The T5 Q&a Thread - split

My girlfriend is a big believer in "buy it if it's on sale and won't go bad". Most of the time it just results in me rolling my eyes when i find we have 25 bars of soap or something. In this case I took advantage and she was happy that i bought them:)

I've had my sunpower for about a year and a half. Even with all the bulbs I have bought(about 8 of the bulbs I tried and ultimately didn't use, and I literally now have bulbs to last through next year), the cost of all the bulbs and the fixture is still about 600 bucks less than the alternate LED I was considering at the time(2 GHL Mitras).
 
mhucasey said:
My girlfriend is a big believer in "buy it if it's on sale and won't go bad". Most of the time it just results in me rolling my eyes when i find we have 25 bars of soap or something. In this case I took advantage and she was happy that i bought them:)

I've had my sunpower for about a year and a half. Even with all the bulbs I have bought(about 8 of the bulbs I tried and ultimately didn't use, and I literally now have bulbs to last through next year), the cost of all the bulbs and the fixture is still about 600 bucks less than the alternate LED I was considering at the time(2 GHL Mitras).
Click to expand...

Yes I have that frugalness in me as well. However some times I go overly frugal. I remember when years ago my suppier had a sale on UVL bulbs which were the only brand to HOT-5's he handled. Basically if you bought a box of 24 of the same size you got 30% off and if you bought 6 or more boxes you got a another 30% off. Yes I bought a gross of bulbs. With a store I thought they were right thing as the future of aquarium lighting was going that way. A year later I had sold about a dozen of those bulbs. 50% of the time I did not have the color in the size a customer wanted.

Now I build all my own lighting fixtures. Sure they are not as fancy as many that you buy but the prices are much more reasonable as now I have more time than money since I'm retired. LED's is really what go me into it as initially I could build a fixture in about 4 hours at roughly 1/4 the price I'd pay for something that puts out that much light.

Our of all my commercial fixtures I have yet to see one that lasts over 5 years regardless of the brand name without major repairs. But rather than simply replace those old T-5's most of them can be rebuilt for a fraction of the cost and made much better than they originally made.

When I look at a light fixture the two things that take top priority are the right amount of light and spectrum for what I want. Then I start doing calculations on overall cost over a five year bases. In 5 years what will give me the light I want for the least overall cost.
 
Regardless of the technology I think its reasonable to expect that a fixture will last 5 years. However, expecting a piece of electronics to last more than that with no failures in a humid, salty environment is not realistic IMO.

The ability to easily source and replace broken components in the future is an important consideration whichever lighting system you go with. One of the reasons I went with ATI was I know that the vendor will be around in the future and getting parts is easy.

I'm continuing to absorb information about LEDs and may do some tinkering in the future to create a fixture for my display Refugia/Naughty tank(one of my two LED Par 38 bulbs is on the fritz and the MFG is out of business:facepalm:). Unlike many other people here though, my goal will be to replicate T5s, not Metal Halide. A little shimmer would be ok but I love the uniform brightness and color pop of T5s better than any other lighting system I've seen.
 
T5 Recommendations with My Current LED Set Up Please

T5 Recommendations with My Current LED Set Up Please

I currently have a 36" ecoxotic 50/50 panorama pro and two 36" Blue reefbrites. I also have 6 bulb LET T5 retrofit from Reefgeek. What T5 lamps would ya'll recommend for the 14k to 20k look that also will also provide full spectrum?

Thanks so much.
 
JRoweNole said:
I currently have a 36" ecoxotic 50/50 panorama pro and two 36" Blue reefbrites. I also have 6 bulb LET T5 retrofit from Reefgeek. What T5 lamps would ya'll recommend for the 14k to 20k look that also will also provide full spectrum?

Thanks so much.
Click to expand...

3 blue plus and 3 coral plus
 
Running a 20h fowlr and would like to add some soft corals and possibly a rbta in 6-8 months. Do I need a 4 bulb fixture? Would these animals thrive or just survive under a 2 bulb fixture?
 
dhjunkie said:
Running a 20h fowlr and would like to add some soft corals and possibly a rbta in 6-8 months. Do I need a 4 bulb fixture? Would these animals thrive or just survive under a 2 bulb fixture?
Click to expand...

You'll want 4 bulbs in the end. Finding a good 2 bulb combo will not be fun.
 
dhjunkie said:
Running a 20h fowlr and would like to add some soft corals and possibly a rbta in 6-8 months. Do I need a 4 bulb fixture? Would these animals thrive or just survive under a 2 bulb fixture?
Click to expand...

A 20 gallon high tank is only 24" long. So your limited in your selection of T-5 tubes as well as limited to only 24 Watt Bulbs. Even a 4 bulb fixture would put you in the medium lighting range and for the RBTA it would be borderline unless you keep the fixture only a few inches above the surface.

As far as the soft corals are concerned the 2 bulb would put you on the low light range and if you carefully selected lower light requiring soft corals you could get away with it but would not have great growth. But it is doable as I have seen worst lighting with 3 standard T-12's on a fantastic looking soft coral tank.

For bulb selection I would go with an equal number of Coral Plus and Blue Plus in either situation.
 
Thanks for the replies. When you say "It's borderline unless you keep the fixture only a few inches above the surface", do you mean if I keep it only a few inches above the surface it's no longer borderline?
 
? In which order should I have these t5 bulbs in. There for a aquatic life 4bulb t5ho , it has the white and blue setup for a timer along with moon led.

Ati blue plus x2
Ati purple plus
Ati coral

Thank you
 
dhjunkie said:
Thanks for the replies. When you say "It's borderline unless you keep the fixture only a few inches above the surface", do you mean if I keep it only a few inches above the surface it's no longer borderline?
Click to expand...

The greater the distance is between the light source and the target the less light you will get. This difference is not just a simple subtractive effect but actually closer to root difference.

So say at 16" inches from the light you have a par of 30, then at 8 inches you will get a par of 120 and at 4 inches you have a par of 480. This is not a true formula as things like reflectors design and and water clarity also come into play here.

So the closer the lights are to the corals the more light they will get. With a combination of lights being lower and the corals being higher in the tank you can get away with less wattage of lighting in a pinch.

So yes it is still borderline but it is also workable with a lot of effort and caution.

Very simularly you can modify your timing to get a slight advantage. If you have a par 100 at a secific point in 12 hours you have a an equivalent of 1,200 par ours.
8 hours = 800 par hours
12 hours = 1200 par hours
16 hours - 1600 par hours.

If you have excessive par it can be almost as bad as insufficient par. But par is best utilized at 12 hours. Longer and shorter times means less efficient use of the total. so even though 16 hours may give you 1,600 PAR hours the efficiency drops to the equivalent of 1,400 rather than the full 1,600. Similarly the 800 with 8 yours might actually be closer to 700 usable. Anything udner 8 hours or over 16 hours has efficiency drop off drastically. So adjusting to a longer time can help as well.

Most people running short lighting cycles have considerably more light than they actually need. The rule of more light is better is not always true. Some corals do best with 500 par hours a day and other might do best with 5,000 par hours per day.
 
brewman1987 said:
? In which order should I have these t5 bulbs in. There for a aquatic life 4bulb t5ho , it has the white and blue setup for a timer along with moon led.

Ati blue plus x2
Ati purple plus
Ati coral

Thank you
Click to expand...

I like to put the fullest spectrum bulb to front of center. So in your case I'd go with

Front
Blue Plus
Coral Plus
Purple Plus or Blue Plus
Blue Plus or Purple Plus
Rear

Note I do not use 4 bulb fixtures. But like to put the Blue Pluses on both sides of the full spectrum bulb as well as have them as the first and last bulb. In your case it will be determined by your switching between the the pairs but you probably will want two blue plus for dawn to dusk or a blue plus and a purple plus dependent on your personal color taste.
 
TropTrea said:
The greater the distance is between the light source and the target the less light you will get. This difference is not just a simple subtractive effect but actually closer to root difference.

So say at 16" inches from the light you have a par of 30, then at 8 inches you will get a par of 120 and at 4 inches you have a par of 480. This is not a true formula as things like reflectors design and and water clarity also come into play here.

So the closer the lights are to the corals the more light they will get. With a combination of lights being lower and the corals being higher in the tank you can get away with less wattage of lighting in a pinch.

So yes it is still borderline but it is also workable with a lot of effort and caution.

Very simularly you can modify your timing to get a slight advantage. If you have a par 100 at a secific point in 12 hours you have a an equivalent of 1,200 par ours.
8 hours = 800 par hours
12 hours = 1200 par hours
16 hours - 1600 par hours.

If you have excessive par it can be almost as bad as insufficient par. But par is best utilized at 12 hours. Longer and shorter times means less efficient use of the total. so even though 16 hours may give you 1,600 PAR hours the efficiency drops to the equivalent of 1,400 rather than the full 1,600. Similarly the 800 with 8 yours might actually be closer to 700 usable. Anything udner 8 hours or over 16 hours has efficiency drop off drastically. So adjusting to a longer time can help as well.

Most people running short lighting cycles have considerably more light than they actually need. The rule of more light is better is not always true. Some corals do best with 500 par hours a day and other might do best with 5,000 par hours per day.
Click to expand...

Is there an ideal Par number or par range for a rbta? If so, what is it? And for how many par hours per day is best for a rbta? What is the most accurate way to determine par in the absense of a par meter? I guess the ultimate being the health and overall well being of the animal? BTW thanks.
 
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dhjunkie said:
Is there an ideal Par number or par range for a rbta? If so, what is it? And for how many par hours per day is best for a rbta? What is the most accurate way to determine par in the absense of a par meter? I guess the ultimate being the health and overall well being of the animal? BTW thanks.
Click to expand...

There is no sure footed formula. There are so many variables. I';m running about 3.6 Watts per gallon and I'm pushing roughly 200 par at the substrate. I have found that my RBTA was doing fantastic at about 1/3 of the way between the substrate and the light. With the RBTA they will move around the tank to find the spot they like the most as far as both flow and light are concerned.
I would estimate it was getting roughly 300 PAR at that height.

However some of my mushrooms corals were showing signs of too much light even at the substrate, while others loved it at mid tank level. Other corals have there specific heights that they love.

I sysle my lights roughly 12 hours of the dawn to dusk and 9 hours for the mid day lights.
 
Time to change bulbs on my 8x24watt ATI Sunpower. Tank is SPS dominant 30"x30"x18"H. Currently running front to back:
Blue +
Purple+
Blue +
Coral+
Blue +
Purple+
Blue +
Blue+

I really like this look but sometimes think the Purple+ add a little too much pink color. Was thinking of replacing one or both with something else.

Any suggestions for bulbs and bulb order? Thanks
 
AugustWest said:
Time to change bulbs on my 8x24watt ATI Sunpower. Tank is SPS dominant 30"x30"x18"H. Currently running front to back:
Blue +
Purple+
Blue +
Coral+
Blue +
Purple+
Blue +
Blue+

I really like this look but sometimes think the Purple+ add a little too much pink color. Was thinking of replacing one or both with something else.

Any suggestions for bulbs and bulb order? Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes that combo would be to red for me as well. I would consider swapping one with a Coral Plus and the other With a Blue Plus. The Coral plus also has red in it but not as much as the Purple plus but it will brighten your tank up slightly.
 
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