The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[Froggy]

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.

My personal opinion is that too many coral plus makes the tank look flat. The purple plus helps a lot with that to my eye. I would rather change the daylight bulb and keep the purple plus in the mix. That of course is my opinion and preference. Individual preference is a huge part of lighting for sure.
Joe

 

[rtparty]

My personal opinion is that too many coral plus makes the tank look flat. The purple plus helps a lot with that to my eye. I would rather change the daylight bulb and keep the purple plus in the mix. That of course is my opinion and preference. Individual preference is a huge part of lighting for sure.
Joe

This right here.

After running the coral plus bulbs for a few months, I just never fell in love with it. There is too much Aquablue in it IMO. It should have been way more blue plus and less Aquablue in the makeup.

 

[sahin]

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.

I see what you are saying, but it is a combo that works beautifully. This tank uses 5xBlue+, 2xPurple+ and 1xCoral+
This is the result: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21974215

Its a VERY nice combo. I search ALL the main reef forums for the best T5 combo's people have success with and I can confirm that this very combo works quite well.

However, your suggestion does make good sense too. And you are quite right, at the end of the day, a person needs to try out a combo and play around with a few extra tubes to work out what works best for them and their corals.

 

[Montireef]

I would go with less red. 5xBlue+1xPurple+2xCoral or even no purples and 6xBlue+2xCoral

 

[TropTrea]

I think this is something that can be argued up and back as to what someones personal taste in color is. If we were to critique every possible bulb out there some of us would gfind reasons why we do not like many of them if not all of them. But when it comes to the toal effect there is very big range in what we like in colors. Simularly our individual taste in colors can be influenced by the surrounding light in the room and also changes with time.

As you go through this thread you will find that Atinic's bulbs were given a big thumbs down then for a while not to long ago some of the predomnant members here started recomending them. This was the fact in my mind that there personal color taste changed.

If you look at the fuller spectrumed bulbs. I will agree with Froggy that the Aquablues are not the perfect ful spectrum bulb. In my mind there is not one out there that would make everyone happy. The Aqua blue requires some "purple" to add snap to it. The other one popular is the GE 6,500K which is considerable brighter but still need even more "purple" to balance out the yellow/green from it. The coral plus in my mind is not bright enough. To me the ideal full spectrum bulb would have a flat color spectrum from 410nm up to 660nm. But this animal does not exist.

 

[TropTrea]

Let me try sending some spectrum plots on the 8 bulbs with Coral plus and Purple bulbs.

 

[Froggy]

I think this is something that can be argued up and back as to what someones personal taste in color is. If we were to critique every possible bulb out there some of us would gfind reasons why we do not like many of them if not all of them. But when it comes to the toal effect there is very big range in what we like in colors. Simularly our individual taste in colors can be influenced by the surrounding light in the room and also changes with time.



As you go through this thread you will find that Atinic's bulbs were given a big thumbs down then for a while not to long ago some of the predomnant members here started recomending them. This was the fact in my mind that there personal color taste changed.



If you look at the fuller spectrumed bulbs. I will agree with Froggy that the Aquablues are not the perfect ful spectrum bulb. In my mind there is not one out there that would make everyone happy. The Aqua blue requires some "purple" to add snap to it. The other one popular is the GE 6,500K which is considerable brighter but still need even more "purple" to balance out the yellow/green from it. The coral plus in my mind is not bright enough. To me the ideal full spectrum bulb would have a flat color spectrum from 410nm up to 660nm. But this animal does not exist.

This is the beauty of T5 lighting really. T5's are not stand alone bulbs and each are strong in one spectrum and lack in others. Even the "full spectrum" bulbs lack in some way. The key is to provide enough blue light of the correct intensity and use other bulbs i.e. Full spectrum daylight bulbs, purple bulbs with a red spike, actinic bulbs etc to match your visual taste. Overdoing it on any one bulb, except in ATI's case the blue plus, does not look good. The blue plus or like bulb should be your base bulb and use 4-5 of them in an 8 bulb combo. After that, add bulbs with red,yellow, green, and actinic spikes to blend a light mixture that looks good to your eye. Each tank may be different based on ambient light, dark room, water clarity etc. The nice thing about T5 lighting is the ability to tweak the spectrum slightly with the change of a single bulb. I see too many people stress about the proper bulb combo to use. I have learned that as long as you stick to the base (blue plus for me) and supplement the rest to your liking you will be happy. Your corals will be happy either way. You need to make yourself happy with what your eye perceives
Joe

 

[creefer01]

This is the beauty of T5 lighting really. T5's are not stand alone bulbs and each are strong in one spectrum and lack in others. Even the "full spectrum" bulbs lack in some way. The key is to provide enough blue light of the correct intensity and use other bulbs i.e. Full spectrum daylight bulbs, purple bulbs with a red spike, actinic bulbs etc to match your visual taste. Overdoing it on any one bulb, except in ATI's case the blue plus, does not look good. The blue plus or like bulb should be your base bulb and use 4-5 of them in an 8 bulb combo. After that, add bulbs with red,yellow, green, and actinic spikes to blend a light mixture that looks good to your eye. Each tank may be different based on ambient light, dark room, water clarity etc. The nice thing about T5 lighting is the ability to tweak the spectrum slightly with the change of a single bulb. I see too many people stress about the proper bulb combo to use. I have learned that as long as you stick to the base (blue plus for me) and supplement the rest to your liking you will be happy. Your corals will be happy either way. You need to make yourself happy with what your eye perceives
Joe

This is one of the best statements I've seen about T5 lighting. I really agree with this and it's one of the reasons that I went to them to begin with.

 

[TropTrea]

This is the beauty of T5 lighting really. T5's are not stand alone bulbs and each are strong in one spectrum and lack in others. Even the "full spectrum" bulbs lack in some way. The key is to provide enough blue light of the correct intensity and use other bulbs i.e. Full spectrum daylight bulbs, purple bulbs with a red spike, actinic bulbs etc to match your visual taste. Overdoing it on any one bulb, except in ATI's case the blue plus, does not look good. The blue plus or like bulb should be your base bulb and use 4-5 of them in an 8 bulb combo. After that, add bulbs with red,yellow, green, and actinic spikes to blend a light mixture that looks good to your eye. Each tank may be different based on ambient light, dark room, water clarity etc. The nice thing about T5 lighting is the ability to tweak the spectrum slightly with the change of a single bulb. I see too many people stress about the proper bulb combo to use. I have learned that as long as you stick to the base (blue plus for me) and supplement the rest to your liking you will be happy. Your corals will be happy either way. You need to make yourself happy with what your eye perceives
Joe

this is the same basic policy for lighting that I look at.
8 Bulb set up you need at least 5 Blue Bulbs.
6 Bulb set up you need at least 4 Blue Bulbs.
However I'm finding a big difference between the different blue bulbs today. There was a time the Blue Plus bulbs were the bluest bulbs out there but since then they have moved to a longer wave lenght peak and the while some of the others like the Super Blue have moved to shorter wave lenght peaks. While it is only a difference of 10 nm between 460 and 470 some people can easily see the difference.

After running the coral plus bulbs for a few months, I just never fell in love with it. There is too much Aquablue in it IMO. It should have been way more blue plus and less Aquablue in the makeup.

Yes I had run the Aqua Blues a while back and thought the same thing about there versions of the fuller spectrum bulbs. The Aqua Blue is very strong in blue green part of the spectrum, With the Coral Plus I tought this issue would have gotten fixed however they only seemed to take it to 1/3 Blue Plus, 1/3 Aqua Blue Special, and 1/3 Purple plus. Still strong in the blue greens and weak in the yellow orange spectrum.

The GE 6,500 is the only bulb out there that is strong in the yellow to orange part of the however for most people it is too much of a full spectrum bulb and needs to much of a boast in the red part of the spectrum.

Personaly I do not think anyone today is making a perfect full spectrum T-5 bulb. The closest were some of the pre T-5 10,000K bulbs that every manufacturer produced in T-12's. But when the trend moved to the HOT-5's everyone of the quality lighting companies seemed to have dropped this type of bulb.

Another thing that is effecting individuals color choices today are the LED's out there today. These are producing very narrow wavelenght light especialy with in the 445nm to 470 nm range. Some of us are looking to dup[licate this with T-5's in our dawn and dusk lighting but with T-5's the spectrums of even the Blue and Atinic bulbs are simply too wide.

 

[brob22]

can anyone help me decide between a
4blueples 1 ge 6500 and 1 figi purple

or

4blueplus and 2 coral plus thankx for any recommendations also if u would recommend a better combo id like to hear

 

[rtparty]

4 blue, 1 GE and 1 ATI Purple plus looks good. Or change the GE to a coral plus for more blue.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Let me try sending some spectrum plots on the 8 bulbs with Coral plus and Purple bulbs.

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for the spectrum plots.

Are you able to provide one for a six-tube combination, 3 Blue + and 3 Coral +, which I am currently using?

Cheers

 

[reefndude]

new 60" sunpower
I ordered a new 60" 6 x 80 watt sunpower yesterday. I ordered the following bulbs.

4 blue+
2 coral+
1 purple+
1 true actinic

I want to try a couple different combos

Combo 1: 4 b+, 1 p+, and 1 c+
This seems to be most popular combo. Currently using this over my 75, and do like

Combo 2: 3 b+, 2 c+, and 1 true actinic.
Anyone using or has used this combo?

Thinking about adding led strips as well. (Diy)


__________________
Rob

 

[TropTrea]

new 60" sunpower
I ordered a new 60" 6 x 80 watt sunpower yesterday. I ordered the following bulbs.

4 blue+
2 coral+
1 purple+
1 true actinic

I want to try a couple different combos

Combo 1: 4 b+, 1 p+, and 1 c+
This seems to be most popular combo. Currently using this over my 75, and do like

Combo 2: 3 b+, 2 c+, and 1 true actinic.
Anyone using or has used this combo?

Thinking about adding led strips as well. (Diy)


__________________
Rob

I ran some plots for these two combo's
If your adding the DIY LED's I would go with more with the Atinic Bulb and use roughly a ratio or 2 to 1 between the Royal Blue 455nm and the True Blue 470nm LED's. Without the LED's I'd stick with using all 4 of the Blue Plus Bulbs for the slightly higher PAR.

I have found that the Blue Plus bulbs are very nice complement to the shortcomming of the LED's as they do add an atinic spike as well as some light in the 500nm range that are difficult to get with all LED's.

 

[reefndude]

I ran some plots for these two combo's
If your adding the DIY LED's I would go with more with the Atinic Bulb and use roughly a ratio or 2 to 1 between the Royal Blue 455nm and the True Blue 470nm LED's. Without the LED's I'd stick with using all 4 of the Blue Plus Bulbs for the slightly higher PAR.

I have found that the Blue Plus bulbs are very nice complement to the shortcomming of the LED's as they do add an atinic spike as well as some light in the 500nm range that are difficult to get with all LED's.

2 Royal Blue to 1 True blue?

 

[TropTrea]

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for the spectrum plots.

Are you able to provide one for a six-tube combination, 3 Blue + and 3 Coral +, which I am currently using?

Cheers

Yes and I'll also show you the comparison with the GE and a purple. Note the Combo you have has more Blue and Red, while the GE combo is stronger in the yellow but flills in the yellow reg1on of the spectrum better. But with only one purple in a 6 bulb combo the GE looks to Yellow for some people.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Yes and I'll also show you the comparison with the GE and a purple. Note the Combo you have has more Blue and Red, while the GE combo is stronger in the yellow but flills in the yellow reg1on of the spectrum better. But with only one purple in a 6 bulb combo the GE looks to Yellow for some people.

That's great. Thanks. I am actually very happy with my combination. Both the reflective and fluorescent colours seem to be OK. Coral growth is excellent too.

I wonder how the colouration and growth of my corals would be affected if I used 4 ATI blue + and 2 ATI coral +. Can you please offer your opinion?

 

[TropTrea]

I wonder how the colouration and growth of my corals would be affected if I used 4 ATI blue + and 2 ATI coral +. Can you please offer your opinion?

Coloration would be slightly Bluer than what you have now which some prefer others do not. Coral Growth would be very slightly better as you would have a little more blue and a little less red.

 

[sahin]

TropTrea:

Can you do me a favour please? Using the spectral data you have, are you able to tell us which combo of T5 tubes to use in order to create a spectrum as close to the Radium 250w as possible using:
8 T5 tubes and;
4 channels of LED's
6x Philips Lumileds 6500K White
6x Philips Lumileds Blue, max @ 470nm
6x Philips Lumileds Royal Blue, max @ 450nm
2x Cree Red (around 620nm I think)

Here is a typical Radium 20K plot:

I have the following tubes available:

6x ATI Blue+
2x ATI Purple+
6x ATI Coral+
1x KZ NewGen 14000K
1x Giesemann Lagoon Blue
2x GE 6500K
2x ATI True Actinic (03)

A few UK based T5 tubes...yeah...I play around with lots of T5 combos. :lol:

I figure that with the T5, I can cover most of the Violet, Blue and Red part of the spectrum, and then using the white LED's to fill in the sections the T5's miss, and add a maximum dose of 450nm Royal Blue to get that signature 450nm spike...

What do you think? :lol: I realise this is a tall order, but it would help out a lot of people if we can get something even semi close...

I'm not simply after the "20K Radium look". I want to be spectrally as close as one can get with the T5's and LED's.

I'm not sure if this is something you can cook up for us, but it sure would be great even if you could come up with some sort of suggestion.

Many thanks.

 

[TropTrea]

TropTrea:

Can you do me a favour please? Using the spectral data you have, are you able to tell us which combo of T5 tubes to use in order to create a spectrum as close to the Radium 250w as possible using:

8 T5 tubes and;
4 channels of LED's
6x Philips Lumileds 6500K White
6x Philips Lumileds Blue, max @ 470nm
6x Philips Lumileds Royal Blue, max @ 450nm
2x Cree Red (around 620nm I think)

I have the following tubes available:

6x ATI Blue+
2x ATI Purple+
6x ATI Coral+
1x KZ NewGen 14000K
1x Giesemann Lagoon Blue
2x GE 6500K
2x ATI True Actinic (03)


I'm not simply after the "20K Radium look". I want to be spectrally as close as one can get with the T5's and LED's.

I'm not sure if this is something you can cook up for us, but it sure would be great even if you could come up with some sort of suggestion.

Many thanks.

First off if you look at your 20,000K plot you will see that is no spikes or significient light between 590nm and 680 nm. This is the orange to red part of the spectrum and virtualy every T-5 bulb I got a spectrum of had some red in that part of the spectrum. But the least red was in the ATI Blue Plus and ATI Atinic Bulbs.

the small spike at around 685nm is near the edge of the visible eye and may not even be be detectable by some people. So I would not worry about that.

This plot would be much easier to duplicate using a lot of LED lighting and just a little T-5 lighting with the 8 bulbs of T-5's you will really be pumping a lot of wider spectrum light. I would depend on the T-5's to fill the lower frequencies and then hit the full spectrum with a little white light from the LED's.

Looking at your combination I would run for the T-5's your 6 ATI Blue Plus and the 2 ATI Atinics.

For the LED's the 6 6,500K would provide just about all the white you would need to match the full range of the spectrum. Unfortunatly I do not have the spectrums that I trust for Phillips LED's and the ratio of the amount of light they would produce as opposed to your T-5's would only be a guess.

As far as Blue end of the LED's The 20,000K plot shows less light at 470nm than what you will get with the T-5's already but the boast from the 450nm LED's will help get a more 20,000K look.

I have built a few combination and for a 75 gallon to 95 gallon tank I have used 2- 54 Watt Ati Blue Plus bulbs, 30 Watts of Neutral White LED's, 42 Watts of 455nm Blues, Watts of 470 nm Blues, and 12 Watts of 420 nm LED's. The look came out close to what I suspect your looking at.