The T5 Q&a Thread - split
- Thread starter eagle9252
- Start date
TropTrea
New member
I personaly would build it myself 4 True Blue Chips and 6 Royal Blue Chips running at 700ma for a total of about 25 watts. This is equivelent to an added 35 to 50 Watts of T-5 lighting.
Look around for strips with mainly Royal Blue LED's and you want around 30 Watts total but can go up as high as 60 watts, If you do not want to build it yourself.
FlyPenFly
SPS Killer
I think their reflectors are well regarded, second behind ATI and better than TEK. If you're talking about Aquatic Life.
frederickwiltz
New member
frederickwiltz
New member
Bpb
New member
I run the above combination with an aquatic life fixture. The reflectors are good. Not ATI parabolic good, but still very good. I've been able to grow anything I want. This fixture has the bulbs spread wide and on a 55 gallon it doesn't leave much room to hide for low light stuff. Overall I love this particular color combination. I've only struggled with a few Lps species because due to my rock work I didn't have anywhere shaded enough for them. Growing acros, montipora, and birdsnest with no problem though. Acans and zoas on the sandbed doing great as well
I run the 2 blue+ from noon to 9 pm, with the coral+ and purple+ coming on from 12:30-8:30.
I run the 2 blue+ from noon to 9 pm, with the coral+ and purple+ coming on from 12:30-8:30.
Bpb
New member
I am fairly unfamiliar with that product honestly, but just checked out their website. I'll say this...the fluorescence you get from royal blue LEDs is unbeatable from any t5 or halide bulb. If you were running a strip of just royal blue or something that would be a killer supplement. I am still sold on t5 for full spectrum though
TropTrea
New member
The Royal Blues do a fantastic job on florescense. However in my experimentation with LED's I found that different LED's in the blue family will cause the florescens to look considerably different. As n example on some frog span I had the 454 nm LED's made them glow Green, The 270 nm True Blue LED's mad them glow Blue and the 410 Near UV Led's made them glow Yellow. With a combination of the three I got the best florescent colors on all the corals.
Reef Reactor
Member
Hi, I have a 48"x40"x22" tank. Most are sps.
I have 14-t5 bulbs over it in 2 tek's lamps.
Can you tell me if they are too much? My corals looks like it but I recently added a tridacna clam, cynarina and a trachiphyllia and they do not inflate as I saw them on my lfs.
I asume it is too much light.
What do you think?
I have 14-t5 bulbs over it in 2 tek's lamps.
Can you tell me if they are too much? My corals looks like it but I recently added a tridacna clam, cynarina and a trachiphyllia and they do not inflate as I saw them on my lfs.
I asume it is too much light.
What do you think?
What you think about the Exotic Stunner Royal Blues???? Also see that they have the Royal Bue with Magnetta combination.
TropTrea
New member
You basicly have a 182 gallon tank. My normal calculations would put it around 900 watts of T-5 lighting maximium. With 14- 48" T-5's your looking at 756 Watts. So yes I would say not beyound the max for most Corals.
But what it could be is the typpe of bulbs you are using. Not knowing that but your description I would suspect your heavy into the longer wave lenghts and possibley thin on the shorter wafelenghts. If you keep 14 Bulbs I would reccomend
Front
1 ATI Blue Plus
2 ATI Purple Plus
3 ATI Blue Plus
4- ATI Aqua Blue Special or GE 6,500K
5 ATI Blue Plus
6 ATI Blue Plus
7 ATI Coral Plus
8 ATI Blue Plus
9 ATI Blue Plus
10 ATI Blue Plus
11 ATI Aqua Blue Special or GE 6,500K
12 ATI Blue Plus
13 ATI Purple Plus
14 ATI Blue Plus
Rear
Note the GE woulll whiten the tank a little more than the ATI Aqua Blue.
TropTrea
New member
I would not go a Royal Blue and Magenta mix if your suplementing T-5's. Stick with the Royal Blues 455nm and if you mix anything with them use True Blues 470nm, or Near UV' 410 to 420 nms, very sparingly.
The magentas are a blue and red spike and you do not want to add red when your using T-5's to brighten the tank up.
scubaprashant
New member
Looking for a bulb recommendation for maximum coral growth on a mixed reef 180g. My fixture supports 6 T5HO bulbs.
Tank is 6'x2'x2'.
I want to dedicate only 2 of the bulbs to actinics because I will only see the tank in the evenings, and only 2 of those bulbs will be on during that time. I'm not concerned with the tank "looking too yellow" if the growth is better during the day when I'm not home.
Tank is 6'x2'x2'.
I want to dedicate only 2 of the bulbs to actinics because I will only see the tank in the evenings, and only 2 of those bulbs will be on during that time. I'm not concerned with the tank "looking too yellow" if the growth is better during the day when I'm not home.
Bpb
New member
Others may disagree, but if I were you I would do
Blue +
Coral +
GE6500k
Blue+
Coral+
Coral+
This will look very crisp and white. Will probably have a little yellow which most people won't like, but for growth purposes, you'll get a ton of full spectrum par
TropTrea
New member
I will disagree strongly with this being a good combination for maximium growth. Yes it is a bright combination that will give a high PAr meter reading and would work great with terestial or fresh water plants but not for corals.
First off you have 3 Coral Plus bulbs that have a strong red element in the spectrum. This red element is of very little benefit to most corals and in excess can cause damage to some corals.
Second the GE also has a red element but has it stronges litht in the 50 nm to 560 nm area which is little to no use for any of the photosynthetic proteins found in corals.
If you realyu want to push growth then go with more of the a combination of one Aqua Blue Special, one Coral Pluis or Purple Plus, and the rest being Blue Plus. It is the blues that bring out both growth and florescenns in corals not the high PAR numbers. Remember PAR can be very misleadng for corals but it is the best economical measurement we have. Spectrum is the key rather than broad meter readings.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Would this combination also not work for corals?
front
ATI blue +
ATI coral +
ATI blue +
ATI coral +
ATI blue +
ATI coral +
Thanks
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