rjwilson37
New member
If you go to my website and look at my 90g setup, you will see how I built the canopy for the MH retro lighting, which is what I am using right now.
T5 Lighting May Be For You
- Thread starter gregt
- Start date
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
jonny,
lose the actinics, or at least one of them and use blueplus/actinicplus lamps instead. Also put the blueplus lamp in the front slot if its not already there. As far as the GE lamp that depends on your taste, color is really subjective. A 50/50 mix of aquablues and blue/actinic plus makes things very colorful but, red critters will look a little purple, orange looks more red and yellows look dirty. Slapping the GE lamp into the mix makes the red and yellow colors look brighter and more natural IMO. If you have a lot of pink, purple, green and blue critters you would probably like the 50/50 mix better. If you have yellow or cream colored stuff I'd leave the GE in.
Grab a couple more blueplus lamps and start playing with different color combinations
lose the actinics, or at least one of them and use blueplus/actinicplus lamps instead. Also put the blueplus lamp in the front slot if its not already there. As far as the GE lamp that depends on your taste, color is really subjective. A 50/50 mix of aquablues and blue/actinic plus makes things very colorful but, red critters will look a little purple, orange looks more red and yellows look dirty. Slapping the GE lamp into the mix makes the red and yellow colors look brighter and more natural IMO. If you have a lot of pink, purple, green and blue critters you would probably like the 50/50 mix better. If you have yellow or cream colored stuff I'd leave the GE in.
Grab a couple more blueplus lamps and start playing with different color combinations
this is my 90gal with 6x54w tek lights from sunlight supply. i love these lights and after seeing rj's tank, i was definetly influenced to say the least. they have been running since feb/05 and still as bright as the day i turned them on. i am still getting the hang of my new camera so some of these shots do not do it justice.
sorry for all the pics, just excited about the new camera and now knowing how to post pics!
sorry for all the pics, just excited about the new camera and now knowing how to post pics!
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
Sweet in-wall katz, want to come down to Montana and build mine?
I went from T5's to 150 watt halides, to 250 watt halides and will be going back to T5's again after taking PAR and wattage measurments.
My 3x250 watt halide system uses a total of 780 watts. My 14K halide lamps put 95 UMOL's of PAR to the sandbed. My 6x80 watt T5's used 610 Watts and put 145 to the sandbed.
I also measure a 4x54 watt Ice Cap T5 system, the 54 watt lamps are overdriven a lot stronger than the 80 watt lamps with the Ice Cap ballast. The 4 lamps (2 Aquablues/ 2 Actinicplus) put 183 UMOL's to the sandbed. A well worn 14K Aquaconnect lamp in a reefoptix pendant sitting right on the tank (2" above the water only did 160. It would take 2 of those to cover the length of the T5's and they would use over 500 watts of power. The 4x54 overdriven used 303 watts.
I went from T5's to 150 watt halides, to 250 watt halides and will be going back to T5's again after taking PAR and wattage measurments.
My 3x250 watt halide system uses a total of 780 watts. My 14K halide lamps put 95 UMOL's of PAR to the sandbed. My 6x80 watt T5's used 610 Watts and put 145 to the sandbed.
I also measure a 4x54 watt Ice Cap T5 system, the 54 watt lamps are overdriven a lot stronger than the 80 watt lamps with the Ice Cap ballast. The 4 lamps (2 Aquablues/ 2 Actinicplus) put 183 UMOL's to the sandbed. A well worn 14K Aquaconnect lamp in a reefoptix pendant sitting right on the tank (2" above the water only did 160. It would take 2 of those to cover the length of the T5's and they would use over 500 watts of power. The 4x54 overdriven used 303 watts.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
Yes, I would use the blueplus as the dusk/dawn lighting. I would try this to start and go from there.
Front:
Blueplus
Aquablue
Blueplus
GE
Aquablue
Actinic
Or whatever gets your bluepluses and actinics on one circuit to allow dusk/dawn control. Then just start mixing it up to see what you like. What I have seen of the actinic it fluoresces green colors pretty good but the blueplus blows it away or red or orange colors. The Blueplus also has lots of PAR output.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
sure. I would still play with different combinations to see what looks best to you.
rjwilson37
New member
Re-Posting for the new page!
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6336896#post6336896 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rjwilson37
Ok, here is a shot of My 90g with the T5 lighting and then a shot with the new MH lighting at almost 3 months later. The new lighting is 14k 2x250w MH with no actinic suppliments, just straight MH. One thing you should also note, is that the T5 lighting on the 90g is not the right lighting for the 90g. That T5 lighting is only 36" and a 4x39w bulb setup, where a typical T5 setup for the 90g should be 48" and at lease the 6 bulb which would be a 6x54w setup. I am sure that this more widespread would have given some more color and more light down into the tank. Yes, MH is the best lighting for the reef aquarium, but T5 is almost just as good for tanks 24" or less in height and you don't have to worry as much about heat or bulb replacement so often. These are the two big main advantages about T5 lighting, the heat and the bulb replacement as well as a good range of bulb sprectrum choices. So, T5 is a good choice over PC lighting and a little more expensive, and then there is MH which is more expensive and is also about the best lighting for reef aquariums.
Lighting is a tough choice and there are plenty of options out there for you to choose from. You do get what you pay for in this hobby, as there have been many who purchased the cheaper T5 lighting options and have been disappointed, but the Sunlight Supply Tek-Light has good reviews from the majority.
rjwilson37
New member
Those are some nice shots katz66, what is your bulb combination.
blue+
11k
11k
blue+
11k
blue+
puting 1 11k up towards the front will help some LPS's that are down in the sand towards the front, or maybe clams down in the sand up front.
I would do it this way and see how it does.
blue+
11k
11k
blue+
11k
blue+
puting 1 11k up towards the front will help some LPS's that are down in the sand towards the front, or maybe clams down in the sand up front.
tsutherland
New member
I have a 55gal tank with fish and live rock in it. I want to start growing coral and I have a coralife PC 4x65watt lighting system and i am wanting brighter more intense light for the coral. Any ideas to get me started would be great. Wether it is store bought or I make it myself I am just trying to get an idea of where to start.
Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the help.
rjwilson37
New member
tsutherland: I would go to reefgeek.com if I were you and get the 4x54w Tek-Light with 2 Aquablue 11k, and 2 Blue Plus.
tsutherland
New member
Thanks for the response, since I am still learning, what is the reasoning behind your choice in lights. I just looked at my coralife and the day light bulbs are 10,000k. I just saw in Drs. Foster and smith catalog that I can get 6,500/10,000k bulbs would that still not be good enough. Like I said I am still learning and have a bunch of questions.
Thanks for your time.
Thanks for your time.
rjwilson37
New member
PC Lighting compared to T5 or MH just does not have the spectrum's available to give great color and at the same time health to your corals that need a lot of light. You could go with 2 50/50 and 2 Actinic 03's to get some more color, but then you would not have enough pars to be healthy for the corals over the long haul. The T5 lighting has some great bulbs to get color as well as pars so while your corals color up some more, there is enough pars to keep them healthy as well. The PC lighting is good for softies and some LPS, but the choice of bulbs just does not bring out much color from my experience. My web page shows my 29g with PC and then the move to T5's, what a difference going from 130w of PC over to 96w of T5's. You can also see my 55g which was always on T5's, the color and growth from my corals was fantastic.
rjwilson37
New member
I also have to say I am sorry if I sound bias that I don't like PC lighting, beauty is all in the eye of the beholder. I thought my 29g tank was just beautiful as it matured and grew, but my 90g is beautiful as well in my eyes. I purchased my first 29g tank and PC lighting from a LFS that sells nothing but PC lighting because that is what he thinks looks best. I showed him pictures of my 29g with the PC lighting and then a month later with the T5 lighting, he picked the PC picture as looking much better. You will see on my web page that the T5 lighting has much more color, but that is just my opinion, you will need to make up your own mind about that. Everything I state here is just my experience as well as just my opinion. My lighting switch over's cost me over the past 3 years trying different things with my different tanks. You will have a lot of your own experiences to share with all of us over the years, I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I have, this is such a great hobby.
rjwilson37
New member
6500 lighting is very yellow, 10,000 lighting is white with a tad bit of a blue hint, 11k is white with more blue, then the 12k and 14k white with some more blue, which is a little more on the blue side and then there is 20k which is very much on the blue side with some white mixed in. If people just use 20k lighing then they typically don't have to suppliment with Actinic or Blue Plus type lighting, some do suppliment with actinic or blue plus and like that look for there tank and corals.
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