T5HO questions

[johnd651]

i was wondering (i did search and tried the lighting/equipment threads, but nothing) what do you use to mount the T5 standoffs to a canopy/hood?

wood screws? nut and bolt?

also, i am going to have 4 t5 bulbs (48" 54w), 2 on each ballast

TANK FRONT
bulb 1 - ballast 1 - 10,000K
bulb 2 - ballast 2
bulb 3 - ballast 1 - 10,000K
bulb 4 - ballast 2
TANK BACK

what bulbs should i use? i was thinking 2 10,000k and 2 actinic, but i have seem some other types of actinic bulbs (like fiji purple or something).

 

[eugeneK]

hard to say in terms of mounting. I have 4 t5s in my hood but mounted to 2 pieces of board on each side with stainless screws.

In terms of color combinations, well there are countless possibilities. It all depends on coloration you are trying to achieve.

10k + actinics will be yellow. you might toss an aquablue or 2 in the mix.
I have almost crisp white with blue accent ( not a lot of blue but promotes blue coloration in sps) and i have

ati aqua blue
ati blue plus
ati aqua blue
uvl super actinic

growth is good as well as colors.

here is a billion page thread that you can post what color you want and someone will suggest a combo. Or if you skim through it there may be someone that already asked and got an answer

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1706461

its a good read in general since some people on there tested par rating, growth and other stuff between brands and bulb combos.

 

[johnd651]

i am not even sure what the possibilities are.

i wanted it to look almost real during the day, and then for an hour or 2, before and after the day, have ballast 1 go off, and just run something that will make them "pop" and really glow. i want that like fluorescent look to them, what is that called?

 

[eugeneK]

"actinic"
You cant go wrong with combination above then. Its very close to 20k MH look

 

[johnd651]

ok...thanks

 

[johnd651]

...

ati aqua blue
ati blue plus
ati aqua blue
uvl super actinic

growth is good as well as colors.
...

what is the difference in the way it looks compared to

ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Blue+ (actinic)
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)

or

ATI Blue+ (actinic)
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)

(btw...bulb 1 and 3 would be together and same for 2 and 4) (also i was thinking about using a GE 6500K instead of one of the 12000k so it looks more like sunlight)

 

[dan10342]

I would recommend:

Ati/giesemann blue plus/actinic plus
Giesemann/UVL actinic pure/superactinic purple
ati/giesemann aquablue plus (15k type)
Ati/giesemann blue plus/actinic plus

colors are pretty good under this combo, as well as growth for LPS.

also this bulb order works pretty well, and evenly lights the tank well.

 

[eugeneK]

not out of experience but from reading on each bulbs specs i believe that:

ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Blue+ (actinic)
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)

will look white on blue side with some pink ( making i kinda purple), this may be my next order
and

ATI Blue+ (actinic)
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)

will look more pink and less blue than above

I would stay away from 6500k trust me, its yellow and nothing like tropical sunlight. it may look more like sunlight we get here sunlight in Caribbean is blinding crisp white here is soft yellow. 6500k will make everything look washed out. Also yellow tones don't travel well through water and that's why bluer wavelengths is what corals generally see in nature.

What kind of corals are you planning on keeping? if they are on blue/green side i'd go with bluer spectrum, the light would not literally look blue in your tank but will promote blue algae in per say acros color up better. if you have more orange/red/pink then fiji purple will do the same for them.

one more thing, if you read in the thread above, ATI and UVL outperformed Geissman brand bulbs coral growth and par rating a while back. I am not sure if they have improved since.

Edit - P.S. i think you may be worried that by so many names with "blue" your light would actually look blue. It does not, it promotes blue and actinics on their own ( morning / night ) are blue but in combination it makes a crisp white tropical sunlight look ( minus the shimmer) and doesn't actually look blue to your eyes.

what is the difference in the way it looks compared to

ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Blue+ (actinic)
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)

or

ATI Blue+ (actinic)
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)





(btw...bulb 1 and 3 would be together and same for 2 and 4) (also i was thinking about using a GE 6500K instead of one of the 12000k so it looks more like sunlight)

 

[johnd651]

def am sticking with ATI or UVL, have read some good stuff about them.

i wanted to keep like brain, candycane, and zoas. i was worried that there would not be enough light during the day.

thanks for the help all

 

[eugeneK]

what size tank is this going on to?

I run 4 bulbs on my 55g about 4" above the water and I haven't come accross ANYTHING that needed more light. I think its actually too much for some zoas and mushrooms as the heads start to shrink in size over time.

I keep mainly sps like acroporos, stags, frogspawn, caps, clams, open brain, etc.

 

[johnd651]

its going to be a 55 gallon. with 4x54w. i am not sure about stocking but i really love the brains and candy cane. i just wanted it to look bright during the day, and the colors to really glow at night

 

[teamdulski]

capt. spaulding runs a very similar setup to that and can grow anything. Just has an issue with SPS losing their color but that might be a phosphate issue opposed to lighting.

 

[johnd651]

so this is the look im going to get with that combination

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16964249&postcount=5654

does it differ from waht others are seeing?

 

[eugeneK]

ya , unfortunately, that pic is taken with a camera that gets confused with white balance.
It looks a lot whiter in person.

I would also recommend getting a ULV super actinic instead of one of the blues.

back to front:

Ballast A Blue Plus
Ballast B Super actinic
Ballast A Fiji purp
Ballast B Blue plus

you can then make colors pop morning/night and full on white during the day

P.S. forgot to mention that individual refelectors is a must since T5 dont have internal refelctors.

 

[johnd651]

thanks for all the thought

i will be running SLR's. but after looking through multiple forums, and based on the suggestions, I will most likely buy a few different bulbs and try multiple combinations/orders. The only way i will know what i like best is seeing it in real life.

1)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Blue+ (actinic)
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)

2)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)
ATI Blue+ (actinic)

3)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Blue+ (actinic)
GE6500

4)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
GE6500
ATI Blue+ (actinic)

5)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
UVL Actinic white
ATI Blue+ (actinic)
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)

6)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
UVL Actinic white
ATI Aquablue Special (12000 K)
ATI Blue+ (actinic)

7)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
UVL Actinic white
ATI Blue+ (actinic)
GE6500

8)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
UVL Actinic white
GE6500
ATI Blue+ (actinic)

9)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
ATI Blue+ (actinic)
UVL Actinic White

10)ATI Blue+ (actinic)
KZ Fiji-purple
UVL Actinic White
ATI Blue+ (actinic)


So I realize this is a lot of different combinations, but its only a total of 6 bulbs so I rather have the lighting to my desire (and two extra bulbs) then look at it every day and wonder.

 

[Henry Colf]

I used outside corner molding to mount my T-5's in my hood.......

 

[johnd651]

I used outside corner molding to mount my T-5's in my hood.......

that actually gives me a good idea. i have not built anything for the top yet, so i may just get outside molding, create a box with it, and hang it from the ceiling with the lights.