The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[Michigan Mike]

24X18x18 Aquarium. Zoanthids Only. Im Looking For The Flouresent Color Of The Polyps To Really Stand Out With Out Going 100% Blue. Im Looking In The 14K-20k Range.

Lighting Is A 4 Bulb Retro With Icecap Reflectors And Workhorse Ballast.

If Need Be I Can Change It To A 6 Bulb With A 660 But I Feel That Would Fry everything

1 blue plus
1 actinic
2 coral plus or 1 coral & 1 purple.

I'd prefer six bulbs and use 2 actinics, 1 blue, 2 coral & 1 purple

My avatar is 2 blue, 1 purple, 1 actinic to give you an idea. If you think the combos are too blue remove the blue bulb for another coral plus.

 

[Michigan Mike]

I have a 36" TEK LIGHT T-5 that is ready for a bulb change. I am looking to keep mostly SPS, and I have a Clam. What do you think of the following bulb combo, 4-ATI Blue Plus, 1-ATI Aquablue Special and 1-ATI Purple Plus. I am looking for a crisp bluish look, thx

Sounds about right.

 

[brandon0350]

1 blue plus
1 actinic
2 coral plus or 1 coral & 1 purple.

I'd prefer six bulbs and use 2 actinics, 1 blue, 2 coral & 1 purple

My avatar is 2 blue, 1 purple, 1 actinic to give you an idea. If you think the combos are too blue remove the blue bulb for another coral plus.

Thanks. 2 More Questions.

Are You Talking Ati Or KZ Bulbs? Does It Make A Difference?


Do You Think 6 Bulbs Is Overkill On My Tank? Especially 4 Overdriven With A 660 ballast?

Ok I Guess 4 Questions..

 

[rtparty]

Thanks. 2 More Questions.

Are You Talking Ati Or KZ Bulbs? Does It Make A Difference?


Do You Think 6 Bulbs Is Overkill On My Tank? Especially 4 Overdriven With A 660 ballast?

Ok I Guess 4 Questions..

ATI

ATI and kz are both good.

6 bulbs is overkill for a zoa only tank and overdriving them is a terrible idea, especially the 24" bulbs.

 

[tmc1313]

Is anybody running their T5's dimmed down? I'm interested in results you've gotten. Do the bulbs run true to spectrum when dimmed down? I ask because I have a new 6 bulb ATI dimmable sunpower on a shallow tank (14" deep). I took some par readings with the Apogee meter and I'm getting 600-650 par 3/4 of the way down. Pretty much where my corals are (SPS). I have no problem losing some par dimming them down, just want to know if it's going to be an issue or not running them this way. Thanks

 

[TropTrea]

Is anybody running their T5's dimmed down? I'm interested in results you've gotten. Do the bulbs run true to spectrum when dimmed down? I ask because I have a new 6 bulb ATI dimmable sunpower on a shallow tank (14" deep). I took some par readings with the Apogee meter and I'm getting 600-650 par 3/4 of the way down. Pretty much where my corals are (SPS). I have no problem losing some par dimming them down, just want to know if it's going to be an issue or not running them this way. Thanks

going back years ago when I worked in quality control engineering for a florescent manufacturer I will say there is probably going to be a shift. We used to test tubes at various power levels to stimulate various ballast set ups as well as to cause more rapid deteriation of the tubes. We also ran spectrum checks along there expected life span.

Different bulbs reacted differently. But the most frequent was that running them at higher power resulted in slight initial spectrum shifts in the range of 3 to 10 nm. Reduced power caused slightly larger shifts. Depending on the phospate compounds used the shift can go either way. but lower power usualy ment to shrter wave lenghts as the longer ones would decrease faster than the shorter ones. The big thing is as a bulb ages thoiugh it does shift to a longer wavlenght so a bulb that was designed and tested initialy at 10,000K with 10% extra power may glow as 9,500K bubl initialy but after a year may drop to 7,000K. Simularly running that 10,000K bulb at 85% power may make it a 10,500K bulb but after a year it it is closer to 9,000K.

The shifts in wave lenfght are not nearly as noticable though as the changes in brightness especialy to the human eye. Any bulb running 6 months has shifted from its initial power up but put the two bulbs next to each other and only 10% of people can detect a change if that many.

 

[TropTrea]

ATI

ATI and kz are both good.

.

Makes me wonder if some of them could be made in the same plant? I know GE made bulbs for various vendors with the only real difference being the stamp on the bulb and the price tag in the store when you bought them. I believe both ATI and KZ bulbs are made in Germany and how many plants in Germany make florescent bulbs?

 

[TropTrea]

Thanks. 2 More Questions.

Are You Talking Ati Or KZ Bulbs? Does It Make A Difference?


Do You Think 6 Bulbs Is Overkill On My Tank? Especially 4 Overdriven With A 660 ballast?

Ok I Guess 4 Questions..

The ATI and KZ are extremly simular except for the price tag. The KZ may have a peak wavelenght slightly lower than the ATI which is good in my opinion however what people are reporting here could just a difference between batches of bulbs.

As long as your tank is 18" front to back and at least 20" tall the 6 bulbs should not be overkkill. If they are raising them higher should be compensate for that.

The overdiving of them I do not think will be enough to push you over the edge. Reflector differences are more extreme that ballast differences.

 

[TropTrea]

I plan on using a 2 bulb T5 fixture to supplement LEDs for my upgrade. Which bulbs should I use?

This depends a lot on what LED's your using.

For myself I have the following

430 to 460 nm LED for predawn to Post Dusk

2 ATI Blue Plus for dawn to dusk

LED Combination of Neutral Whites and 454nm for mid day.

some like to use a combo of Blue Plus and Purple Plus with LED's, others like a Blue Plus with an Atinic with LEDs. But what LED's your using will be a big determining factor what will make you happy.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Thanks. 2 More Questions.

Are You Talking Ati Or KZ Bulbs? Does It Make A Difference?

1- I'm talking about ATI but either will be fine.
2- not really, they have slight differences but nothing that will effect your coral

Do You Think 6 Bulbs Is Overkill On My Tank? Especially 4 Overdriven With A 660 ballast?

3&4-not if you only overdrive 2 bulbs (like actinics) or buy another workhorse ballast for the other 2 bulbs, they are cheap. Buying a workhorse for 6 bulbs is best.




Ok I Guess 4 Questions..

What reflectors are you using?
Are you cooling the bulbs?
How high can you raise the lights above the tank?

More is needed to say for sure..

 

[rtparty]

Makes me wonder if some of them could be made in the same plant? I know GE made bulbs for various vendors with the only real difference being the stamp on the bulb and the price tag in the store when you bought them. I believe both ATI and KZ bulbs are made in Germany and how many plants in Germany make florescent bulbs?

They are. Both are made by Sylvania.

 

[TropTrea]

When did they change the blue plus bulbs. Where is this link, or is it from observations from people? I've heard one other person say this but never any data supporting this.

They revamped all their bulbs about two years ago. They also made a change to their boxes to reflect this. That way you could tell between old and new. .

Yes my opld notes on the ATI Blue Plus bulbs listed them as peaking at 454nm and now all there literature list them peaking at 460 nm. It was about 2 years ago that I bought a bunc if them and last December when I was doing a bulb change was short two new bulbs. The ones I picked up as ATI blue plus bulbs were a tint brighter and greener than the ones two years old and never used. Unfortunatly the place I got them from sold then in the inner brown coragated box so I cannot comment on a box change.

I'm in the middle of building an LED/T5 hybrid right now and plan to run 2 superblue and 2 coral plus for my T5s. I will post pics when it is ready in a few weeks/months.

Be careful with the LED's it is real easy to push the color to a pinkish tint, while you boast the light in the lower ranges of the spectrum. You will like the florescense you get out your corals though from LED's. You atinic bulbs will realy be put to shame. You seem to be one person that likes there tank super blue and I will say you no problem getting blue light with LED's. I know I like the blue better with LED;s than I do with T-5's. I like to use a mixture of about 6 watts of blue's to 1 Watt of Neutral Whites with LED's but would never want that much blue with T-5's.

 

[TropTrea]

Than use the coral plus, its a bluer bulb. Not as much red spectrum but brighter looking (to the eye) like the purple bulb.

I will agree with Mike here Look at it this way.

Blue Plus = 3 Blue 1 Green
Purple Plus = 2 Blue 2 Red
Coral Plus = 2 Blue 1 Red 1 Green

put 2 purple and 2 blue plus together you have
10 Blue 2 Green 4 Red the result you see is 80% blue 20% red or a blue violet that some people call pink.

put 2 Plue Plus and 2 Coral Plus together you see
10 blue 4 Green 2 Red and the result you see is 80% blue and 20% green or a blue blue green (more blue than cyan) effect.

You could also go with one of each for
10 Blue 3 Green 3 Red that would give you a more pure blue look and it would be brighter than either of the other two.

 

[brandon0350]

What reflectors are you using?
Are you cooling the bulbs?
How high can you raise the lights above the tank?

More is needed to say for sure..

Icecap reflectors

if I overdrive with a 660 I will add fans. right now im just using advance ballast for 4 bulbs

max will be 6" off water

 

[rtparty]

Be careful with the LED's it is real easy to push the color to a pinkish tint, while you boast the light in the lower ranges of the spectrum. You will like the florescense you get out your corals though from LED's. You atinic bulbs will realy be put to shame. You seem to be one person that likes there tank super blue and I will say you no problem getting blue light with LED's. I know I like the blue better with LED;s than I do with T-5's. I like to use a mixture of about 6 watts of blue's to 1 Watt of Neutral Whites with LED's but would never want that much blue with T-5's.

I love blue LEDs. I ran all LED for over 18 months. I'm very capable of what they can and can't do.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Icecap reflectors

if I overdrive with a 660 I will add fans. right now im just using advance ballast for 4 bulbs

max will be 6" off water

You have great reflectors, if you cool the bulbs you will have a good high PAR unit with longer lasting bulbs, overdriving with the 660 could work well if you only use 2 bulbs but there isn't a good reason to do it when you should be able to buy a workhorse ballast for 2-24w t5ho bulb for $20.

I don't overdrive bulbs but if I did it would be full spectrum T5HO or actinic T12 VHO bulbs.

I'd start with 4 T5 HO bulbs and go from there maybe adding a workhorse ballast for 2 more 24" t5ho bulbs.

 

[arbee]

I have the old Constellation 72" 14 bulb light . Anything new in bulbs out there? Getting ready to replace bulbs. Mostly SPS.
Also, what to put in each socket and switch and lighting times would be great. (I had that noted on my old computer that crashed)
Thanks,

 

[reef_of_flames]

I'd use one blue plus and one coral plus

I'm guessing ATI brand since that's what everyone is recommending?

 

[Michigan Mike]

I'm guessing ATI brand since that's what everyone is recommending?

Or KZ Super Blue & Giesseman Actinic Plus for a blue plus substitute.

The KZ New Generation is close to a coral plus with not as much red spectrum.

 

[Michigan Mike]

I have the old Constellation 72" 14 bulb light . Anything new in bulbs out there? Getting ready to replace bulbs. Mostly SPS.
Also, what to put in each socket and switch and lighting times would be great. (I had that noted on my old computer that crashed)
Thanks,

What color do you want your tank? White, in between, or blue?