The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[gus6464]

I am setting up a CAD rimless tank with dimensions 24x14x16. I have a hydrofarm quad t5 fixture that is the same exact dimensions as the tank. I already have a couple bulbs which I think would work and would need to buy 2 blues. Would this color combo work for SPS at the top?

wave point superblue 460
wave point coral wave (already own it)
wave point ultra growth wave (already own it)
wave point superblue 460

or

wave point sun wave (12k)
wave point coral wave (already own it)
wave point ultra growth wave (already own it)
wave point superblue 460

 

[mgould73]

I ordered a few PS Crystal Blues yesterday for my dimmable Sunpower. I assume that there is a break in period similar to the ATI lamps they are replacing. Think the 50 hour break in is about right? Less, more, none?

EDIT: Never mind. I just got an email from PS letting me know that they are out of T5 and wont have any for 2 months.

They are out if all sizes?? Seems I can add t5 tubes to my cart. Guess they don't want to look bad by listing their bulbs out ofstock...

Glad I got mine when I did.

 

[terri_ann]

Hi Dennis! I'm upgrading my DT from a 135g to a 180g:0) I currently have the 60" ATI Sunpower (nondimmable), 6 bulb fixture using ATI blue +, etc bulbs. The fixture is newer(2/3yrs). The 180 is 24" W and 25" deep. I'm wondering if the 60" 6 bulb fixture will provide enough Par at the sandbed? Will the spread and Par be ample enough for the additional 6"'s I'm gaining? What distance above the tank/water level would be best for hanging the fixture?

Lastly Dennis, I'm thinking that maybe in the future I will add a couple LEDs on each end of the tank. Because I don't want to sink a lot of money into the LEDs nor am I savy enough to know what might be a good LED fixture at a low price, do you have a recommendation? I was even wondering if a spotlight/pendant type LED would work?

Thanks in advance for your comments!

 

[wcharon]

Good Morning Guys...

It's time for changing bulbs to my ATI Sunpower T5 6 bulbs. At this moment i am currently using 4 B+, 1 P+ and 1 C+ all from ATI. I really like the combination especially the Dawn/Dusk which use the B+ and the P+ but have noticed that when i go full spectrum my pink, brown, yellow corals and some greens looks pale.
Can this be due to the P+ bulb as others have reported???

Should i change my combination to 4b+ and 2 C+ or 5b+ and 1 C+?????

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. By the way i don't like to tank to white neither or should i stay with my current combination. Thanks in advance...

 

[swk]

I recently converted from a reef radiance LED's to a 6x54 dimable ATI sunpower.

Here are the bulb layouts for now - I have used the actinics for now to reduce the par from a heavy amount of blue+

For now here's the bulb layout front to back

blue+
actinic
blue+
blue+
coral+
actinic

bulbs 2 & 4 are on from noon - 2p
All bulbs from 2-8pm
bulbs 2&4 on from 8-10 pm

So, how does this photoperiod look?

Also, I have a few more blue plus, coral plus, purple plus and a GE 65k bulb to play around with the color. For now I'd like to keep it simple and not screw around with the dimming feature until the tank and I are comfortable with the switch.

Any input is appreciated

 

[Tracey2]

Hi T5 guys & gals. How many T5's would you recommend on a 36" wide tank with one led strip on the back and one on the front for shimmer?

 

[drcarr]

please help with bulb replacement... 36" 6 bulb unit on my mixed SPS LPS RSM250 tank. Going for color/pop and growth.

i would like to get 4 Blue+ and some other combo for the other 2 bulbs using:
Coral+, Purple Plus, or AquaBlue.
Any help picking the other 2 bulbs is much appreciated!

 

[ZON]

4 blue plus 1 coral 1 purple

 

[clowninaround74]

Just purchased an ATI 8x24 dimmable unit to replace the Radion pro over my 24x24x24 60g cube. The manual says to burn in the bulbs for the first 50hrs at 100 percent but I don't want to shock or burn my SPS corals.

Any recommendations on the program, schedule, and duration the lights should be on for the first few days?

 

[swk]

Just purchased an ATI 8x24 dimmable unit to replace the Radion pro over my 24x24x24 60g cube. The manual says to burn in the bulbs for the first 50hrs at 100 percent but I don't want to shock or burn my SPS corals.

Any recommendations on the program, schedule, and duration the lights should be on for the first few days?

I added more actinic bulbs than I plan on using as the par is lower than the other bulbs. Plan on doing this for only a month or so

 

[TropTrea]

I added more actinic bulbs than I plan on using as the par is lower than the other bulbs. Plan on doing this for only a month or so

This is the problem with most PAR meters. The true PAR of Atinic bulbs is considerably higher than the meter reads. Be very cautious here. Then when you switch to say (Blue Plus) bulbs your changing the spectrum considerable and the corals need to adjust to the new spectrum.

I personally no longer use any atinic bulbs.

 

[clowninaround74]

^^ that being said... What would you recommend as far as acclimating my corals to the new T5 lights since I can't dim them for the first 50 hours or so?

 

[Montireef]

Just put the fixture higher. Far from water level.

 

[Mark426]

Just purchased an ATI 8x24 dimmable unit to replace the Radion pro over my 24x24x24 60g cube. The manual says to burn in the bulbs for the first 50hrs at 100 percent but I don't want to shock or burn my SPS corals.

Any recommendations on the program, schedule, and duration the lights should be on for the first few days?

I did the same (Radion to ATI 6x24). I ran my Radion for 12 hours a day (including ramp time) on my 24 x 16 x 14 all SPS reef and kept the same duration on the ATI. Hung the ATI 14-16" high, ran #1 for 12 hours and #2 for 8 hours. Lowered the fixture over a 10 day period a inch or so each day until it was about 6 inches above the water line. By then all the lamps were able to be dimmed and started using a 1 hour ramp on both channels and dropped the fixture down to its permanent position, slightly less than 4 inches above the water. My SPS never showed the slightest stress and many of them are very close to the water line. Your mileage may differ.

EDIT: I changed my schedule slightly lately just for my viewing pleasure. Channel 1 duration is now 13 hours total and has a 1 hour ramp up and a 2 hour ramp down. Channel 2 remains at 8 hours total with 1 hour ramp up/down. Simple lamp config of 4 B+ and 2 C+

 

[clowninaround74]

Awesome, thank you. I don't really have an option to raise or lower the lights but I think I'll be able to make it work

 

[Orion120]

This is the problem with most PAR meters. The true PAR of Atinic bulbs is considerably higher than the meter reads. Be very cautious here. Then when you switch to say (Blue Plus) bulbs your changing the spectrum considerable and the corals need to adjust to the new spectrum.

I personally no longer use any atinic bulbs.

Hi TropTea,

I have been following this thread closely for a few months now. Do you have any data to support your claim that a T5 actinic bulb's PAR is considerably higher than Blue Plus? I have tried doing a quick google search to support your claim, but can't find any data on it myself.

 

[Oliver P.]

Trop, you are right. The true PAR of actinic is higher than the apogee meter reads. We have a calibrated spectrometer in our lab and the Apogee meter normally underreads violet (+/- 25%).
But our blue plus is defently better in PAR. Especially, if it comes to PAR and PUR.

In contrast to most common blue fluorecent lamps we use a modified version of the blue fluorescent powder (BAM-Blue) with a co-activator in our Blue plus tubes.
We have a max. @453-454nm instead of 450nm. Hard to see with human eyes, but a useful thing if it comes to PUR.
So, we had biological reasons to made this smal modification 5 year ago.
I know that more and more people love to see dark blue bulbs or actinic bulbs, but we have to consider what corals really need. And this is a broad or wide banded blue with a maxima that is close to "Absorbtionsmaxima" of the symbiotic algeas in Corals.

regards,
Oliver
(ATI Aqauristik)

 

[Orion120]

Wow Oliver,

Thanks for that explanation!

 

[swk]

Trop, you are right. The true PAR of actinic is higher than the apogee meter reads. We have a calibrated spectrometer in our lab and the Apogee meter normally underreads violet (+/- 25%).
But our blue plus is defently better in PAR. Especially, if it comes to PAR and PUR.

In contrast to most common blue fluorecent lamps we use a modified version of the blue fluorescent powder (BAM-Blue) with a co-activator in our Blue plus tubes.
We have a max. @453-454nm instead of 450nm. Hard to see with human eyes, but a useful thing if it comes to PUR.
So, we had biological reasons to made this smal modification 5 year ago.
I know that more and more people love to see dark blue bulbs or actinic bulbs, but we have to consider what corals really need. And this is a broad or wide banded blue with a maxima that is close to "Absorbtionsmaxima" of the symbiotic algeas in Corals.

regards,
Oliver
(ATI Aqauristik)

So, am I right to glean from this, in laymens terms, that the blue plus is a better bulb not only because it produces more par, but also is a more useful light to the coral than your actinic bulb?

Thanks!

 

[TropTrea]

What I'm getting at is you can take an 8 Bulb fixture with
6 Atinic Bulbs, 2 full spectrum bulbs to get a PAR reading of 200 at the substrate with your meter.
Then you can take 4 Blue Bulbs and 2 Full Spectrum bulbs to get a similar PAR reading of 200 on the meter.

If you took a perfect PAR reading however the first set of bulbs would be giving you probably closer to 240 while the second set with give you about 210. Note your using 33 % more wattage to get only 15% more PAR.

However if you look at what the corals actually need for light the Atinics are producing the light peaking at 410-420nm range while the blue is peaking in the 450 to 460 range. Corals need the light in the 455 range more so than need it at the 415 range so the effective benefit of the blue bulb to orals is even greater.

While it is true corals do use some 410 nm light it is also provided by the blue florescent bulbs at a lower but adequate level. The 410 will bring out florescence more but do little for coral growth. In time the chemicals in a coral adjust the available light producing less chemicals in the wave lenghts that they are receiving loads of light in and more chemicals in the ranges they are barely getting enough light in. Now you change the spectrum and the corals have to readjust this balance.

When people added more Atinic light they brag about there added florescense. But over the long term this florescence decreases as the coral reduces its chemicals using the atinic light. Then when they switch to a blue bulb they find they do not nearly as much florescence as they initially had before putting in the atinic bulb until the chemicals in the corals can readjust again.

An interesting thing I did about a year ago with LED's is try several different specific wave length LED's on the same type corals. Mainly 410 nm, 420 nm, 455 nm, 470 nm. Each LED made the coral fluoresce in a different color with an initial bold change. But after several weeks the difference remained but was much less dramatic and changed to different grayish tones.