The T5 Q&a Thread - split
- Thread starter eagle9252
- Start date
rtparty
Raise The Reef!
4 blue plus, 1 purple plus and 1 coral plus.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
On any 6tube unit, the above combo is my overall favorite. Good combo :thumbsup:
What is the recommended height above the water for the Sunpower 6x80 with the recommended combo for a standard 125 (72x18x22) mixed reef tank???
I have mine a 8" and moved it to 9.5" becuase my Hammers seems pale. Teh lights are on from 1PM to 10PM. Dawn dusk are the Blue and Purple Plus starting at 1PM and the other 3 Blue Plus and the Coral Plus starts at 4PM and go off at 9:00PM.
Thanks in advance for any suggestion....
Dapg8gt
New member
I was actually researching it thinking about doing it(you did it right?) I think I was reading your thread on your process and bresult and I'm on the fence. I know this light as is with the new reflectors going in will be more than enough for my tank but I'm still considering it but I think all I'd really get is some shimmer and more control with the reef angel. Idk if I want to spend the $ on it honestly. Thinking about it though =)I am not 100% sure, but I think they may be coated. Take the worst one out of the bunch and try to clean it. If it starts to turn shiny, then all is good and you just need to put in a few hours of effort...but I doubt it...I think they are coated...and once the coating is damaged, you need to buy new ones.
PS if that was my ATI PM, I would be whipping out two of those T5 tubes and add a couple of rows of Royal Blue and 420nm LED's in there. Then replace 6 of the reflectors and my god, you will have an awesome light unit on your hand.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
The light is PLENTY enough and will colour SPS brilliantly given the right water quality.
Its just me...
I love the T5/LED combo.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Your light hours seem fine. But you can probably reduce light hours a little and move the light unit a little higher.
You might also want to lower the Hammer if that was possible.
Those 80w T5 tubes put out serious PAR.
Thanks Sahin...
I already moved the lights 1.5" higher which means that now they are at 9.5" above the water. Do you think that is enough because i have a open canopy and will not like the look.
When you say reduce hours are you referring to the day lighting only from the actual 5 hours or the entire lighting hours of 9 hours?? Which one you will reduce or both??? I thought 9 hours were in the bording line due to i also have some SPS.
Regarding the placement they cannot go lower....
Sorry for the concerns....
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
If you can't relocate the Hammer lower, then you have no option but to either reduce the light period further or increase the fixture height.
Once the Hammer darkens up again you can slowly bring up the lights hours or bring the fixture down again.
Try running the total hours at 8 hours and the 4 tubes at 5 hours to see if you get any improvement.
Also being an LPS coral, try to target feed it at least 2 x a week to help it darken up a little.
TropTrea
New member
From some old data when I worked testing them for a living one start up was the equivelent of 4 to 6 hours of run time as far as the deterioting on the bulbs. Noting that different starters or ballasts had a big effect on this deteriation.
I wll confirm that the blue bulbs will probably shift sooner than fuller spectrumed bulbs, on a trending bases. Besting nulns that were tuned to 3,200K shifted less than bulbs tuned for 5,000K and the 5,000K bulbs shifted less than the 6,500K. If this comparison continued through the blue bulbs they would extremly shorter lived than the full spectrumed bulbs.
Noting that the normal shifting is the increase in light emitted from the upper end of the red spectrum while the other levels of light slowly lower with time.
ericsch333
New member
I have a 36 bow And was give a 2 x 24 t5 Fluval for Xmas I have been out of the hobby for awhile use to vho and was wondering should I upgrade to a 4 bulb that's 30 inches or is the 48 watts enough for soft coral?
TropTrea
New member
Yes Allumnium reflectors can be polished and brought back to life again. Some can even look better than the original factry finish. However it takes more than just a little elbow grease. Alumnium os very soft and while 2,000grit steel wool can get off the stains and pitting it will leave a dull finsh. Polishing it requires jewlers rouge and a very skillful individual using a slow speed buffer.
A few years ago I built my own reflectors using German Polished Alumnium. In the bending and cutting process I got some scratches and tried getting them out. I was able to remove the scratches on one of them but could not get the original shine back so I decided to live with the scratches on the others.
I will also agree that rebuilding the 8 bulb fixture converting it to 6 bulbs plus a pair of LED's rows would give you the best of both worlds. I ould actualy go to 4 T-5's bulbs and 4 Rows of LED's.
Dapg8gt
New member
Thanks for the help guys appreciate it.
I would literally have to remove all the silver these are coated with to get down to the bare aluminum. There is Def a lot of the Silver missing in the deep pits and stains in almost all the reflectors so I feel it's not worth it. Directly from ATI ' s website is they are "coated in silver" for optimum reflection. I ordered new ones from Reefgeek.
I am debating on doing the led conversion. I may Pm you guys if I get any questions if that's alright. I know I'll be staying away from white diodes if I do and I have a great resource close by. (rapid led) I feel I can make a badarse fixture and clean looking if I take my time.
I'm a big diy guy in a lot of areas where it benefits me to save some coin. My big thing is nothing can look like garbage. I strive to make things look like it's factory and I feel this is definitely a project that can be done along those lines.
Thanks again guys, my wallet doesn't thank you though lol. I'll report back if I go through with it. Or bombard troptrea and sahin with questions lol.
Sohal Tang Tim
Member
Grim...what 8 bulbs you recommend?
Grim...what 8 bulbs you recommend?
Hope Grim responds.....
I have 2 x 8bulb Tek Elite fixtures over 8ft x 28 x 24 280 gal reef.
What 8 bulbs T5 do you recommend and pls show placement front to back?
Thanks Grim!
Tim
Grim...what 8 bulbs you recommend?
Hope Grim responds.....
I have 2 x 8bulb Tek Elite fixtures over 8ft x 28 x 24 280 gal reef.
What 8 bulbs T5 do you recommend and pls show placement front to back?
Thanks Grim!
Tim
rtparty
Raise The Reef!
Grim is long gone. Hasn't been in here for years now.
5 ATI Blue Plus, 2 ATI Purple Plus and 1 ATI Coral Plus is a very popular combo right now.
Blue
Purple
Blue
Coral
Blue
Purple
Blue
Blue
That's a good starting point.
Froggy
Reef "Hobbyist"...right!?
Very good suggestion by Ryan as a starting point. I would grab a couple of extra bulbs to make adjustments with. As with most lighting, T5's especially, you need to see them in person. Pictures do not represent the actual look very well due to a number of factors.
You will need to decide what you want to see. Several bulb combos will give your corals proper growth and color and it is up to you what you like. I am personally using a new combo and really like this:
4 blue plus, 2 purple plus, 1 aqua blue special, and 1 ATI actinic. I have found I did not need as much PAR as I thought on my 120 and added the actinic bulb. You can easily replace that with another blue plus. Based on Ryan's starting point a bluer look would be as he posted. A blueish but but brighter and a tad whiter would be to replace the coral plus with a aqua blue special. An even brighter and less blue look would be to replace the coral plus with a GE 6500. I would start with Ryan's suggestion and get an extra couple of bulbs to play with. Just give yourself a couple of days to decide if you like it before trying a different look so your eyes adjust and do not immediately trick you into thinking you do not like it.
Joe
TropTrea
New member
That sounds awful purple to me with three bulbs hitting on the red part of the spectrum, and only one touching the green part of the spectrum. With the Coral Plus bulbs I would not add purples but increase it to two or three coral plus bulbs. The big variable is how bright someone wants there tank. more coral plus bulbs = a brighter tank. But it would take at least 4 coral plus bulbs to equal the brightness of a single GE 6,500K.
If you pick up a couple extra bulbs as RT advised get them as Coral Plus bulbs. Then you can try different combo's Between the 3 coral plus and the 2 purple plus bulbs in those three slots. Personal color taste will be the big distinguishing difference between likining my idea and RT's.
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