T5's: A cautionary note

[Codeman00]

Thanks Merk1_99, I really do like that 3 bulb color setup. There's still a little bit fo the flouresce missing...my Kenya tree in the middle of the tank looks yellow in that picture..and its more of a flourescent green yellow in person. Still not a bad pic though.

It seems like my mushrooms / corals want a bit more light than 3 bulbs..(I am running all 5 for a couple of hours to simulate midday). I just hate the color of the 5 bulb setup. Now that I can set my camera to get the colors that I see, I'll experiment with some different bulb combos and post some comparison pics soon.

 

[horkn]

well, my new shrooms like the t5ho brightness-esp the hairy shroom. maybe the green striped ones are jsut uber picky, and demand a lot less light?

 

[rdmpe]

Keep the pictures coming guys! You know the saying, "A picture saves a thousand bucks" or something like that right?

Seriously - more pictures please!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Which reflectors are those?

Those are actually Helios T5's but with the "deluxe" reflector built in. The 5 and 6 foot ones have an external ballast you plug into the fixture so they aren't quite as quick and dirty as the shorter ones but they do put out some light.

If these guys would just sell bare lamps (maybe they do) It would be worth trying them. The 6 foot lamp mounted in the fixture was just under 20 bux. Balast is extra.

 

[johns]

can we talk T5 bulbs for a minute

can we talk T5 bulbs for a minute

Maybe I should open up a new thread for this. But I thought I'd try here first.

Recently there have been quite a few new T5 bulb manufacturers entering the market. Seems like when I first set my Tek-Light up a couple years ago, there only 2 out there (ATI and GE?). I havent been using my Tek-Light for a while, but now I'm thinking about setting it back up for another tank.

I'm confused with all the new choices and names. Can someone give me the lowdown for what are generally considered the BEST bulbs for this fixture - ATI, D&D, GE, etc, etc, etc. Lets just talk about what's best right now and not bring price into it yet (unless, of course, everything else is the same).

Try to make it simple. Might have to break it down like:

Best Daylight bulb
Best 'White' bulb
Best 'Blue' bulb
Best 'Actinic' bulb

(also, this would be for a T5 only set-up. and I'm looking to achieve as bright as possible but with a definite 14k bluish look using a 6-bulb Tek-Light)

 

[The Grim Reefer]

ATI and D&D are the same lamps.

Daylight get the GE 6500K The most PAR of any T5 lamp I've measured.

White would be the ATI/D&D aquablue.

Blue would be ATI/D&D blue/actinicplus

Actinic URI VHO Catalina has an actinic that is supposed to look nice and I am running a Helios strip light with an actinic I really like. I would stick with Blueplus lamps instead. You might not get quite as much fluorescence but they provide a nice blue color and a good amount of PAR.

In your case I would try 1 GE 6500, 2 Aquablues and 3 Blueplus.

 

[johns]

Actinic URI VHO

And I was going to make a comment about no VHO references

So has anyone tried the catalina actinic? Is there a helios actinic for T5? or is the majority opinion the same as grim here - to stay away from the T5 actinic altogether?

 

[tgreene]

Actinic URI VHO

And I was going to make a comment about no VHO references

So has anyone tried the catalina actinic?

I use them, and feel they are as close to being a URI SuperActinic as a T5 bulb could be...

The CA Actinic is in the array on the right... Notice the deep purple look.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

You know greenie, I think we have the same actinic lamps (except mine are 6 footers) with different brands printed on them
Your pics turn out about the same color as mine do. In real life the tank is a much clearer blue color with a very slight violet tint to it.

 

[tgreene]

I doubt it, because IRL mine are much more purple, and look exactly like URI VHO's...

 

[The Grim Reefer]

No, mine aren't purple. Your tank shot is really close to what mine looks like in person. A very clear blue that just starts to look a little on the violet side, it really fluoresces the greens well and makes the orange zoo look a brilliant amber color, I wish I was better with photograpy. My close ups with the sand in the shot get the same greenish color you got in your pics. I have an actinic combo that looks purple but I haven't ran it alone yet. I SHOULD be working on my halides but I guess I;ll have toplay with these a bit as long as they are on there

 

[johns]

tgreene-
what's on the left side of those shots that you are comparing to?

Grim-
is that the helios actinic T5 you are talking about in those pictures?

so if I were to pick an actinic to play around with is the catalina or helios generally considered by most to be the better buy compared to the ATI/D&D? Why - do they look more 'bright'? is the color different?

Thanks you guys.

 

[horkn]

johns, i hear talk of a uri t5ho actinic, but no actual bulb afaik..

until then i will use my ati blues

 

[The Grim Reefer]

With the Helios lamps I am not sure if you can get the bare lamp or not, these are mounted in a frame with a so-so reflector. www.commodityaxis.com has a contact us tab you can used to e-mail them and ask.

I have added a couple of what they call actinic combo lamps that might be very interesting. They are more violet but not too much. The funny thing is the light they produce is more subdued than the actinic blue which looks way brighter to me but the combo produces more PAR. Go figue. I'll post a pic tonight after the mains go out.

 

[Codeman00]

tgreene...where did you get the Catalina actinics.. I want to try them out! Also, what exactly does it say on the bulbs...both the ATI and Catalina are at 420 nm right? But they show different coloration? Weird.

 

[growyourown]

Catalina T5 Actinic

Catalina T5 Actinic

I have the catalina as well... I love these lights

Here is my tank with only two 54W T5 CA Actinics:

And now with all 6 lights:

(Back)
CA Actinic
D&D Aqua Blue
GE Day 6500K
D&D Blue Plus
D&D Aqua Blue
CA Actinic
(Front)

The fixture:

A bit of an old pic all lights:

My most recent pic:

My Favia:

Heres a link to the CA Lights: http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/cat18_1.htm

Glenn

 

[tjay]

Well I am officially gone over to the dark side. Well sort of. I just finished installing my MH with t5 actinic supplement. 4 X54 Catilina Aquarium and 2X250 MH magnetic ballast with 20K bulbs.

The guy I bartered with sent 2 10K T5s instead of all four actinic but he is going to correct that for me next week. While I am a fan of T5 I gotta say the MH are very nice. Now If I can hold the heat issue down. I have a couple of 3 inch fans the guy threw in as well. and so far so good on the heat but this is the first day. The ricordia, and other shrooms all opened up and look better than ever guess I will see how it goes as I add other corals.

BTW tgreene, I gotta git this xenia out of my tank soon Still want it?

 

[dwdenny]

ok T5 guys I need some advice here. I would love to have MH but with 105 degrees days on average during the summer I figure there is no way to keep tank temps down with out a chiller(maybe in the future just not now). I was thinking of going with a 4X39w Tek fixture with it comes with 2 GE daylight and I was thinking of adding two blue plus to ballance it out. However like The Grim Reefer says might not balace out all that well. I like the look of 13kk not really blue but not white eigther if that makes sense.

Would a 4X39w work for LPS and Zoanthids? What combo of bulbs should I be looking at?

 

[horkn]

dwdenny, that 4x39 will work great for your tank, the 45 gallon is the one in question, right?


and you could keep sps and clams as well... i have no problems with the sps i have with 3x39 over a 35 g...

 

[dwdenny]

Thanks for the quick reply horkn and yes the 45 is the one in question. I just got through leak testing it today after resealing about a week ago. Right now I am not looking at SPS but you know how that goes.

I just wondering about the look. I know that the daylight bulbs will help grow coral better but 2 days fighting against 2 blue plus might not work out all that well. I will email reefgeek and see if I can just replace one day with aqua blue and pay the difference. I will see what they say. I like the fixture cause I can hang it from the ceiling and run open top tank.