The T5 Q&a Thread - split

Pacific Sun T5 tubes

Pacific Sun T5 tubes

Hi all,

Has anyone used the new PS T5 tubes long enough to make a comparison with ATI tubes? My tubes are due for replacement and I am considering swapping my them with their PS counterparts as the PS tubes are significantly cheaper. However, I do not want to be saying in six months time "you get what you pay for"...

Thanks in anticipation
 
Reflector suggestions for 48" Aquactinics Constellation T5 Fixture? Thanks in advance.

I read somewhere that ATI reflectors are too short. Are 60" ATI reflectors cut down to size my best option?
 
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I am hoping to get some suggestions on my current T5 lighting setup as a possible source of my problems keeping SPS healthy. I have a Nova Extreme Pro 6 bulb fixture over a 40 Breeder tank and the light is hanging about 6-7" over the water surface. I am currently running two ATI Blue Plus bulbs from 10 AM -12 noon, then switching to four ATI bulbs - 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Coral Plus, and 1 Giesemann Actinic Plus from 12-3PM, then back to the two ATI Blue Plus bulbs from 3PM-6PM. The lights are on timers and seem to be functioning properly based on observation. The light is configured as follows:

Front
ATI Blue Plus - Plug 1 10-12, 3-6
ATI Blue Plus - Plug 2 12-3
ATI Blue Plus - Plug 2 12-3
ATI Coral Plus - Plug 2 12-3
ATI Blue Plus - Plug 1 10-12, 3-6
Giesemann Actinic Plus Plug 2 12-3
Back

I've got an SPS frag (ORA Red Planet) that has a couple of tips starting to bleach AND I have noticed it is slowly receding at the base. Last month I lost an ORA Hawkins to RTN or STN in less than a week, and I also lost a Millepora frag shortly after that.

My water parameters all seem within reason, but I am currently trying to let my Alk come down a bit since I have been running with very little Nitrates for a couple of months and it went up to close to 10 dKh when I did my last water change about a month ago. I made the mistake of not testing the Alk of the water that I mixed up before I did my water change, so I am not sure whether or not the increase in Alk from 8-10 combined with keeping the ULNS caused the coral frags to RTN, or if it is related to my T5 lighting. I also have been running GFO, but plan on stopping and switching it over to a Biopellet reactor instead so I don't have to worry about RTN/STN being caused by the GFO. I have read that GFO can cause STN/RTN but don't know if there is any evidence supporting this or not.

Here are my current parameters:

Calcium 440
Alk 9.1 dKh
Mag 1350-1400
Amm 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates - currently 2 ppm, had been less than 1 ppm from vodka dosing regimen (I dosed daily strictly and slowly in the sump) that I have stopped in the last week opting for a slightly "dirtier" tank
Temp 79-81 deg - this is room temp right now as all heat rises to the room where I have the tank currently, my heater is barely turning on at all right now
PH 8.0-8.1

I am hoping to get some suggestions on whether my current lighting setup is good, or if I have the light hanging too low and it has created the bleaching and base recession issues in my frags. I have several Monti Cap frags that are doing well, are placed medium to high in the tank on rockwork and a Duncan frag that I have placed on the sandbed until I can find a good spot low in the tank with less flow.

Honestly, I first thought that my Alkalinity was the problem and have been letting that drop back to NSW levels of 7-8, but now I suspect that my lighting might either be too much or not enough for the tank. I would suspect I have too much light since I saw the ORA Red Planet have two tips bleaching, but with the base receding as well I am just not sure what is going on. I do not believe it to be a pest issue, although I have noticed a Blue leg crab hanging from one of the frags one evening I was looking in on the tank. I would not think the crabs would cause STN/RTN issues or the bleaching, but I am relatively new to the saltwater hobby in the last year.

All comments and questions are welcome,

Jeff
 
DiscusHeckel said:
Hi all,

Has anyone used the new PS T5 tubes long enough to make a comparison with ATI tubes? My tubes are due for replacement and I am considering swapping my them with their PS counterparts as the PS tubes are significantly cheaper. However, I do not want to be saying in six months time "you get what you pay for"...

Thanks in anticipation
Click to expand...

To the best of my knowledge there tubes are not available in the USA yet. There is only one supplier listed in the USA from there web site and they do not list there bulbs. From what someone told me that bought one of there fixtures they said it came with all UVL bulbs.

Looking at a 6 month old article of Advanced Aquarist their bulbs look extremely similar to ZK and ATI, and price wise very closely prices with the ATI bulbs.

Could they be the same bulbs only with a different trademark stamp?
 
TropTrea said:
To the best of my knowledge there tubes are not available in the USA yet. There is only one supplier listed in the USA from there web site and they do not list there bulbs. From what someone told me that bought one of there fixtures they said it came with all UVL bulbs.

Looking at a 6 month old article of Advanced Aquarist their bulbs look extremely similar to ZK and ATI, and price wise very closely prices with the ATI bulbs.

Could they be the same bulbs only with a different trademark stamp?
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply.

I do not know the answer your question, but in the UK, PS bulbs are on offer at the minute (20%). The cost of a 39W-PS tube is £8.79, whereas an equivalent ATI tube costs £18.50. I have already ordered 6 tubes (3 X PS Spectra + & 3 X PS Crystal Blue) and awaiting their arrival. I will evaluate them and post my opinion in regular intervals.

Can I ask your opinion on the Crystal UV spectrum please? Do you think it might be a good idea to swap one of the Crystal Blues with one of these? Its spectrum looks quite different from a "traditional" actinic tube. Having said that peaks at the yellow and green spectrums seem to be there to make this tube somewhat brighter, thus resulting in high PAR readings.
 
DiscusHeckel said:
Can I ask your opinion on the Crystal UV spectrum please? Do you think it might be a good idea to swap one of the Crystal Blues with one of these? Its spectrum looks quite different from a "traditional" actinic tube. Having said that peaks at the yellow and green spectrums seem to be there to make this tube somewhat brighter, thus resulting in high PAR readings.
Click to expand...

Yes with higher peaks in the yellow and green range you will probably get a higher reading on your PAR meter. But this probably will not give you any improved results with Coral Growth only with a more balanced visual effect.

Remember PAR is measured with an equal amount of weighting to all wave lengths from blue to RED. Yet 95% of photosynthesis only occurs in the blue and red ends of the spectrum. In the reef tank it is probably 85% in the blue end of the spectrum. So the gain from the green and yellow spikes is minimal if anything.

The benifit of light in wave lengths shorter than 415 nm is even debatable by some. And many believe that wave lengths shorter than 380 nm will actually start giving you a negative return., For this reasons very few people are using bulbs that would produce spectrum with shorter wave lenghts than the Blue Plus or Crystal Blue.

Looking at your price comparison to US dollars you talking $15.00 for the PS to $31.50 for the ATI so if they even lasted 1/2 as long it would be tossup. But since they appear so similar I would gamble on it being a good buy.
 
Hello,

I have an ATI 10 bulb fixture and my tank is 48x30x30. It is peninsula style, so you can see through both long sides.

I will be doing SPS on the top half of the tank and LPS softies on the bottom half.

I was planning on going this for bulbs
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+
ATI Coral+
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Coral+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+

Does this sound good to you guys?

I was thinking of trying out the Coral+ instead of Aquablue special... is that bad idea?
 
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So I acquired a 8 T5 Set on anew 120 tank that I am transfering corals over slowly from my 65 gallon Mix reef tank SPS to Softies. Blubs are about a year old so I gonna change them and need to know how quick I need to change them and how to space them 4 wait couple 4 or 2 and 2 or all.

Also current setup is

front
Blue +
Purple +
Blue +
6500k
blue+
purple+
Blue+
Blue+

Is this good since I am getting new bulbs I want to know what the best combo is I think I wanna change the 6500 to a coral+ Blub but not sure.

Or I was thinking to bring my bring my 36" fixture from my 65 gallon with (2) 150 Metal (4) 36" T5 and getting rid of 4 of the 48" t5 and putting the fixture in the middle but it will be lower to the tank because of hanging room. But than I would have (2) 150 Metal (4) 36" T5 middle and (4) 48" T5 2 on outer sides of the 36" fixture.

What ya guys think?
 
805reef said:
Hello,

I have an ATI 10 bulb fixture and my tank is 48x30x30. It is peninsula style, so you can see through both long sides.

I will be doing SPS on the top half of the tank and LPS softies on the bottom half.

I was planning on going this for bulbs
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+
ATI Coral+
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Coral+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+

Does this sound good to you guys?

I was thinking of trying out the Coral+ instead of Aquablue special... is that bad idea?
Click to expand...

i wold skip the coral+ and switch to ABS . if u shose coral+ u can skip the P+ case the coral+ tube has realy alot of red in it.
I wold shange the P+ in 2nd place with a ABS and put the P+ on 3rd slot.
 
I have a question on the life of T5 bulbs. Will a bulb last twice as long running 4 hours a day vs 8 hours a day approximately? A typical ATI bulb running 6 hours a day how long does it last? How about 12 hours? I need to figure out when to change bulbs.
 
I use 3 X Coral + and 3 Blue +. This combination produces white light with a hint of blue. I have recently swapped one of the Coral + tubes with an ATI ABS for a limited period to see the effects of added yellow and green spectrum. My tank now looks even whiter but surprisingly without the washout effect that ATI ABS is said to produce.

Your suggested combination will look very blue if this is what you want.
 
What about using 5 Blue+ 2 Coral+ and ABS.

blue+
Coral+
Blue+
ABS
blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Blue+

Also anybody use LED with T5 Combo.
 
Me..i use hybrid PM ..and best combo now is 4 ultra blue ( blu+ with a little more 400 nm range) and 4 FM DUO..
 
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