The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[TropTrea]

At the moment I have cheap bulbs (it has a white look):
current usa 12000k
current usa 420nm
current usa 460nm
uvl 10000k(pink tint, dont like)
I want to go with 4 ATI bulbs: aquablue special, 2 blue plus and a purple plus. I have all LPS and softies
Will the difference in PAR have any ill effects(burning) if I change all 4 at once?
I currently change 2 every 6 months to keep fresh bulbs in most the time, is that a good idea?

I have an 8 bulb fixture and change bulbs 2 at a time every 3 months. This puts a max of 12 any bulbs right about the time they start decayng rapidly. Snce changing out just two of the bulbs in your set up will be a fairly drastic change I see no reason why you cannot do it either way. If you do a 50% change I'd change out the 420 current and the uvl 100,000K first for a purple plus and a blue plus. But if you want to change them all just remember to change them again in a year or less.

 

[TropTrea]

I am looking to replace the bulbs in my ATI PowerModule 8 x 24 fixture. The bulbs I currently run came with the fixture (5 ATI Blue+, 2 AquaBlue Special, 1 Purple+). I am looking to run something similar to the picture below.

photo utilized from Hypes Archipelago thread, located here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2020480

The following bulbs are utilized.
ATI 24W Blue Plus (two)
ATI 24W Actinic (one)
ATI 24W Purple Plus (one)
ATI 24W Coral Plus (one)
GE 24W 6500k (one)

Problem is, I run two extra bulbs. What would be the best to use and not skew the color too much?

Since I have done alot of work with LED's lately and also have experience with T-5's I will comment. The LEd's in the picture look like a 50/50 mixture of 454nm and 460 nm LEDs. There are 36 of them but it is hard to tell what wattage they are running at. The max wattage would 3 watts per LED giving you roughly 100 watts of LED lighting. To equal this with T-5's I would say 2 Blue Plus bulbs would be close for total light or PAR but not for color. The T-5's have a broader light spectrum than the LED's so with T-5's you cannot match that peircing blue effect from the LED's.

For your 8 bulb fixture I would go with what you listed only add two more Blue Plus bulbs. If you wanted to blue it from there then pulling the coral plus for another blue plus would be about the best you could do to mathch the color from the above fixture without adding LED's.

Personaly I'm leaning to the best of both worlds being a combination of LED's and a couple ATI Blue Plus bulbs.

 

[TimothyJ]

Since I have done alot of work with LED's lately and also have experience with T-5's I will comment. The LEd's in the picture look like a 50/50 mixture of 454nm and 460 nm LEDs. There are 36 of them but it is hard to tell what wattage they are running at. The max wattage would 3 watts per LED giving you roughly 100 watts of LED lighting. To equal this with T-5's I would say 2 Blue Plus bulbs would be close for total light or PAR but not for color. The T-5's have a broader light spectrum than the LED's so with T-5's you cannot match that peircing blue effect from the LED's.

For your 8 bulb fixture I would go with what you listed only add two more Blue Plus bulbs. If you wanted to blue it from there then pulling the coral plus for another blue plus would be about the best you could do to mathch the color from the above fixture without adding LED's.

Personaly I'm leaning to the best of both worlds being a combination of LED's and a couple ATI Blue Plus bulbs.

The LED's shown are actually Reef Brite XHO 24" units. I actually have one myself mounted to my PowerModule as well and plan on adding a second to the back side. So essentially, my light design is going to be the same as the photo, but I have an opportunity for two more bulbs since my fixture is an 8 vs a 6. I want to maintain the look of the tank that the OP had with his fixture.

 

[Michigan Mike]

The LED's shown are actually Reef Brite XHO 24" units. I actually have one myself mounted to my PowerModule as well and plan on adding a second to the back side. So essentially, my light design is going to be the same as the photo, but I have an opportunity for two more bulbs since my fixture is an 8 vs a 6. I want to maintain the look of the tank that the OP had with his fixture.

Its not going to be exactly the same if doing it your way.

Adding 2 actinic bulbs in the dawn/dusk slots will add a bit of low 420nm wavelength that you are missing without overpowering your main color/look you are going for. It may look better to some people, especially using the 2 LEDs and 2 actinics together for dusk/dawn.

Other than that another blue & actinic, or blue & coral or actinic and coral...will keep it somewhat close to similar but nothing will match it (i may be wrong) but you have to decide what you like when you have it.

Grab an extra bulb you think will suite you just in case.

 

[TimothyJ]

Its not going to be exactly the same if doing it your way.

Adding 2 actinic bulbs in the dawn/dusk slots will add a bit of low 420nm wavelength that you are missing without overpowering your main color/look you are going for. It may look better to some people, especially using the 2 LEDs and 2 actinics together for dusk/dawn.

Other than that another blue & actinic, or blue & coral or actinic and coral...will keep it somewhat close to similar but nothing will match it (i may be wrong) but you have to decide what you like when you have it.

Grab an extra bulb you think will suite you just in case.

Agree that it won't match exactly, just trying to get as close as possible. Thanks for the help!

 

[HippieSmell]

How many bulbs are needed for SPS on a 3' deep tank? Deep as in front to back. I'm looking at the ATI Powermodule with 10 bulbs, but they're being discontinued. The ATI Sunpower only has 8 bulbs, and I'd rather not have to get two fixtures.

 

[TimothyJ]

Its not going to be exactly the same if doing it your way.

Adding 2 actinic bulbs in the dawn/dusk slots will add a bit of low 420nm wavelength that you are missing without overpowering your main color/look you are going for. It may look better to some people, especially using the 2 LEDs and 2 actinics together for dusk/dawn.

Other than that another blue & actinic, or blue & coral or actinic and coral...will keep it somewhat close to similar but nothing will match it (i may be wrong) but you have to decide what you like when you have it.

Grab an extra bulb you think will suite you just in case.

Sorry to become bothersome, just wanted to make sure I fully understand before placing my order. I believe that the 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 slots fire on one ballast and the 3 and 6 on another. Assuming this is true, you suggest the following bulbs? Thanks again.

 

[rtparty]

How many bulbs are needed for SPS on a 3' deep tank? Deep as in front to back. I'm looking at the ATI Powermodule with 10 bulbs, but they're being discontinued. The ATI Sunpower only has 8 bulbs, and I'd rather not have to get two fixtures.

10 at a minimum or the new power module with LEDs and 8 bulbs.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Sorry to become bothersome, just wanted to make sure I fully understand before placing my order. I believe that the 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 slots fire on one ballast and the 3 and 6 on another. Assuming this is true, you suggest the following bulbs? Thanks again.

You can try that, I would probably put the coral plus & ge6500 on the dawn dusk channel.

 

[SPotter]

Pulled the trigger....going back to all t5's

Pulled the trigger....going back to all t5's

I sold my LED/t5 fixture yesterday and ordered 2 Sun Power fixtures for my 72x36x28 tank. I orginally wanted to start with an 8x80w but decided to go with a 4x80w and an 8x80w. I went with 5 B+, 3 C+ and 1 P+. I have some Actinic and extra P+ bulbs already from my current fixture that I can swap and play around with if needed. Very excited to be back to all T5!!!

 

[TropTrea]

The LED's shown are actually Reef Brite XHO 24" units. I actually have one myself mounted to my PowerModule as well and plan on adding a second to the back side. So essentially, my light design is going to be the same as the photo, but I have an opportunity for two more bulbs since my fixture is an 8 vs a 6. I want to maintain the look of the tank that the OP had with his fixture.

Yes if your going with theadded LED's then start with the original listing of bulbs and for your two additional bulbs go with either atinic or blue plus bulbs either individualy or in combination. With the atinics it will create a little more purplish look and with the blue plus it will look a little more on the cyan blue side. Personaly I would lean more to the atinics since with 8 T-5's in an ATI fixture plus two LED strips you should have more than enough light for almost anything.

As a note to possibly watch. I picked up two blue plus bulbs a month ago and used them to replace some of other blue plus bulbs, And just yesterday I pick up two more from a different local store. The ones I picked up a month ago were more cyan looking than the ones I picked up yesterday.
It is extremly noticabbe as the bulbs are next to each other in the fixture. My guess would be that they peak out about 5 to 10 nm differently. For my eye this is noticable but to many it might not be. Working with LED's I got real sensative to slightly different blues from different batch numbers of LED's.

 

[TropTrea]

You can try that, I would probably put the coral plus & ge6500 on the dawn dusk channel.

Do I read you correctly the GE 6500 on dawn to dusk not mid day? Then basicly add all the blue to midday?

 

[HippieSmell]

10 at a minimum or the new power module with LEDs and 8 bulbs.

So you think 10 will cover the 3 feet front to back? I'm unfamiliar with how much spread they have. I know the fixture itself is only 21.5" wide.

The LED powermodule looks awesome, but not in my budget right now.

 

[TropTrea]

I sold my LED/t5 fixture yesterday and ordered 2 Sun Power fixtures for my 72x36x28 tank. I orginally wanted to start with an 8x80w but decided to go with a 4x80w and an 8x80w. I went with 5 B+, 3 C+ and 1 P+. I have some Actinic and extra P+ bulbs already from my current fixture that I can swap and play around with if needed. Very excited to be back to all T5!!!

What did you not like about the LED T-5 mixture?
I'm basicly converted from all to T-5 on all my tanks to all LED's on some of them.
But as I'm redong other tanks I finding that a good mix of LED's and T-5's seems to be better than all of either types. I have decided eventualy to with that combo on all my tanks.

 

[rtparty]

So you think 10 will cover the 3 feet front to back? I'm unfamiliar with how much spread they have. I know the fixture itself is only 21.5" wide.

The LED powermodule looks awesome, but not in my budget right now.

Yes it will cover it just fine.

 

[SPotter]

What did you not like about the LED T-5 mixture?
I'm basicly converted from all to T-5 on all my tanks to all LED's on some of them.
But as I'm redong other tanks I finding that a good mix of LED's and T-5's seems to be better than all of either types. I have decided eventualy to with that combo on all my tanks.

Honestly I cant say anything bad about the light. I just felt I had better growth and coloration with all t5's than I did with the led/t5 combo. I should say that I like to keep a mix of corals and the one thing I found difficult to keep under leds were chalice and acans along with some other lps. Once I moved them back to my frag tank that is all t5's they bounced back and looked great. The bells and whistles are great with dimming, storms, etc....I just want to keep it simple with a nice even spread of light coming from a great fixture.

 

[jgraz]

Ok, not sure if what i want is possible but here goes.

I started Bio-pellets a few months ago and recently ended up pulling my refugium offline. The section is 17"x17"x12". I intend to make it a frag tank. At this point im stuck on what type of lighting to use. My DT is T5 and I really want to use T5 in this section also. It needs to be able to handle SPS. Are there any options out there to make this happen. Either a fixture or Retrofit, 4 bulbs would do the job but I would prefer 6 for a better color mix. I appreciate the help.

Also the rack that I will be using in the section is only about 12" wide, so I dont really need the light to cover the whole area. I can use remaining space for low light stuff that i may want to add. I have a 4x18w Odyssea fixture that I can use, any thoughts on whether that can handle things at that depth. Or maybe a way to modify it.

Of course LEDs are also an option. But don't know which way to go there either, but thats another thread.

 

[rtparty]

Ok, not sure if what i want is possible but here goes.

I started Bio-pellets a few months ago and recently ended up pulling my refugium offline. The section is 17"x17"x12". I intend to make it a frag tank. At this point im stuck on what type of lighting to use. My DT is T5 and I really want to use T5 in this section also. It needs to be able to handle SPS. Are there any options out there to make this happen. Either a fixture or Retrofit, 4 bulbs would do the job but I would prefer 6 for a better color mix. I appreciate the help.

Also the rack that I will be using in the section is only about 12" wide, so I dont really need the light to cover the whole area. I can use remaining space for low light stuff that i may want to add. I have a 4x18w Odyssea fixture that I can use, any thoughts on whether that can handle things at that depth. Or maybe a way to modify it.

Of course LEDs are also an option. But don't know which way to go there either, but thats another thread.

I wouldn't risk it. You will only be able to use garbage bulbs and sps won't do all that well.

I would just use 24" bulbs if you ate serious about it.

 

[SPotter]

Ive been looking at the reefbrite leds to add to the ends of the fixtures and was wondering what other leds everyone is using?

 

[jgraz]

I wouldn't risk it. You will only be able to use garbage bulbs and sps won't do all that well.

I would just use 24" bulbs if you ate serious about it.

Im definitely considering it. I was going to up the bulbs to Aquatic Life 18w but even those are questionable. A local reefer is selling a Aquatictinics Tx5 24w. It would cover more of my sump then I care to but nutrients in my tank are pretty low so and algae growth in the bubble traps, baffles, and skimmer sections should be kept in check. What do you think?