,
Russ

 

[NorthernCF]

I am not sure about intensity, but I believe t5 will not change spectrum (color) over time like the other bulbs we are used to. There is also not the big burn-in-factor.

 

[masterswimmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6389648#post6389648 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NorthernCF
I am not sure about intensity, but I believe t5 will not change spectrum (color) over time like the other bulbs we are used to. There is also not the big burn-in-factor.

I changed my bulbs at 14 months because I did notice spectrum (color) change at about 13 months. I was using ATI bulbs too. Not cheap knockoffs.

Russ

 

[The Grim Reefer]

T5 will shift color, maybe not as bad as halides but they do shift.

 

[NorthernCF]

This question came up with the IC President. I could be getting the notes wrong as I haven't gone over them again in a bit. I'll look for a quote on the recording or papers... But. not tonight

 

[Floridiot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6290678#post6290678 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NewSchool04
You do get a shimmer sometimes but not like MH lights. There are a lot of bulb choices so you can mix and match to get what you are looking for. I would say that my tank is more of a 14K look, white with blue tint.
Good luck with your research smokez!

One thing I forgot, the bulbs last 18 - 24 months!

I just setup my new T5 lighting which consists of 9 ea IceCap SLR reflectors, with 6 each Aquablue bulbs and 3 each Blue+.

If I turn on only one of the triad ballasts which has 2 blue+ and 2 Aquablue bulbs on it, my tank looks very blue (20K radium color). Do these bulbs change color after burning in for the first hundred hours like Halides do? The only reason I ask is because you describe yours as a 14k look, white with a blue tint.

 

[Horace]

I think 1:1 aquablue to blue+ looks pretty awesome personally. I dont think it looks too blue at all. I have 2 Aquablue, 1 GE, 3 Blue+. I think it looks great! Yours should look very very white with 6:3.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6394813#post6394813 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Floridiot
I just setup my new T5 lighting which consists of 9 ea IceCap SLR reflectors, with 6 each Aquablue bulbs and 3 each Blue+.

If I turn on only one of the triad ballasts which has 2 blue+ and 2 Aquablue bulbs on it, my tank looks very blue (20K radium color). Do these bulbs change color after burning in for the first hundred hours like Halides do? The only reason I ask is because you describe yours as a 14k look, white with a blue tint.

They shouldn't change much. The 50/50 mix looks closer to 14K than 20K IMO.

 

[jun_celis]

NewSchool04,

Very nice growth on those pieces! Maybe I missed it some place, how often do you change your bulbs? I ordered the same lights like yours but haven't put it together just yet because of my algae problems. Once I got it under control, I'm setting it up.

 

[Floridiot]

They shouldn't change much. The 50/50 mix looks closer to 14K than 20K IMO.

As far as 14K bulbs go, I've only seen the Hamilton MH in 14K which look very much like what was described by NewSchool "white, with a blue tint". I once used 20K Radiums which are definitely a blue colored light. My T5s when powered on at a 1:1 ratio definitely look more like the 20K radiums than the 14K hamiltons.

The T5 bulbs I'm using are labeled Geisemann. Are these definitely the same bulbs as ATI? They are labeled Aquablue+ and Actinic+. The other variable might be the ballast used. I'm using a spec'd T5 Triad ballast, not an IceCap which overdrives the bulbs.

Unfortunately I cannot see what the tank looks like with the full 6:3 ratio right now as I'm waiting for two replacement aquablue bulbs to come in. One was broke in shipping and another came in DOA.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Geisemann and D&D are the same lamps ATI was doing. The blueplus alone looks like the 20K's I've seen. I've ran the aquablue/blueplus combo both overdriven and normally driven and that does make a difference but not much. Color is just so subjective it is hard to come up with a standard.

 

[jun_celis]

The Grim Reefer,

How often do you change your bulbs?

 

[Horace]

I am certain that when you run it 2:1 it will look VERY white with just a hint of blue. I personally like the 1:1 mix myself. I guess I like the blue a bit more though. Im not huge on pure white. I think it washes out the colors.

 

[theplatypus]

those shots have got me leaning towards t5's instead of MH.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6396298#post6396298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jun_celis
The Grim Reefer,

How often do you change your bulbs?

1 went about 14 months but could probably have gone a little further. I had a lot more intensity than I needed.

 

[wbeavers]

I think when you are using so many individual bulbs, you should setup a bulb changing routine. Lets use an eight bulb set up for an example. If you change one bulb every eight weeks you get a slow but complete change over in just under 15 months. Every seven weeks would be 13 months. This way you will be keeping much more even lighting. I can see that changing all the bulbs at one time giving you a differnence in growth at as little as 6-8 months of use. I think one of the biggest advantages of a numerous bulb system is being able to do this. I think that you can very easily stretch bulb usful life by several months by doing this. On that eight bulb system if you change one bulb every 10 weeks you get a complete change over in 18.5 months. However your spectrum would only have very minor changes.