T5 Users - Please Read
- Thread starter freddie40
- Start date
freddie40
New member
So, let me first give a better background. As of last Jan I had 6 T5 bulbs, 4 overdriven with an Icecap 660. I was using Tek reflectors. My par was roughly 240. In Jan I upgraded 5 of my reflectors to Aquatinics reflectors and this upped my par by about 20%. Please keep in mind that my tank is 20 inches tall. The bulbs are 5.5 inches off the surface.
I decided I wanted a 20K look due to the fact that so many of the real successful MH users were using 20k bulbs.
So, I changed to (First) 1 Suer Actinic, 4 Blue+ and 1 Pro Color bulb. The a week later to 5 Blue+ and 1 Pro Color. I loved the look and the LPS and SPS did well. However, over the next 1.5 months 7 Clams died. I tried to this of every possible reason. A few weeks back I upgraded my other balast to a 660. Even more par.
To the best of my conclusions I made one big mistake. Blue+ bulbs (according to Grim) are more like 50k. There is very little light above the 500nm spectrum, i.e. no red or Green. Basically I was soaking my clams with a ton of Blue light.
As of about 2 weeks ago I dumped 1/2 of the Blue+ and changed to AquaBlue. No significant change. I then changed a few of the bulbs to UVL bulbs. Go figure, the clams opened a bit more. I then changed 1 more bulb to a UVL. The clam open a bit more, but not all of the way. I was running from front to back (UVL Super Actinic, Blue+, UVL 75/25, UVL AquaSun, ATI AquaBlue, ATI Blue+).
2 days ago I checked the par of this combo, 370. Wow, is this too much?, I asked myself. So, I programmed the AquaController so that the SuperActinic and Blue+ (Dusk to Dawn) only came on for the first and last 30 minutes). With only 4 bulbs I am still getting a par of 245 (keep in mind a 20" tank). The clams opened up even more with this combo and the LPS looked better than ever. Go figure.
To be honest, I figure that I was just giving my clams too much blue and not enough green, yellow and red spectrum, and maybe just too much par. The cool thing about running 2 ATI bulbs and 2 UVL bulbs is that they emphasize different colors. UVL is heavy on 420nm and red, ATI is heavy on 450nm. I chose the 75/25 - AquaSun bulbs because the 75/25 has more 420nm and the AquaSun has more green and red.
Overall I am just happy that my clams are doing better and I am saddened that I lost so many clams due to this. It is still early, but I a hopeful that I have come to a good conclusion. Best of all I like the look and have less heat
Dave
I decided I wanted a 20K look due to the fact that so many of the real successful MH users were using 20k bulbs.
So, I changed to (First) 1 Suer Actinic, 4 Blue+ and 1 Pro Color bulb. The a week later to 5 Blue+ and 1 Pro Color. I loved the look and the LPS and SPS did well. However, over the next 1.5 months 7 Clams died. I tried to this of every possible reason. A few weeks back I upgraded my other balast to a 660. Even more par.
To the best of my conclusions I made one big mistake. Blue+ bulbs (according to Grim) are more like 50k. There is very little light above the 500nm spectrum, i.e. no red or Green. Basically I was soaking my clams with a ton of Blue light.
As of about 2 weeks ago I dumped 1/2 of the Blue+ and changed to AquaBlue. No significant change. I then changed a few of the bulbs to UVL bulbs. Go figure, the clams opened a bit more. I then changed 1 more bulb to a UVL. The clam open a bit more, but not all of the way. I was running from front to back (UVL Super Actinic, Blue+, UVL 75/25, UVL AquaSun, ATI AquaBlue, ATI Blue+).
2 days ago I checked the par of this combo, 370. Wow, is this too much?, I asked myself. So, I programmed the AquaController so that the SuperActinic and Blue+ (Dusk to Dawn) only came on for the first and last 30 minutes). With only 4 bulbs I am still getting a par of 245 (keep in mind a 20" tank). The clams opened up even more with this combo and the LPS looked better than ever. Go figure.
To be honest, I figure that I was just giving my clams too much blue and not enough green, yellow and red spectrum, and maybe just too much par. The cool thing about running 2 ATI bulbs and 2 UVL bulbs is that they emphasize different colors. UVL is heavy on 420nm and red, ATI is heavy on 450nm. I chose the 75/25 - AquaSun bulbs because the 75/25 has more 420nm and the AquaSun has more green and red.
Overall I am just happy that my clams are doing better and I am saddened that I lost so many clams due to this. It is still early, but I a hopeful that I have come to a good conclusion. Best of all I like the look and have less heat
Dave
